Started at Col de la Core and followed the Chemin de la Libertee past the plane crash site and up to Col de Craberous. Lunch at the Col and then turned right and followed the ridge line which turns into Crete de Balame before dropping back to Col de La Core.
It was baking hot and possibly a little of a stretch, Over 1500m of up and 18km. Amazing flowers all the way. Oh, and there was still some snow.
Grand day out!
With the fruit bushes laden and plenty of jam already in the cupboard for the winter season in Chamonix we decided to make a dehydrator. It is basically a box with a glass pane and some vents. There are a couple of shelves inside to put produce on. Pop it in the sun and the air in the box warms up. An air current takes the moisture out of the box and the things inside dry up.
Commercial versions use power and have knobs on with different settings. Ours is compact and made of scrap.
First test was with some small tomatoes which needed using up. Within a day sat on the front terrace we had sun dried tomatoes. Next is blackcurrants unless the mushrooms start appearing first.
What an amazing country to visit. Beautiful countryside, lovely wine and fantastic people. Mountains, lakes and coast. We planned to stay for a month, mixing camping with staying in small guest houses and apartments. We took the van and drove through Italy with mountain bikes, hiking stuff, camping kit and climbing kit.
A good place to start, especially when arriving from Italy, is the wine region around Kanal. Mountain Bikes are a fantastic way to explore the vineyards and the cherry orchards. The karst scenery is breathtaking with deep cut limestone gorges and caves.
On route to the coast we called by the Church of the Holy Trinity at Hrastovlje where the procession of death is painted on the wall. We had to phone the caretaker to let us in but we got a private viewing and explanation of all the medieval paintings. Outside there was a very bizarre gate to a paddock made up of wartime memorabilia welded together. We took a wander through to village and got chatting to a guy about a very old blue moped. He then turned round and asked if we wanted to see his private museum of wartime stuff. It was his paddock, garden and a room at the back of the house, crammed with anything to do with the first or second world wars.
Next stop Pirea on the coast. A touristy town with a wealth of history. All the historical plaques were in Slovenian and English. This is a theme throughout the country.
Inland again to a tiny hamlet near Cernica. On the way we took in a medieval castle in a cave. At one time it belonged to a “Robin Hood” style character who mocked the law and survived a long siege of the castle by getting supplies in through the cave network behind the castle. This only came to an end when he was hit by a cannonball while sat on the privy.
More exploring by bike and a visit to the wondrous caves at Postojna. Now I used to go caving for fun and take groups caving. This cave is incredible and so well presented as a tourist attraction. The guides are superb and all my scepticism about show caves has been blown away. Alas, no photos of the cave as I think they want you to buy theirs.
From here we headed north of the capital to Kamnick. We were lucky with the weather to get up to see the Velika Planina, highland pasture with old style herdsmans huts. Beautiful wooden structures in a series of tiny hamlets. We also jumped on a bus for a day trip into Ljubljana. The mountains here were holding too much snow and the weather was not good enough for much hiking so we then drove over to the Julian Alps, Bled and Bohinjska Bistrica.
Triglavski National Park are stunning. It is very touristy and although it was out of season it cost more to park the car than drive it. Bikes are brilliant. There’s a plethora of climbing and hiking options.
Other places visited and well worth a mention.
Having arrived again from Chamonix we had a week to get installed in the barn and set the garden up for the summer. It’s a great time of year full of little surprises. Finding plants amongst the weeds and giving them space to breath again after the winter. And let’s face it, when we say “garden”, we are actually trying to tame a bit of a field. We introduce plants that one would not normally find in a field and try to remove plants that should be there but are not to our liking. Then there are the critters. The slimy black ones that eat seedlings and salad crops and the big brown furry ones that eat the fresh tips off the fruit bushes and beats.
We have learnt over the years that going at it, full throttle, is not good for our bodies. These days we do a little of something and then do something else. Then go back to the first thing. One could do all the strimming in a day, or one can do a tank of fuel each morning first thing before it gets too hot, and take a week to clear the place. There are, of course dependencies. Clearing some weeds to allow some compost to be dug out of the heap before the fresh grass cuttings get put on the compost heap for example.
By the end of the week we had all the weeding done and plant supports in place for the flowers, all the strimming done and even managed a couple of walks. One over Pic de la Fonta, above Couflens, and the other, from the barn doing a loop via Bois de Lanette. The wild flowers were amazing.
