Distance: 92km
Elevation: 1.192m
On this day, I passed the 20,000km mark! That means that I have cycled half of the Earth‘s perimeter by bike in the past 8 years.
But one step at a time. My dorm mate Vasja snored like a wild animal. I have never heard anything like it before. In his desperation, Philis slept on the coach in the living room. I was so tired that it didn’t bother me enough. So I just pushed through.
I finally woke up around 7:30am which is little on the late side for me. Over breakfast, I had a bit of a chat with Vasja. He was from here but emigrated to Tenerife a while back with his Russian girlfriend It didn’t last but he stayed on the island.
Now, he was home to visit friends and family. We talked about living amongst other expats in a tourist location. In the off-season it could be very lonely. And in the on-season it was full of tourists. When getting back, he was planning to find a job to give his brain something to do.
We said farewell and I went on to put my luggage on Rosinante. And again, there was a flat tire – despite the new tube. Maybe there was something wrong with the tire after all?
I found a bike shop nearby but they couldn’t help me. Another bike garage 2km away would get on it instantly when I told them my story. Tomas found that the new tube I had installed was punctured. He didn’t find anything unusual about the tire though.
Within half an hour I was back on my wheels.
Cycling through Slovenia is very different than around Venezia. There are mountains and forests, the car drivers are way more considerate and there are really good bike lanes. I liked it.
It was dry but very windy and chilly. Luckily, I had a bit of climbing to do to keep me warm.
I had a late start and was a bit down because of the weather. I had to put on my arm warmers and was still freezing at around 10 degrees.
In Aydovcina, the last town before the climb, I made an early lunch break and ate a yummy pizza.
Then followed 2.5h of straight climbing. It was tough but the scenery was also quite beautiful. I was happy that I had some rather flat days in the saddle before so that I could warm up.
Half way up, I noticed that the back wheel was deflating again. Grrr. So I started pumping air every 10km or so.
At the top of the pass I could see my own breath.
On the way down I met my first fellow traveler. Adrian from Munich. He was cycling from Breslau to Rome to see the holy gate. Some years ago, he had also done a long tour to Istanbul.
He mentioned that he had just met a British couple who were also on their way to Istanbul. Maybe I would meet them along the way?
We chatted a bit on the road but I still wanted to get to Llubjana and had 20km of descent ahead of me.
We said farewell and I went down into the valley leading to Slovenias capital.
After pushing through the last 20km, I made it to my hostel by 7pm, just as it started to rain.
18€ for a night in a dry and warm dorm seemed more attractive to me than to camp out in this weather.
In Llubjana, I passed by a bike traveler couple but did not care to stop in the middle of the heavy traffic.
There was a Spanish guy in my dorm. He was already in bed watching something on his phone. All other beds were empty.
I made dinner and was in bed by 10pm.
All in all, a very good day again with great memories. Thank you, God.