Andy Plant's Slovenia

Registered Company No 2612775

Ju Ju and I set off with a van full of camping gear on Friday afternoon to catch the Hull-Zeebrugge ferry on our way to 2 weeks in Slovenia. We left the ferry at 9 o’clock Saturday morning fed and rested and before you could say “Are we nearly there yet?” we were 720 miles down the road in an Austrian hotel tucking into schnitzel. 55 euros for the both of us B&B. Result.

The next day after a short journey through the mountains we were in the Soca valley and arrived at Kamp Koren at 10 o’clock Sunday morning. Martin, Steven and Eamon had just arrived and Les and Sarah arrived shortly after. I was unsure at first but the camp site turned out to be really good. The facilities were clean, the showers were great , it had access to the river and we all managed to pitch close to each other.

Once the tents were up we were off again to pick 6 Plants up from Ljubljana airport. Becky and Judith had driven to Stanstead on Sunday morning with the kids. On the way we realised we had totally underestimated the time from Kobarid to Ljubljana airport. After half an hour on a mountain road we came across a road closed sign - a big fence across the road! A landslide had taken the road with it. We had to turn back and try another route. Six hours later we arrived back at the campsite to find Andrea and John had arrived.

With the first stage of the HXCC wacky races complete we were ready for some paddling.

The paddling on the Soca was great. The access to the river is good. They even have toilets at every get in !!! (and not just at the scary bits!) There were big rapids, gorges, grade 4 get ins, surfable cushion waves, large rocks (be careful of rocks even the very best paddlers have been known to come unstuck, cheers Tom for rescuing me and cheers Ian for rescuing my paddle).

Originally we had planned to kayak every other day so we could spend some time with the families. The kids went swimming in Bovec one day but apart from that there was not a great deal for them to do. The weather was mixed so we paddled for four consecutive days and then headed to camping Sobeč near Lake Bled for some family time. Thanks to Andrea, Gemma and Terry for taking the girls over the Vrsič pass.

Camping Sobeč is a big place. It is sign posted better than Bled and you could fit Kamp Koren in the reception. There are playgrounds everywhere, there is even a river with a good surf wave on the campsite.

Lake Bled is a beautiful place. We hired a rowing boat to get to the church on the island. Beth and Emma rang the church bells. We had a day at the Lido where large fish were swimming in the pools the kids were playing in. Becky was that keen to go for a swim she went in fully clothed.

Overlooking the lake there is a chair lift that takes you up to a toboggan ride. This thing is fast. William and Beth had a couple of goes to look after their Dads and loved it.

While we were in Bled we had thunderstorms almost every night and sunshine almost every day. It could have been worse. Quite a few of us got stung by wasps but apart from the wasps we were not really pestered by insects. The food in Slovenia was good and cheap. The fish restaurant in Kobarid was top class. The cheaper the wine the better it tasted.

Thanks to everyone who went for a great holiday especially to Gemma and James for looking after the little ones.

Andy.

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