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Journal: |
I think I may have been the only person staying in the lodge
which seemed to be run by two elderly women and an elderly man.
I was given a pretty basic breakfast and hit the trail at 7:45am,
starting with some more beautiful trail through mixed forest, but
soon climbing steeply up a gorge on loose rocks. It was hard
work, with the risk of losing my footing ever-present, but not
particularly dangerous. I gained height rapidly, with my GPS
beeping regularly as it lost the satellites in the narrow gorge.
Eventually, the grade lessened a little, though I was still climbing
quickly as it followed a broad dry white-boulder-strewn valley
upwards, before entering another pretty forest. At around
1800m, with great views, it flattened out and became a balcony trail
as I headed east towards Vrsic. More great views and an
increasing number of hikers. The wind was becoming quite
strong anf there were some low grey clouds, making me wonder whether
a cool and wet change was in the offing.
I descended to
Vrsic, which was on a road busy with tourists. The car parks
were full and many people were setting out for a day's hiking.
By now it was 10:15am and I stopped at a kiosk and bought a Coke and
ice-cream for morning tea. I haven't seen a supermarket for a
while and am running low on muesli bars and chocolate. I'm not
likely to see a shop for another few days, so have decided to buy
snacks when available.
The trail down to Trenta from Vrsic
was beautiful, passing through mixed conifer and deciduous forest
along paths made difficult with roots and rocks, but also often soft
with decaying leaf matter. All the way, it was near a crystal
clear rushing stream that later entered the Soca river. The
walking was quite fast, despite many stops to admire the clear aqua
stream rushing past white boulders.
Trenta was my goal for
the day, and I was hoping that it might have a few hotels to choose
from. I knew there was a Triglav National Park Visitors Centre
there and expected more accommodation than there turned out to be.
The small village was pretty sleepy on what had become a warm sunny
day, and the very small shop was closed until 5pm. It was
still only a little after 1pm, and I decided to go to a cafe and
have a pizza for lunch while pondering what to do. I knew I
had quite a big day tomorrow, but I also knew that it was 4 hours to
the next accommodation. I went to the Visitors Centre after
lunch and the girl confirmed there wasn't much on offer locally,
although I could probably easily get a bed & breakfast. Since
that probably wouldn't come with either wi-fi or TV (Tour de
France), I decided to keep walking. The girl offered to call
the Prehodavci Hut to book me a bed. They said they were
booked out, but would find somewhere if I came up, so I set off.
It was very warm and the prospect of a 1500m ascent wasn't that
appealing, but I put my head down to see if I could do it in less
than the 4.5 hours the signs indicated. Although the climb was
pretty much relentless the whole way, it was again through very
pretty woods along well-maintained trails, gradually climbing to
higher and higher valleys. After a couple of hours it rose
above the tree-line and travelled through mountain pastures through
a valley before leaving any kind of greenery behind to follow what
seemed like an old cart track zig-zagging up a rocky mountain before
reaching, at 6pm, the very isolated hut in a barren rocky landscape
with spectacular views. The very nice hut guy said that he
might be able to find me a bed in the hut (as opposed to the
separate winter room), but wouldn't know until 7pm. There's
pretty much no water here unless you buy it and the toilet is about
100m away with no washing facilities at all. Having said all
that, it's a spectacular location.
I decided to have my
dinner first and ate soup and bratwurst, the only thing on offer,
before buying 1.5 litres of water and hiding behind a shed to have a
flannel wash. I was very sticky after the tough climb and
didn't fancy climbing into my sleeping sheet and making it dirty for
the next few days when I would be needing it. Of course, just
as I began washing the family jewels, a family came walking past,
causing me some embarrassment!
After dinner, I sat in the
noisy dining room, primarily due to a couple of families with about
twelve/ kids between them, and updated my diary. I visited the
toilet after dinner which was diabolical....easily the worst of the
trip....best defined as multiple squat long-drops!
Because of
where the huts are, I have a very short day tomorrow, but it should
be spectacular.
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