|
Journal: |
I made a relaxed start to the day, thankful that I hadn't thrown
out the small supply of instant coffee I've been carrying unused for
over two months. It supplemented the meagre and bland biscuits
and muesli bars I had for breakfast before leaving around 8:20am.
After a steep climb out of the village along a forest track, the
Via Alpina reached a forest road that followed the contours of a
mountain as I headed south. It was a cool breezy morning,
ideal for hiking, and the views to the west and north through the
occasional gaps in the trees revealed the same rolling terrain, dark
green forests, tiny villages and white farmhouses, with the high
peaks of Triglav National Park in the far distance. The Via
Alpina was now well away from the more popular hiking areas, and the
route was cobbled together using the vast number of tracks and
trails in an area that has probably been farmed and logged for two
thousand years. Some were easy to follow and some were not.
Trail marking was erratic and I made sure that I was always checking
where I was on the map. ticking off intersections as I passed, and
occasionally double-checking with my GPS. I didn't make any
errors and tried to maintain a reasonable pace given the distance to
Idrija, my goal. My task was also made easy by the absence of
any huge climbs or descents with most of the day's travel
oscillating between 700m and 1000m, passing through farmland, tiny
villages and shady woods. Around 10am, I met a French couple
in their 50s hiking for 20 days on the Via Alpina headed in the
opposite direction and we had a short chat before heading on our
respective ways.
I had an early lunch at 11:30am and intended
to stop for an afternoon break and some food in the village of
Idrisek, if it had anything to offer. Not having eaten
anything substantial since breakfast yesterday, I started to run on
empty in the afternoon, which was mostly spent on back roads through
the pretty countryside. Approaching Idrisek, I almost didn't
notice the two hikers, fellow Via Alpiners as it turned out, taking
a siesta in a field about five metres from the road. I had a
quick chat and we might see each other in Idrija this evening.
Idrisek turned out to only have a quiet-looking guesthouse and a
sign indicating 1:15hrs walking to Idrija, persuaded me to keep
going despite fatigue and hunger. Eventually, I started the
fairly long and technical descent to the town and was probably lucky
to only slip and fall once along the way. Idrija reminded me a
bit of the old Yugoslavia I visited in 1975, with a lot of post-war
concrete buildings in need of some care and attention and a fairly
limited range of goods in the small supermarket. Having said
that, there were also a lot of historic buildings in pretty good
shape, so maybe I'm being unfair. I dropped in at the tourist
office near the town centre and asked for a recommendation for
accommodation nearby. The helpful guy gave me three options
and the first turned out to be fine. I checked in at 4:30pm
after a satisfactory day and look forward to hiking on a full
stomach tomorrow.
I had dinner at the guest house and met the
couple I had seen snoozing by the side of the trail early in the
afternoon. They are French (I would guess in their 50s) and
have been hiking the Via Alpina for two weeks at a time for the last
seven years. They finish the trail this week. They also
both run marathons and next year will run London to complete the Big
5 - London, New York, Boston, Chicago and Berlin. The wife has
also run Paris ten times! I may see them on the trail
tomorrow, though I am on a tighter schedule than them, so will
probably have to walk further.
|
