Slovenian ride, Bovec - Kranska Gora - Tarvisio - Bovec

Wow, what a ride, but more on that in bit. The evening before we watched the Champions league final in a little bar. Pepe had joined us earlier and after some tasty and very cheap food we sank a few beers as the Liverpool were outclassed by AC Milan.

I couldn't understand the Slovenian commentary, but the result was fairly obvious and Pepe being a Milan fan was pretty happy.


Now, back to the ride. First off let me explain that photos don't do this place justice, it has quite simply the most stunning mountain scenery I think I have ever witnessed, made even more special by being on a bike.

I have been lucky enough to see many mountain areas over time and seen some special places, Mount Aspiring National Park, The Rupal Valley below Nanga Parbat in the Himalaya (unbelieveable 5km vertical cliff-face), K2, The Rockies, Zermatt in the Alps as well as Torres del Paine and Fitzroy in South America.

But I think this area may top the lot.

We started out on a loop that took us over two passes, into and out of Italy and then back to Bovec.

First up was some very gentle climbing from 450 metres or so to about 750m. All the while the turquoise waters of the Soca river were visible and I posed by a bridge for a photo. Then the climb to the pass that would take us over to the ski resort of Kranska Gora began.

Having crested the col at 1610 metres, I would suggest this would be an Hors Categorie or at least Cat 1. It had over 20 hairpins, a consistent gradient and almost 1000 metres height gain - nice.

More photos at the top and we began the descent to Kranska on a road that had views that must have caused my eyes to enlarge to twice their normal size, the scenery was eye popping.

Enormous vertical cliffs towered straight up out of the forests and it was impossible not to gawp upwards as the cobbled hairpins
carried us down. The French Alps are fantastic, but somehow this was better, if this is a taste of the what the Dolomites may involve then we are in for a treat.

Photos can't really capture the enormity of those towering vertical rock faces topped with snow...it was truly amazing. You need an Imax camera and cinema to convey what if feels like to freewheel down those roads as the trees rush by whilst the background up to the sky is filled with enormous rock faces.

We passed a little Russian Church that was built by surviving prisoners in in WW1, the text on the left explains more but basically this amazingly beautiful and peaceful place was the scene of bitter and pointless alpine fighting during both World Wars.....over a million died between 1914 and 1918 alone.

If bullets didn't get you avalanches and falls did, and this was at a time when they would get 6 metres of snow in the valley floor as opposed to the more meagre amounts nowadays.



The wooden Church was in fantastic condition considering the age, and I paused by the memorial wondering what the inscription said in Russian.






After re-mounting, we hurtled into Kranska and found a little bakery were we bought a tasty lunch for about 1 pound each....it's extremely cheap in Slovenia, ie beers are around 80p.

The ski resort looked lovely, I am not sure it is high enough or has enough lifts to tempt me to snowboard, but as a mountain town it is one of the most picturesque I can think of.


We went through the Italian border crossing without showing passports (not sure brigands and cut-throats often ride expensive racing bikes) and pedalled into Tarviso. A left took us on a road that would lead to the Predil Pass, lower than the other one at around 1100 metres.

But before that we stopped at a most beautiful lake - Predil lake - and it was so inviting I whipped off my jersey and plunged in.
And then scrambled out. Despite the air temperature being
around 30 degrees C, the water was still chilly and after a refreshing few strokes decided to get back on the bike. But The Bear (Mike D) would be proud !

Over the pass, another border crossing with disinterested guards (can never quite rule out being sprayed with machine-gun fire) and we were back into Slovenia for a long descent through more stunning mountains and forests until we finally dropped into our campsite in Bovec.

Around 60 miles and definitely amongst the best rides I have ever ridden. I am not sure this is in my book of 'rides you must do before you die', but it should be. I don't think you can get any better, and damp and busy roads in the UK winter now seem such a long long way away. It makes it all worthwhile.

Some video I took of this amazing area can be viewed here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCsVx5A6p9o