Distance travelled: 508km
Total distance: 11,231km
Ice cream count: 32.5

 

Treviso was a bit of an unplanned stop in an effort to look at kitchen paint colours as they had a Farrow and Ball shop there. Sadly the shop was closed for holidays, but it turned out to be a gorgeous little town so we made the most of some time out of the car and had a good walk round and some lunch.
From there we were on to our next country of Slovenia – somewhere new for us both and a place we had very little knowledge or preconceptions about. Happily it was totally beautiful and from the minute we crossed the border we noticed a change in landscape and feel, being much more quiet and undeveloped as well as stunning landscape all around.

We climbed into the beautiful mountains and lakes of Triglavski Narodni Park, passing through some pretty alpine-esque villages to eventually arrive at our campsite on the Soča River. This was a really lovely place to be based for a few days – much cooler (we had to get our sleeping bags back out!) and really quiet and peaceful – we even had some rain! We had lots of lovely walks for Wilf and some restful time for the rest of us.
From here it was on to another secluded site between Lake Bled and Ljubljana. This one was set in an orchard and again was quite chilled and peaceful – other than a monster thunder storm one night that bashed and battered the van!! Lake Bled was stunning, as well as its nearby companion lake Bohinj, which was a bit less touristy and developed. Both sparkling in the sun (it was scorching again!) and Lake Bled with stunning views of the Castle and the pilgrimage church of the Assumption of Mary out on the island that you see in all the tour guides. We also tried Bled Cake (like a vanilla slice but with half custard and half cream – yum!) and found Somersby cider for the first time since Portugal which made Matt very happy!

 

Next stop was lovely Ljubljana for a day – the capital of Slovenia set on the River Ljubljanica and still a fairly small town with less than 300,000 inhabitants. What it lacked in size it made up for in beauty though! From the park that we arrived at to the castle towering over the town (reached by some extremely steep paths) and everything in between, it was stunning! As always, our favourite thing was strolling along the riverside and crossing all the many bridges (some guarded by dragons) back and forth between various cafés and restaurants. We had an amazing pizza for lunch and some tasty Friday night drinks at a really nice bar on the river too, as well as exploring a few arty shops where we picked up some souvenirs including some lovely wooden toys for Griff. One of the most interesting and pretty towns yet I think.
Final stop in Slovenia was a bit unplanned and was a quiet site near Dolenjske Toplice, a spa town surrounded by forests and on two rivers. This was two days of walking with Wilf, a run for me and some cycling for Matt. More thunderstorms resulted in us getting a bit of a soaking too, but it was a nice rest and gave Griff some time out of the van getting some fresh air, which he enjoyed.