A Bicycle Tour of Slovenia | EPISODE 1: TRIGLAV NATIONAL PARK

A Bicycle Tour of Slovenia | EPISODE 1: TRIGLAV NATIONAL PARK

I don’t know if I’ve seen a more pretty little spot seriously feel like I’m in a fairy tale Here Well here we are here we are Denver International Airport it’s been a stressful beginning see bad things always happen in threes we already had three to four threes five threes I’m at about seven you might be at six but here we go on our way a grand adventure for

Sure so happy trails everybody now I’ve since lost count of all the little things that had conspired to spoil this trip but we managed to survive them all and here we are heading for our first Bike Tour all together the three of us but this bike tour will be different

Due to time constraints we opted to use a bike tour operator for the first time with rented bikes luggage transfers and pre-booked hotels all along the entire route all right we made it to Lana cannot wait cannot wait to get on trail and sleep first sleep yeah absolutely while

We’re recovering from jet lag perhaps this would be a good time to introduce my daughters and riding Partners this time around Bailey my firstborn has been joining me on adventur since she could walk she’s primarily a hiker Backpacker Backcountry skier and a rafter self-identifying as a river rat she has backpacked the complete

567m long Colorado Trail and although she commutes to work daily on her bicycle and has joined Juliana and I on some biking Adventures she’s by her own admission no bicycle tourist Kelsey while growing up was the least likely to join us in our Backcountry Adventures but something clicked along the way and

Now in addition to hiking the Colorado Trail she’s also completed the John mure Trail in California and the Pacific Crest Trail Mexico to Canada she’s a huge fan of human-powered locomotion and bikes or walks wherever possible in her daily life she joined me on a bicycle

Tour in the San Juan Island a few years back I had hoped that my son and Kelsey’s twin brother Walker could join us on this trip but he was held back at the last minute by work issues perhaps next time checked in last night into this

Hotel in cron Slovenia I woke up this morning look at that view those are the mountains we’re going to be climbing through and climbing over and riding through in a couple of days fabulous wow but first we had to catch a local bus into bled where in the morning we would

Meet with the tour operator and get our bikes and the details for the next 11 days that means we had all afternoon and evening to enjoy the Magnificent setting of beautiful Lake bled we just checked into our hotel here in bled and as you can see little Castle View right out the

Right out the window right out the balcony here I like that very nice we uh talk to them in the morning get our little welcome conversation going get our and get started in the morning this afternoon looks like we’ll just kind of go down to the lake do the tourist thing

Blood is very much a tourist City this is Kelsey and Bailey’s room a nice little balcony and look at that view oh my goodness the next logical step was to take a walk along the lak shore admiring The View despite the fact that Lake bled is one of the biggest tourist

Attractions in all of Slovenia its charms definitely shine through before we knew it we were halfway around the lake and we stopped to take a rest before completing the 6 km loop I like that little cabin yeah if I had a cabin I would want something like

That something minimal kind of I really like the minimal and I kind of like that that just feels like archetypal yeah the setting of Lake bled has been inspiring people for centuries in the year4 Emperor Henry II of the Holy Roman Empire built that castle right there on

The cliff and the church there on the island while quite a bit younger is no less picturesque What do we have here I’ve got trout with fennel with pickled anus and you’ve got local made noodle with tofu and like a balsamic sauce and pumpkin something sauce and there’s little flour bits and some pesty things eating and then you got some truet stuff and a delicious white

Wine all overlooking beautiful Lake bled good morning we are waking up on our first day of riding here in Lake bled where we can see the castle from our hotel hotel room no big deal we just looked up and saw this beautiful hot air balloon floating up into the sky that’s

How my soul feels it’s going to be a good day think it’s an auspicious Omen hi I’m Kelsey I’m filming this gu after meeting with our tour Le aison we got fitted for our bikes more about that later and we’re whisk away in a van to

The top of a pass well the van just dropped us off took us up to thep of this I guess some kind of a pass from bled up to here and from here on we’ll be riding what a gorgeous spot huh really pretty up here kind of cool

Definitely got some elevation gain yeah just getting our stuff ready looking forward to a nice day today it’s mostly descent so we should be hitting some waterfalls a nice Lake I don’t know whole thing sounds really cool so here we go so we got on our less than ideal

Rental bikes and we began our journey Journey all right we are rocking and rolling we’re at the top of uh I don’t know some pass or another kind of a cool gray day at least up here we’re going to be doing some elevation changing today it’s going to be all downhill really a

Lot of people biking through here it’s really popular and big hiking area as well lovely Forest this is the kind of forest that you read about in fairy tales very magical so the 2023 father do trip is officially underway Elsie morning how you doing fine how are you I’m good bike feels a

Little rough Yeah well yeah we’re used to the good stuff we’re used to the good stuff for sure this is professional grade morning B good morning how you doing physically great emotionally I’m very sad about something unrelated but bicycling is the best medicine for that

Isn’t it sure is it’s hard to be too down when you’re just cranking away getting fresh air it’s beautiful morning we were headed for triglow National Park a jewel high in the Ulen Alps but first We Came Upon a lovely roadside gy a rest stop for Walkers and cyclists created entirely from mcals

Prolific and delightful imagination okay so here’s a nice little chair to sit and relax oh what have we here a little bottle for you to take a sip and farewell who’s taking the first sip baile I will not in the end she did we all did it was

A gift after all from a beautiful soul thank you my good man for all that you do hello as we ventured further the road deteriorated significantly but we found ourselves immersed in an oldw World landscape of rustic buildings scattered across sweeping pastures amidst soaring mountains and deep fertile valleys got the botles whoa

