The Slovenians must have known we were coming, so they had a film crew and a mountain bike festival waiting for us... or at least that's how it felt.
After being in the country for little over an hour, we stumbled on a film set with a full production crew. We stopped for a few moments to watch them film and met our first local. He was a fireman charged with overseeing the bonfire used on this particular production. In a few short minutes he informed us of everything we would need to know for the remainder of our stay in Slovenia. He told us that Slovenians are all friendly, and excited to talk to foreigners. Most of them speak english and are eager to give directions. They used the Euro, and had excellent food options. Last but not least, he told us that stealth camping wouldn't bother anyone if we were out of the way. Slovenia is not densely populated, but is vary wooded with lots of mountains and valleys. It's beautiful, but not very conducive to side of the road camping. If you find a spot, take it. We thanked him and started back down the road looking for a good spot to camp.
No sooner did we start looking than we rolled up on the Trail Days Bike and Music Festival. Upon seeing our bikes and gear, a few of the participants inquisitively took us in. We made camp with this exciting group of downhill mountain bikers that were eager to hear about our journey. After dinner and a little time enjoying the festival, we headed to be knowing we had a big day ahead of us.
Before we had our tents packed up, this mobile downhillers dream village was already bustling, and at the peak of the skyline was our challenge; Vrsic Pass. Vrsic is the tallest point in Slovenia nestled in the Julian Alps. It has 55 switchbacks and is nearly 3000ft of elevation gain in just under 7 miles. When attempting this with a fully loaded touring bike, you should be prepared for a workout. With the approval and support of literally hundreds of badass downhill mountain bikers we put foot to pedal spinning towards our goal. Unbeknownst to us, this was the same route the downhillers were taking to start their adventures on the day. The result was unquestionably one of the most memorable parts of the trip in that litterally hundreds of downhill mountain bikers were ridding up next to us, patting us on the back, high fives, giving us a few pushes and encouragement from base to peak. I've never met a friendlier more supportive group, and they made us feel right at home despite our wheels of a different breed.
After a short rest on the top of the pass (where there was yet another movie being filmed) we began our descend into the town of Bovec. If Vrsic was the diamond, Bovec was the ring. This place has everything an outdoorsman could ever want. Climbing, hiking, kayaking, biking, ziplines, skiing, even their own airport for skydiving. And if that isn't enough, the views are to die for. Our plan was to pass through, we stayed for almost 3 days. It can be accessed from the famous Soca Trail, a hikers paradise.
It was hard to say goodbye to this little town, but we had to push on and make up for the extra days we spent climbing, trying a via ferrata, and taking in the WWI history.
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