A Bicycle Tour of Slovenia | EPISODE 6: AN EVENING IN BRANIK

The morning brought gray skies and steady rain. We waited in our hotel in Postojna for a bit, then took off on the bikes, cycling through the rain, heading for a side trip known as Predjama Grad, a fabulous castle built into a cliff wall. Eventually, the rain let up and we climbed out of the valley on a road known as The Dragon’s Path which earned it’s name but in the end, we managed it and went on our way, now on pavement, through an endlessly beautiful landscape. Soon we found ourselves on a spectacular descent, dropping from the hill country into the Mediterranean Plateau, with a different flora, and culture. We capped off the day in Branik, a small village that captured our hearts. One of the finest days of cycling any of us have ever done.

Well the rain really hasn’t stopped at all since last night it’s just been coming down hard they tell us that we might get a 3-hour break in the middle of the day so we’re going to try to go for that soon as the rain lets up we’re

Out of here and uh just kind of make a beine to our next place it’s all going to be good all right we’re off it’s a rainy morning expecting it to be a very rainy day what could be more beautiful than everything being just soak and wet and cool and

Gray and damp and gorgeous look at those clouds out there got a nice Cool Breeze we’ll probably be chilly all day long but could not be happier this is the life this is what we live for looking out the window from our cozy Hotel the day seemed daunting but once

We geared up and stepped outside it was only damp and drizzly and we left POA in great spirits love it got to watch out for these spongy breaks though up into the clouds you can keep going okay you going to keep going I’m going to wait for Bailey but go ahead

Okay the rain had fallen hard overnight well done be and the land was clean and fresh and radiant beneath the low GR gray ceiling of the sky now is the point where we’re off Route starting here oh okay that’s our route coming back yeah

Oh we got a path oh it looks like yeah well that’ll be nice we’re on our way on a little side trip to some Gad some Castle it’s cool and it’s wet but boy I’m loving this it’s just so great getting all rained out cuz you

Can’t get more fo yeah like your once your feet are soaked liberating because they probably can’t get flter yeah it’s exactly right once you hit a certain point it doesn’t matter anymore and that’s I’m already kind of there as long as my you know passports dry and my

Cameras are dry well I don’t think your passport needs to be dry but yeah it’s like it’s a thing you’re worried about for the whole trip happens and you’re free right exactly okay love it we rode on wet pavement until we came to a trail that would take us to Pomsky

Grad our first destination it was actually a side trip and even though the rain had returned again with some Earnest we’d heard great things about this Castle so on we went the road was wet and muddy but the views were outstanding with low clouds adding drama to the day uh I

Disagree uh this is the way I disagree that we go left I rarely take off on a cycling journey in the rain unless forced by circumstance but once I’m riding the feeling is amazing it’s a rarified experience partly because in our daily lives we choose to avoid it at

All costs but on a bike we’re protected by the warmth of our movement it’s our nature to want to stay dry but once we’re good and wet everything is just fine arriving at Pomsky grad took our Breath Away Europe is so full of old castles that they can seem common place but this

Quite simply is no ordinary Castle the water is Flowing this direction and down and then into the cave under the castle like have you ever seen water flowing down into a cave like that like that’s like literally nuts built into a natural Arch high on a cliff face for protection it’s the

Largest cave castle in the world can you get one of me for me no who Do You Think You Are so this is called the dragon’s path the dragon’s path oh out of gear out of gear and there’s a little sunshine God this is so pretty through

Here yeah partly cuz of all that rain yeah it really does add a a nice little touch to everything doesn’t it it does so bright and so green we decided to make our way back to our main route via a shortcut called the dragon’s path the challenging Rocky

Trail was made Harder by the four-wheel drives that had no choice but to keep up their speed forcing us repeatedly to quickly Retreat to the side of the trail but for all the hard work the rewards of the views made it all worth it well I guess there’s a reason they

Call it the dragon’s bath huh yeah i’ seeing that now fire all right the trail smoothed out a little bit back to a very pleasant little gravel path sun’s coming out it’s warming up quite a bit everything’s coming up roses as it always does eventually well we surviv the dragon Road I know

By the time we reached pavement the rain had stopped the sun had started peeking out and soon we were dry and no worse for the wear we stopped to reward our hard work with a bite to eat I don’t think I got enough to eat a quick little uh snack break I had

A lunch I’m hungry today and uh we’re off afternoon is turning out to be very beautiful getting a tach a blue sky still got all those gorgeous shrines everywhere and everything is just magnificent right now I just cannot get enough of this riding it is so pretty so gorgeous wow this is this

Stuff again lucky to be here and not down there on the interstate rushing to get somewhere it’s been a beautiful day absolutely spectacular making our way through the construction well here all uhy what you doing Dad we’re just fixing the darn fire oh shoot I’m surprised we

