[Blog #54] Cycling on the Alps | Slovenia | Logaska Dolina
Heeeyho Readers! Let's visit through photos one of the most amazing places in the world - the Logar Valley.
Heeey readers, guess who's back? After a small Steem vacations I'm slowly finding my way back to the Steemverse. Life is somewhat busy here in London, wich also cooperates for my absense. However, once we are stung my the Steembug, there's no way to simply leave it behind, right?
With that being said, I'd like to restart some posts about the rest of my winter trip that lasted from November to early January, when my touring bicycle was stolen.
On the last video I tried to document the journey from Maribor, passing through Dravograd and then into the heights of the Alpine regions in northern Slovenia. It was a three days cycling trip, camping on the snow and specially going up to an altitude of 1300 meters - not an easy cycling, but worth the views. Enjoy!
Logar Valley - How far can we go?
Generally when I start a trip, I have no pre planned routines for where to go or for what I want to see, just a general direction. Most of the times I end up discovering the awesomeness of this world on the go. I also end up putting myself into a lot of trouble just because I didn't know about what I'd be facing. That is travelling and the surprise is what makes it interesting.
The whole journey to the Logar Valley was exactly like that: a big, tough, tiring and beautiul surprise.
The way up to the Kamnik Alps didn't feel a lot pleasing; first to second gear on the bike, slow pace and dense forests on both sides of the road all combined to a boring ascend. Small encouters along the way, such as waking up with a deer just near my tent, helped the moral as I continued the madness of going up there during the winter.
After three days cycling without seeing much, I finally started to feel the road getting flatter. Would that be the top? Ahead of me a sign "Welcome to the Solcava Panoramic Road".
I won't go through the details of what it is nor throw tons of words to describe how beautiful and impressive the whole place is, the post would be way to big if I tried. Instead, i'll leave some pictures and let you feel inspired.
The View Opens
Once on top of the valley, or the beginning of the Solcava Panoramic Road, the views open up to amaze any person that happens to cross those lands. Insane peaks and forests combined with small cozy farms. I couldn't help but think how quiet life must be on that place, especially during the winter, when all the tourists run away.
Is it all black and white?
At first glance my first reaction was to stop and laugh. Is this even real? - I thought. Looking at those peaks seemed surreal somehow. Eventhough on some pictures the sky was blue, the weather up there changed quick, in a matter of minutes it could close and open again.
The two pictures below were taken one after the other. The mix between the grey snowy rock combined with a cloudy sky created a false sense of black and white life. Even the trees didn't have much colour to offer on those freezing temperatures.
Small Villages
Once following the Panoramic Road, a couple small villages and touristic farms appear on the way, contrasting with the nature around it. Due to the season I must have been the only person passing there, and for sure the only one on a bicycle, no one around.
Up or Down
At some point I had to make decisions, to the right I'd continue my journey towards the Julian alps, to the left I'd go down the Logarska Dolina and the bottom part of the Panoramic Road.
On a hostel conversation way back in Bratislava a girl friend had mentioned the beauties of Logarska Dolina, but during the summer. Should I go down? So I did. What took me three days to climb, took me no more than one hour to descend. But how much fun was it?
During the peak seasons it's absolutely forbidden to camp on the valley whenever you want; be it because there are tons of people cycling around or for pressure from the hotels. Either way I couldn't care less, I was the only living being cycling there, wich granted me the chance to sneak into the forest and have one of the most amazing camps I've ever done.
From this point on things got sketchy, consequently I have no photos or videos to enlighten what happened. Being in the middle of the Alps during the winter may be amazing, but it's not the most advisable thing to do after all. Even though on some photos you can clearly see that the weather was nice and pleasing, things can go wrong real fast. And it did.
The original plans were to go up again and eventually follow the border with Austria in direction to the Julian alps between Italy and Slovenia. Sounded like a solid plan, if it weren't by the harsh weather.
Once on top again after ascending from Logarska Dolina I continued my journey as the sky became darker and darker. It's gonna be bad... - I thought. Winds were picking up and the clouds were becoming more dense. A few snow flakes started falling, then a few more, then a lot. I have to go down, immediately - I thought.
When you are cycling on a road 1300m above sea level, the least thing you want is a snow storm, not to mention the dangers of descending as fast as you can. The more the snow storm unleashed its power uppon my head, the more I wanted to go down. But I couldn't.
To cut story short, I managed to cycle 60km in no more than two hours, cycling as fast as I could and managing brake temperature as best I possible. It was still snowing, but I was on the safe roads again and already heading to small city with a hostel to spend the night.
The Change of Plans
Once more i'd need to change plans due to weather; if things got difficult at 1300m, there was no way I'd be able to cross the Julian alps at 1600m. The idea of crossing between Slovenia and Italy through the mountains was now out of question. Instead, I decided to go to the capital of Slovenia: Ljubljana.
Did you enjoy this collection of photos? The next posts we'll head to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.
If you liked this post, please, consider leaving your upvote for a hot coffee.
~Love ya all,
Disclaimer: The author of this post is a convict broke backpacker, who has travelled more than 10.000 km hitchhiking. Following him may cause severe problems of wanderlust and inquietud. You've been warned.
I'm Arthur. I blog about Adventure Stories, Brazil, Travel, Camping & Life Experiences.
Follow me to stay tuned for more craziness and tips.
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You may also want to read:
[vlog #33] Bike Vlog on the Road | Slovenia | Maribor to Dravograd
[Blog #53] Where the hell am I going? | Slovenia | Photography
[vlog #32] Bike Vlogging in Maribor | Trail | Exploring
[vlog #34] Bike Vlog on the Road | Slovenia | Cycling Up, Snow, Camp & Fail
[vlog #31] Unboxing the life saver | Steem Daily | Life
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Amazing man, once again. Your photos are top! Combined with your story they almost make it to the level of scary. And once again, respect for tackling the weather challenges! As proud as I was to cycle down the West Coast US, I'm a pussy compared to what you are doing: cycling the Alps in Winter.
aHAHA, we are all champions @stortebeker, how many people in the world do what we do?
Do you have any plans to hop on the bike again? I'm thinking about going from Mexico to South America in June/July.
Oh, do I? More like dreams than plans. My lovely Red Fox (bike) is safe and sound with my friend in L.A. waiting for me to embark on the next adventure. Being in Mexico City, however, I feel like hopping on a bike and exploring the surrounding mountains, preferably with fellow bike-packers. Gotta assemble a bike first, though... But before that, I need some money... Don't we all?
Yeah, I'm working my ass off here to gather the dang money to keep on going. I'm still unsure where to go, I've heard amaaaaaaaazing things abaout Kazakstan and all the other 'tans'.
Oh man, Central Asia's gotta be mind-blowing! But my secret dream is to discover the Caucasus mountains by bike!
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Ualllll que niceee I love natureeee
Isn't it beautiful? Now humanity needs to take care of it.
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