We had an amazing breakfast at our hotel with multitudinous choices. Our guide Jelena did a quick explanation of the app “Ride with GPS” and got several more people using it. It was helpful to me to learn how to mount it on the bike in portrait mode instead of landscape.
The primary feature of the topo map was downhill on a former railroad bed that has been converted to a famous bike path. The scenery was absolutely beautiful riding through the mountain valley with the river below and old railroad stations every few miles that have been converted into cafe’s full of people enjoying a coffee or a beer. The weather turned out much better than predicted.
We had another fall with a rider pulling out his camera while riding to take a picture and then pulling too hard on his front brake to slow down for the person in front of him. Luckily he wasn’t going very fast.
The bike path was very busy in spots and there must have been ten other groups like us doing a ride on the trail plus lots of locals out for a ride on a nice day. We had one glitch were there was some new construction and the detour sign was not clear on how to get around the completely blocked road. But we made it! We saw wonderful views of the mountains, waterfalls, bridges, and tunnels. There must have been 20+ tunnels. Some short some long and some in between. The long ones were dimly lighted. Our tour group furnished us with front and back lights for better visibility for us to see and for other bikers to see us.
Lunch was a picnic that our guides (and Patti) prepared for us at a cute park by the river. It was also the end of our 27 mile ride today. They loaded the bikes on a trailer behind the van and took everything back to the hotel. We then took a bigger bus to Venzone which was destroyed by and earthquake in the 70s and they completely rebuilt it. We were treated to some pastries and gelato at one of the shops in Venzone by our tour group and then we had some time to walk around the town. There were pictures of before the earthquake, right after the earthquake and after the restoration. They strived to make it as much like the original. They did an excellent job.
We then shuttled back to the hotel for showers and street clothes and then they treated us to a wine tasting at a local wine bar. Johnny regaled us with stories about the wine and local attractions and we tasted two whites and a red paired with local appetizers. We then were free to have dinner on our own.
Tomorrow we change hotels and will spend 2 days in Slovenia – the Hotel is in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia – but we mostly ride there ourselves tomorrow.
Until then…