Waa let’s pull over for a second my goodness wow this is triau National Park The Jewel of the Ulen Alps it encompasses 4% of the entire Slovenian Nation nearly all of the country’s highest peaks a multitude of lakes and waterfalls and rustic old world culture everywhere you go here they have

These strange fences with a little roof on top of them slats across very rustic my understanding is that they are for drying hay for the livestock my goodness this is gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous look at this Wow seriously feel like I’m in a fairy tale here it’s just so cool Like [Applause] this my goodness Wee you can pass Yes You believe this this is so cool so pretty Just the route led us from one breathtaking view after another through enchanting Villages and mystical forests well tended Wayside shrines and churches lying the way attesting to the faith of this largely Catholic Culture the area around here is popular with hikers and cyclists alike and we cross paths with numerous groups of Road cyclist from back roads and other tour operators and there you see them drying the Grass I don’t know if I’ve seen a more pretty little spot I mean it is just dreamy we’re going straight right the elegant Church of St John the Baptist finds itself in an ideal setting and no doubt Graces many a Postcard here we took a side trip following the shores of Lake bohim to the Sava waterfall one of the many gems of thlow National Park A lot of cars and a lot of cyclists too everyone’s getting along everyone seems to be totally chilled with it all here at Lake bohim bohim let hiked up this really steep Trail to check out the waterfall take a look there are bears here wol I know I was

Seeing that but there’s wolves too werewolves this is like werewolf territory are there normal wolves or just the we kind oh I don’t know about regular kind probably notes they’ve hunted all those down but the werewolves they haven’t been able to eradicate fully just got finished with a doing a

Nice uh walk up to a waterfall and now we’re heading back to bohen got about 10 Mi to go it’s gray kind of cool humid really pretty Forest through here just loving the forest but coming up here we were all kind of daunted by The Climb which wasn’t that intense but on these

Bikes on these bikes it was pretty brutal mean they’re really heavy bikes as you can hear my chain is rattling it’s not the best bike I was expecting better I have to admit this one is very uncomfortable for me seat keeps slipping keep having that problem and it’s just

The the frame is way too small for me I told them in advance that frame is going to be way too small said oh it’s fine we have a different measuring system this is made for a guy your size not even close but has a tall seat post so I can

Get my legs to the right extension but you know everything is kind of janky on it so we decided that we’re going to shuttle to the top of the hill in the morning and we’re not going to ride it’s going to be about a 3,000 ft climb and

Maybe 7 miles or something I just thought I can’t do it on this bike and Kelsey felt the same way baay was more like she felt she could do it it’s the first time I’ve ever copped out but I feel good about it here we go dude there’s so much Lake here yeah

Whole bunch of Lake I’m liking the amount of Lake yeah yay a bike path oh good treat how about that a bike path I love it although not exactly level like a rail trail that’s is going to be steep looks like we’re doing our final stretch into bohen this I can’t remember

The name bin something got a little rain very light doesn’t look like it’s going to really do much until later today and then rain tomorrow boy it is just so gorgeous through here see if I can catch up with these too once we made it back to Lake

Boheen we found a lovely bike trail along the Sava boha which took us the rest of the way to our stop for the night binisha isit Uh oh yeah nice view huh oh my Goodness doesn’t that look like the kind of path you want to ride down boy oh boy oh golly G will golly gosh oh my goodness want to go and hi hi hello how you doing M on your left Kelsey yellow just desite the less than ideal rental bike situation we had spent an entire day surrounded by an Alpine Paradise making this one of the most Delightful Days of riding one can imagine the rest of our ride was an easy cruise into town through a flat fertile

Valley beneath graceful Peaks and with only a few obstacles well look out they’re uh they’re doing those little rolling Cross Country Skis getting ready for winter how about that well here comes the rain you can hear it can’t feel it yet arriving in our town for the night Bim

Dist we reached our Inn really a campground with a modern but thoroughly unique and delightful Lodge and then we headed out for a well-deserved meal heading out to town find our El some strudel treats something beer beer gorgeous place it’s kind of like a campground um we also got a room here

It’s it’s gorgeous gorgeous Vistas around here this just fabulous what a day this has been incredible day yeah Bailey yeah yeah darling oh yeah did you mention that we decided not to bike up the very very very very very Steep Hill tomorrow didn’t mention it we had a

Rough day climbing today those bikes aren’t fitting lb yeah they’re little out of control so we are going to get a ride to the top of some pass or another or to the top of a plateau and that’s what we’re going to do it’s all good scud sounds better beer

Sounds actually scud well just beer Fabulous that is great it’s local Che that night the rain that had been promised all day finally arrived perfect timing All

Our latest cycling adventure comes to you from the beautiful nation of Slovenia. Arriving in Ljubljana, we spend an afternoon at Lake Bled before riding through the spectacular Triglav National Park. With mile after mile of absolutely spectacular alpine scenery, you won’t believe how beautiful this country is. This time it’s my daughters and me, on our very first bike tour all together. In a departure, we opt to go with a self-guided tour, renting bikes and having the operator shlep our luggage for us. We’ll see how that all works out! In the meantime, enjoy this trip with us as we explore a region whose charms may very well take you by surprise.

Music:

Meghmalai – Maree Docia
Epidemic Sound

Helium – TrackTribe
YouTube-AudioLibrary

Tell It Later – Kikoru
Epidemic Sound

Fool’s Gold – Spectacles Wallet and Watch
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Synesthesia – Peter Sandberg
Epidemic Sound