We were actually going to drive into Croatia, but that route turned out to be too mountainous with too few facilities. Because we enjoyed the West Loop Bikepacking Tour so much two years ago, we are riding it again (in a slightly different variant), but this time counterclockwise. In any case, today

The queen stage: a long run from Bled and then (largely) unpaved over the Vrsic pass. Steepest parts (up to 14%) were on the paved road. Unpaved less steep, but occasionally some technical parts due to the boulders on the path.

Another beautiful ride, but fortunately it only started raining once we had set up the tent.

Short but tough stage: quite a few hike-a-bike segments because it was too muddy, too steep or too stony. Kept dry apart from a few showers. Now arrived in Tolmin where we will stay for a few days due to the expected bad weather 🌧️⛈️

Drove out of the Soca Valley and then entered the Vipava Valley again. Contrary to expectations, it was drizzly weather in the afternoon and only 12 degrees. Due to the amount of climbing we were treated to, we did not suffer from cold. The luxury today was a covered bus stop, dating from the communist

Started with a steep climb of 8 km from the Vipava valley. The steepness and especially the strong headwind immediately made it tough. Above an altitude of 700 metres, the temperature was considerably lower at 13 degrees. In Postojna we decided to travel by train to Ljubljana and from there make new

Left Ljubljana for the mountains in the north. Quiet ride out of the city, the moderate climb to the campsite at an altitude of 600 meters (easy to do after all the rough climbing of the past few days). Along the way you can still see a lot of the consequences of the floods six weeks ago.

Took the cable car from the campsite and immediately climbed 800 meters in altitude. Then we cycled a very steep gravel road (the chairlift turned out to be out of order) to the plateau of Velika Planina, a shepherd's area that is partly still in active use. After some wanderings we descended with another