Slovenia

After 10 mins internet research, we decided to drive to Slovenia as it sounded a little more exotic than Tuscany (that can wait). The autostrada whisked us to Udinese and then we took the road from the town of Cividale (last town in Italy) across the Solvenian frontier.

The border guards examined our papers, luckily they were in order but we were advised that we had to have our car lights on at all times. We drove up the very lowly populated valleys (joking about banditos emerging from the undergrowth) and the scenery got increasingly beautiful, it was like a fantasy land we had entered - surely we needed to pay to get in here ?

Eventually after lots of very windy roads that revealed bigger and bigger mountain vistas we arrived at the town of Bovec, our base for the next few days. Bovec lies on the Soce (Socka) river - it's spelt in many variations - and the Kampsite (with a K - nice) office had all sorts of info on enticing options, kayaking, rafting, canyoning etc etc. Excellent, my kind of town. We were also told that they are shortly filming some of the second of the 'Narnia' films here, you can see why.

Next morning (after more gawping at the truly sensational view across the valley from the Kampsite) we talked to a very nice young lady at the tourist office who said we should do everything if we could, prices were cheap and there were hardly any tourists aroud this time of year. So we booked Kayaking for the afternoon and canyoning for the next day.

Before the river fun began, , we checked out nearby the Boca falls, the second tallest in Slovenia at 106 metres high. Being one for always choosing the more strenous option, we decided (ok, I decided) to walk up the mountain to the source of the falls which come straight out of the side of the mountain. It was a hot day and I drank about three litres of water as we toiled up the thickly forested slopes.

We arrived at the top to a fantastic view across the valley and we drank from the very cold waters as they emerged from the rocks. By the time I got back to the car the temperature inside was roasting and my power inverter alarm was going off as it was almost melting.



Next stop was kayaking. Our friendly wacky-haired guide greeted us and in no time we were equipped with all the paraphanalia we needed, wet-suits, paddles, overshoes etc. A chap called Pepe also joined us, he had just arrived from Mexico to be a guide for the season and this was his first trip onto the river) and pretty much the first thing he had done since arriving.

Following standard backpacker practice I made up some impressive sounding stuff about other rivers I had paddled to ensure we got some decent rapids, and was rather peterubed when Pepe began asking questions about the river in Costa Rica I had been on ! Luckily I backed up my stories with some facts (it was a Sarapiqui river) but I didn't mention it had been rafting rather than kayaking.

So once on the water and into some trickier stuff, the inevitable happened. As Amy drifted casually down-stream bypassing all the hazards, I hit an enormous rock and flipped upside down. My made up Eskimo roll skills proved themselves to be just that, made up, and once upside down and underwater I decided to eject the kayak to save myself from further humiliation (and a potential rock to the face).

This happened once more before the trip was over (following the guide through a narrow channel between rocks) and he decided that the next section of the river - the 1998 women's world cup course - was probably beyond us. Amy heartedly agreed as she had seen me swimming down the rapids next to my upturned kayak and was not eager to do something similar.

The river was perfect though, if I was a serious paddler it would have been heaven. And being one of the purest rivers in Europe you can simply lean over the side of the kayak and drink.....how awesome is that !

That evening Amy cooked up some delicious Burritos on the stove, this country is perfect, camping, mountains, rivers - and Mexican food.

Canyoning was on the agenda at 11 the next day, and after a lazy 'double coffee' breakfast we met up with Pepe et al again. Our new guide Christian followed the same process as yesterday (no signing your life away in Slovenia, or talk of payment) and we drove to the trailhead where we walked in wet-suits etc up the mountain.

The canyon was superb, almost purpose built as the difficulty level gradually went up. Swimming jumping and sliding down enormous shutes into plunge pools took up the next couple of hours, with our guide Christian cracking jokes that this was first trip he had done and that he had done all his research on the internet and that he wanted to test some new drop-offs using us !
The shutes became bigger until last up came the piece de resistance, the final super-size plunge shute.

Despite the fact I used to lead these sorts of sessions in Snowdonia, this final pool was extremely high and I couldn't even see the bottom. But Christian's advice worked, feet together, arms crossed, a few seconds of panic as the speed picks up and then whoosh, underwater in the cold before rising to the surface to see the sun glinting off the rocks.

A picture of this final shute is just above and to the left of this text, believe me it was a big drop. But we survived, although Amy's shoulder is a concern again - fingers crossed.

As I write this I am sitting in a school classroom enjoying free internet during a thunderstorm. Amy's computer next to mine just died on the last clap of thunder, but mine seems to be still going. Better sign off now before my luck runs out. The additional challenge is the keyboards aren't standard qwerty, they are qwertz, so apologies if some of this text looks a little Russian.

Cycling will start again soon (shoulder permitting), we are signed up for the Dolimiti Stars Gran Fondo in Italy on Saturday.

I love Slovenia.