As we were starting in Kobarid, today we followed the Juliana trail to Tolmin. The Alpe-Adria trail started higher up the mountain (if we had finished there yesterday) and went up and over the mountain to Tolmin; we were going to walk in the valley instead. We left Kobarid, crossing the Napoleon bridge over the Soca river. It’s called that because Napoleon marched his troops over it, though it’s been blown up and replaced several times since then. We had a long walk on reasonably quiet roads through several small villages. In Austria, these would all have been holiday homes and closed up, here all the houses seemed to be occupied. Today was hot again and we were glad of any shade from trees. We didn’t see much of the river as there was always a lot of trees and scrub between us and it. We stopped to get some shade in the doorway of a church for our lunch stop and chatted to a Swiss man who had also stopped. He had come all the way from Switzerland and is walking barefoot! We left the road and walked along a narrow track between stone walls, luckily with lots of trees providing shade. It wasn’t looking before we were back on roads, and then on a gravel track leading towards Tolmin. Here, the wind picked up a lot, blowing into our faces, before we reached the town and got shelter. There was a final climb up to the town centre and our accommodation. It’s our last night in Slovenia as we cross into Italy tomorrow, and we should see the Adriatic as we cross the mountain pass.
After a couple of days in Italy, we will be walking along the border, crossing into and out of both countries for several days.
