Wednesday 21st June. Ocizla - Trieste (Italy) EPW day 20

Another early morning , waking to a very excited hostel. Last night it was only peace walkers staying there so the whole place is a buzz  with the prospect of our last walk and our last day.

As always the morning walk out of the village is up..

But wow, this is just really beautiful.

Very challenging, rocky downhill that took us all the way into Italy. A another non descript border.

Thankfully there is a cafe -aperto. Except it isn't open, not for a couple of hours!! No coffee!!!!

Embarked on a very steep uphill ( VERY steep) on a concrete road, that went on for over a kilometre. Then there is 12km pedestrian/bike path along an old railway path all the way to Trieste!

Lucky for the universe we were rewarded with fantastic views all the way, both of where we had been and of Trieste.

Made it to the Piazza del' Unità d'Italia which is our finish line!!!!'

Obligatory photo taken in front of the "Fontana dei Quattro Continenti"

We are also planning to return here tonight at 6pm to take a group photo of 2 girls in group 3, group 5, us in group 6 and also group 7. 

Well, home now and tucked up in a gorgeous bed, in a really wonderful apartment in downtown Trieste.

Everyone did show up for our photo, including the others in group 3 and also group 4 who were all still here. 

A wonderful moment for a bunch of strangers who had all been bought together in a huge challenge that we all completed on various days this week.

I will finish our blog now and enjoy our last day in Trieste tomorrow before starting the long journey back to Australia on Friday.

So looking forward to be home with our family now.......

Tuesday 20th June Gonja košama -ocizla

Fairly restful sleep in the corridor of our hostel, seriously!!!!!

We were lucky enough to have a couch in the corridor, but it wasn't really as bad as it sounds.

Up early and a quick brekky with the other 23...

Out of the hostel and straight up, through some really pretty villages and into some really beautiful forest.

We all have a little bit of a spring in our step today as we have decided to give ourselves a little treat.

There are two choices today about the route we can take ( I really love choice!)

After about 16k we arrive at a bridge over the river Reka. Bit odd tho coz the Slovenian word for river is reka so it is actually river river......

Anyhow, I digress. 

The choice is to walk down by the side of the river, do some ridiculously steep assents followed of course by ridiculously steep descents OR walk the same distance, bit less on a bitumen road😳. 

No brainer, we walked the river. 

Huge morning but we arrived at the šcojanske caves around midday. We will do a tour of the caves that will take a couple of hours and then the lovely Jana from the hostel will come and collect us.

The caves... I don't where to begin. Truly mind blowing the sheer enormity of them. There were bridges going over huge caverns that were really terrifying. We were not allowed to take photos inside but I will include a picture out of the book I bought, for completion in the blog.

I have never , ever seen anything like it.

Taken back to the hostel and will share a dorm with 4 others which is nice. 

Dinner at a bar down the road and a walk home at sunset completed the day.

Monday 19th June Postojna - Gornja košama

Up and off early again. Dropped into a bakery that was sadly closed. They had told us they would be open by 6 so you can imagine the devastation !!!!

But on, on we troop. Finding a little place on the outskirts of town where a lady was taking croissants filled with apricot jam out of her oven. Gotta be happy with that.

Another day of slogging through fields and a very long stretch that was uphill on a dirt road that seemed to take forever.  Of course a downhill but some beautiful views 

Again no breaks, no coffee.

We came across a dry wall of indeterminate age except very old and unknown purpose, but exciting to see.

Long walk into tonight's accommodation but a fabulous hostel with a welcome drink, lunch and typical Slovenian dinner

Sunday 18th June Bistra - Postojna EPW day 17

The guide says today will be TOUGH, yes it was written in capitals....

I guess they weren't wrong, it was very tough but at the same time one of the nicest days we have had. Well the morning was awesome. 

From the accomodation, we returned to the arches over the road and the beautiful old monestary and turned right and went up hill. The views as we rose were fabulous and we essentially climbed uphill for about 2 hours. The rest of the morning was spent still the forest where it was cool.

Of course no rest spots and definitely no cafes,,,but we did finally come across a bar in the little town of Laze. That was after crossing over an incredibly noisy motorway and bringing us back into civilisation with a bit of sensory overload. It was also after approx 5 hours of walking and clocking up about 20 odd km's..

That was it.... 

We spent the rest of the afternoon dodging high speed motorcycles and cars on a fairly major road as we walked along the verge.

Totally hot and  uninspiring walk along bitumen into the town of Postojna.

Tonight we stay at a youth hostel, which is really very nice.

Dinner in the little square, we had the best Angus beef cheeseburgers we have ever tasted !!!!!

Saturday 17th Ljubiana - Bistra EPW Day 16

Up and out early, leaving this beautiful city. Sad to be leaving. 

Crossing the motorway, we then headed into the fields and forests. No signs of caffeine at this point

We had walked approx 14k  and decided to take a very risky detour away from our red arrows in a desperate search for that elusive coffee. Success.......

Rejoined the proper track and feeling a lot more confident again with the red arrows and despite the ankle deep mud.

A pleasant afternoon spent amongst farmland, cows, a few special creek crossing and one particular electric fence crossing that was quite memorable and a couple of wrong turns. But eventually we made it. Arriving about 2.30 pm, 7 hours of walking.

Staying in a great hostel in the tiny town of Bistra . 10 bed dorms

Interestingly, this walk is becoming a little caminoesque with lots of people now on the same time frame. Some are walking without rest days and others are having many. 

Tonight there were 25 for dinner!!!

After dinner Stuart and Glenn went to a technical museum across the car park. Seriously!!!!

The report was that it was absolutely fabulous and huge. You will have to wait till we return home tho because he is really too tired to be able to add anything to the blog as I write, poor love!

Friday 16 June Ljubljana ( lake bled)

Ljubljana is a wonderful old European city, old section is car free, eaterys galore. 

Today we took our touristing to a new level by joining a tour to Lake Bled in an 8 seater bus. We saw a gorge €4, boat trip to the island €14, then a Bled castle visit €10. All very pleasant and scenic. We unfortunately didn't get to swim in the lake, though our friends who did raved over it.

The afternoon back in Ljubljana. Every Friday they have stalls set up in a square where local restaurants sell food. Quite affordable and spectacularly diverse. Late lunch was disturbed by a thunderstorm, the market square emptied only to fill as soon as the storm passed.

This progressed to dinner then back to hostel to ready for the restart of early morning and full days of walking...

Thursday 15th June Zagreb (Croatia) - ljublijiana (Slovenia) EPW day 14

Early rise to catch a 7am train to ljublijiana, capital of Slovenia.

Another couple of days without big walks but we at least had this one planned so as to have a day trip to Bled and the beautiful lake and castle.

2 and a half hour trip through some superb scenery that was totally unexpected. I tried to take a few snaps but they probably resulted in big green blurs, we'll see....

Made it to our hostel which is very basic, staying in an 8 bed dorm with a bunch of young folk.

The best thing about it is, location. On the road that is along the river, could not get a better spot I don't think.

Beautiful, picturesque town/ city and we spent most of he day doing the touristy thing. 

Huge castle on a hill that has been totally reconstructed. Got there on a very high finicular.

Great dinner by the river followed by a toddle and an ice cream