Thump, thump, thump.
I wake up with a start. Was that noise real, or was I dreaming?
Silence.
Thump, thump, thump
I put the light on. It definitely is real and I’m staying on a remote farm in Slovenia. It feels like the middle of the night. I’m a bit freaked out by it.
Cautiously I edge to where I think the noise is coming from and see a face at the little window in the lobby outside my room. Quickly putting my shorts on, I hear him saying something in English. He looks friendly. He has children with him.
I open the door, and realise what I’ve done. A family are staying in another room in the house and have just returned home. It isn’t the middle of the night, it’s 10:50 pm and I’ve been fast asleep for two hours. I left the key in the lock inside in the house door, like I do at home, in case of fire, but that’s meant they couldn’t open the front door with their key.
It’s all a misunderstanding. I had asked one of the sisters running the farm whether anyone else was staying in the house. I thought she had said no, but maybe she misunderstood what I was asking in English?
Earlier there had been another misunderstanding about where dinner was going to be. To be honest it’s hardly surprising. Here am I with zero second language skills travelling through three countries in Europe for six weeks and I expect everyone to speak English and understand everything I say. And largely they do. But it’s not surprising that sometimes there are misunderstandings.
Anyway in the morning I have breakfast at the farm. Renate, an Austrian lady staying in the next door house who I met at dinner last night is there too. She too claims poor English, but manages pretty well I think.
It’s another hot day’s hiking in prospect today, with predictions of mid 30s temperatures and a long 25 km hike, from Breg to Smartno. Not too hard, just long and hot. And so it proves.
Like yesterday it’s largely a walk through vineyards. A big wide open landscape of vines in all directions, rolling hills, and on the horizon the mountains that I’ve already hiked through, the Karavanke. The area is known as the Brda, Slovenia’s top wine growing region. Unlike yesterday (which was just across the border in Italy) there’s very little woodland, and almost no shade. It’s already hot at 9:00 am in the morning.
In the morning the walk takes me along roads, along a few rocky tracks, and by a church. Walking along by one vineyard I see a tractor on the road being driven very slowly by a boy who looks about 13, while a man (his dad?) takes fence stakes off the back of the tractor one by one. I have to say I have seen this sort of thing in Britain too, in a farmyard though, not on a public road.
The walk climbs and then descends, then climbs again all day. Lizards dart across in front of me frequently. I have lunch in a shady seat by another one of those immaculate graveyards they have here, with shiny new looking gravestones, flowers all looking well looked after. Then the path descends to a main road in a valley, alongside a river, before climbing the other side.
I pass through the village of Fojana, and down again the other side. There’s a long stony track section and I read in the guidebook that the next village, Dobrovo, has a castle, but in my parched condition, more importantly, a supermarket where I can get some more water and an ice cream. Because despite carrying three litres of water today, I’ve nearly run out again and still have about eight km to go.
Passing the castle I come to a strangely empty supermarket known as Market Brda, clearly there primarily to sell and promote local wine. The local wine section is enormous and there are people outside drinking the local produce. I get what I need, cool down with more water and ice cream, and then walk past a little bar next door where I spot Johann and Marianne, with Renate, who I met last night.
They are enjoying wine spritzers, and I have a little chat, before I say I’m keen to get on and get finished. So I follow the road, flat for a bit and then there is a last punishing climb in the heat to the village of Imenje, when I realise that the distance left registering on my gps includes a little side trip that I don’t need to do, and before I know it I’m in Smartno, my end destination, itself.
Smartno is built on a hill, has ancient walls and little narrow alleys with a few bars and restaurants, and I wander round but I’m looking for Hotel San Martin, and it’s not where my gps says it should be. After a bit I ask a barman, and establish the hotel is back where I first arrived, so I’ve walked round in a circle. But that apart, today, I’ve not done too badly, taking about seven hours to walk 26 km, including over 800 metres of ascent in mid 30s heat.
With one future stage (33) out of action due to wildfire, all of my remaining days are shorter and have less ascent than today. Most are graded easy. So even in this heat, if I’ve managed today, I should manage the rest without any problem.
Across the Alps to the Adriatic 