Didn’t get a flat on the path of dragons that might be where I started losing it that’s POS oh yeah y well I brought some hot tea for just such a potential morale boost thank feels all right after a uh fix of my front tire front inner tube and a pee braake for

Everybody think we’re ready to roll only about 20 more miles well there’s our downhill you’re wondering where it was found it we knew that at some point on this adventure our route would take us from The Higher Ground of the mountains to the lower elevations of the Adriatic

Plain and today after a series of ups and downs we suddenly found ourselves on a long graceful Descent of some 1500 ft via a quiet Road through spectacular Forest what wrong road we got to go back up a a I tou you it was one of those perfect

Ascents not too fast but a breezy sail that reminded us of what makes cycling so overwhelmingly worth the trouble pretty nice Road gorgeous little descent Hey by the time we reached the bottom we found ourselves in an entirely different landscape the Mediterranean plateau the flowers were different the song of The

Birds was different even the culture seemed different wow wow fabulous wish you were here with us Juliana and Walker one of the great aspects of writing here in Slovenia is how many different regions you can discover in such a short distance variety is what keeps a bicycle tour exciting and

Slovenia has it in spades yeah so we just descended how far did we descend you guys about 12200 ft climate feels different I mean it feels more like Italy here doesn’t it it does feels Mediterranean you can see it in the uh plants plants are like totally

Different now all of a sudden yeah very different vibe very different feel feels a lot more humid it’s one of of the things I really love about bike touring is you can just have so many different variations in the day and really feel the change in the

Scenery and in the seasons and in the in the topography and in the architecture how do you not love this oh yeah we got The Vineyards now a bunch of f what we got I think they’re fix on the right and it’s kind of nice to uh kind

Of nice to have those Hills behind us a little bit yeah I it feels good just to be kind of doing some flats for a minute yeah or like a gentle dein yeah the Steep stuff get sketchy to me it can yeah especially if you’re not familiar

With your bike you know yeah you don’t know how good the brakes are and right yeah scary we are just sailing through this Countryside it’s just fabulous what a beautiful ride this is how about that got some palm trees I always find myself going a quarter mile overturns you know all the

Time but thanks for keeping get an eye on it guys you bet thank you for uh navigating I’ve never been in a position to not have to navigate well I guess that’s probably nice it is it’s the least I can do other than that I’m just a dangler babe not at

All you’re the one who’s full of great ideas and great Limer limericks well you’re the Limerick lady but also you’re the most thoughtful Packer of all oh yes I so prepared always prepared wa how did that happen like we’re not even Scouts well you were a scout yeah I was in

Venture Scouts yeah but I didn’t learn anything in that other than actually let me think on that if I learned anything from Venture Scouts never be a secretary never be a secretary yeah like for as a volunteer position never never volunteer to be a club secretary it’s a pain in the butt yeah

It’s just a pain still descending and getting a nice little roll but we are dealing with some headwind we’re pretty much on the flats now very good so good this is extremely Pleasant very very lovely and such a wonderful change of paast too yeah this is like so trippy

Yeah it’s definitely a more Mediterranean climate still got some more climbs today bigger descent but still some climbs it’s a very hilly route this whole Slovenia trip has been a lot of climbing a lot of ups and downs providing a lot of scenery along the way there’re sladed clouds sled

Sladed it means ice cream oh I like that pumpkin as the day’s end grew near we realized that our tour operator had given us conflicting information on our stay for the night two different hotels in two very different places after some emails back and forth and a phone call

We finally determined that our actual Hotel was many miles further than the original destination guess their usual Hotel was full oh I bet this is where we would stay oh yeah there’s a little wedding going on over there yall don’t want to crash it do you but the afternoon continued to be

Spectacular by this time on our tour we were very much in the flow I had even gotten used to my ill-fitting bike and we rode peacefully on quiet roads through fertile valleys intoxicating forests and a varied and vered Landscape one of the most perfect days of cycling I’ve ever had insane hey

Buddy puppy friend and that’s all there is of chap we reached branck our destination for the night in a bright mood and beneath a radiant Su dog branck is known for wine especially Chardonnay and Mero and for figs and for peaches it has a lovely church and a

Castle on the Hill from one point of view branck is hardly spectacular but we found it to be exceptional someone had a bottle of wine which we shared in glasses as we walked through the town and The Vineyards taking in the views of the valley below of the castle above and shared stories

Of the times we were all one happy family Under One Roof before Bailey and Kelsey had to grow up move on and start saving the world boy that was a long time ago every day on this journey has been all inspiring but somehow our evening and branic shines bright for me in this

Constellation of experiences as I’ve often said Paradise is where you find oh Kel that’s a good photo we’re going to share photos rain shine UPS Downs today was nothing short of perfection