AA Day 23

After the rain over the mountains yesterday, the forecast for today was sunny intervals, which was good as we had a high pass to cross.  The walk left Kranjska Gora on a nice wide path, past a couple of lakes (with lots of tourists taking photos) and then alongside the river.  The gradient was gentle, the path was good, and we made fast progress.  We crossed one dry river bed, and then the path started climbing towards the main road.  We reached the Russian chapel (built by Russian WWI prisoners who were building the road over the pass), and then stopped for a rest.  The path then worked its way up the hillside alongside a stream, with several crossings on broken planks and across stones, before finally joining the road again at a large carpark.  We stopped at the café for a coffee, which was terrible, and then started uphill again on the old donkey trail.  This showed on the map as several zigzags, but was actually easy going on a wide path with a gentle gradient.  We even cut up the hillside in places in small paths to shorten some of the zigs and zags.  We stopped to put our fleeces on, as there was a strong, cold wind blowing from the north.  A short while later, and we were at the top of the pass, along with everyone who had driven up.  We didn’t stay long before starting the descent as it was quite cold.  We now had impressive views of the mountains to the south of us, after enjoying the equally impressive northern views.  After a short section of road walking, the path dropped into the woods, and we followed it for a large part of the descent, on a mixture of good path, and narrower paths with the usual stones and tree roots.  We finally got to what we thought was the valley, only for another section along the river, followed by a climb and then a steep descent to Trenta, which has about a dozen houses.  On this final descent we had to cover our packs and put rain jackets on as the rain started.

We are in an apartment, and went across the road for a pizza and a drink.  There was also a huge tourist office, where we bought some postcards.  We’re hoping to get something for breakfast at the village shop, otherwise it will be a few pieces of cold pizza.