First Impressions

23rd September 2009

I am sat in a cafe on the main square of Asolo in Northern Italy watching
the world go by as I write this. I have a pot of tea with lemon in front
of me, the weather is glorious and I am wearing my Toronto dress (summer
dress bought in Toronto last year) . Asolo is a medieval hill top town in
the foot hills of the Dolomites, surrounded by vineyards. This morning we
had a cycle into the surrounding countryside which is beautiful, and
populated by old Venetian summer villas. We have arrived here to an Indian
summer, the temperatures are still in the upper 20s every day and we are
therefore learning to adjust our daily routine to avoid the midday heat and
live more like the locals. We are getting up earlier (well 8ish anyway!)
and taking a long lunch, this is also partly forced on us by opening hours
as most things shut around 12 and don't reopen till at least 3pm. The heat
has been quite a shock to the system. In the mountains of Slovenia although
we were still getting some good days, autumn was definitely on its way and
we had packed our summer clothes into the bottom of the cupboards, now the
jumpers have been packed away and shorts rediscovered.

On our way here we stopped at Aqueila which has the most amazing Basilica.
The floor is entirely covered in mosaics from the 3rd century, some showing
benefactors of the building, others depicting animals and fish and one
large area showing the story of Jona and the whale. It was fantastic and we
spent ages looking at them. (picture)

My lasting impression of Asolo will be the sound of the bikes free wheeling
down the hill past the cafe and into the square. It seems to be a popular
cycling region,as its the first hilly area for a long way across the plains
to the coast. They take their cycling very seriously here, and we have seen
lots of teams out training all lycra clad
with matching bikes and gear. They all have really expensive looking road
bikes but generally seem to take it quite gently, and although we saw lots
going the opposite way to us this morning no one overtook us. I do have a
certain amount of bike envy though it has to be said.

Tomorrow we move south towards Verona and hopefully away from the mosquitos
which are quite bad here, due to all the drained marshland. I am wearing
repellant like perfume!

Another Birthday Blog!

18th September 2009

For Chris's birthday we have been in the Soca valley, a beautiful river
valley in the Triglav National Park in Slovenia. The river is a milky
turquoise colour at this time of year, with white sand banks (almost
beaches), its absolutely stunning and the colours reminded me of the
Maldives. The picture is honestly the colour it was and not a clever bit of
photoshop!

We have definitely got into Autumn now, with the weather in the mountains
beginning to be quite wet and variable. We had two great dry days in the
Soca and one very wet, walking and cycling along the valleys and into the
hills. The rain was actually a good thing as it made the waterfalls
stunning. As it wasn't that cold the sun awning came in very useful, and
meant we could sit outside even in the rain.

Today we have moved on in to Italy and I am quite glad to have a break
from mountain driving. We met a caravan on the pass today and it was VERY
tight, luckily we have discovered the wing mirrors fold in and with the
help of Chris on one side and a passing cyclist watching the other side we
squeezed through between caravan and overhanging rock! We also got stopped
and searched by the police at the border crossing today. I think they were
just bored and asked to see in the boot, under the bunks and under the
mattress (not sure what they thought we would have under there!) but
neglected to look in the bathroom! After 10 minutes we were on our way and
have spent the afternoon exploring Cividale del Friuli, a pretty medieval
town on a river. More on Italy next time........

Festival pictures

We decided to stay an extra day in Kamnik for the end of the festival and
it was fantastic. A morning of folk dancing from bulgaria, latvia and
scotland followed by a fantastic parade in the afternoon. I took LOADS of
photos, here are some.

Belated Birthday Blog

9th September

So here I am waiting for the cable car to take me down the mountain. At
this time of the year they only run hourly and as luck would have it I have
just missed one. On the bright side the view is stunning and as I have come
prepared with my palm I have a handy hour to catch up on the blog, rest my
legs and eat a banana to prepare for the cycle home from the base.

The reason I am here was to spend the day visiting the Velika Planina, a
plateau at 1600m where the herdsmen bring the cattle for summer grazing.
Its an incredibly bleak spot, but also incredibly beautiful, with wonderful
views to the surrounding higher peaks. My lasting impression will be the
sound of the cow bells, despite the fact that most of the herds have
already left. A great day.

I had a great birthday, cycling from our campsite through an alpine glacial
valley to a 90m high waterfall. The weather was stunning and the views
superb (pictures). I have to admit that 31 feels so much older than 30,
can't explain why, it makes no sense I know. We followed the long cycle by
a nice meal with some local wine at the van, sat outside by the river. The
lady who ran the site brought me a present of some blueberry and raspberry
brandy, a local delicacy. All in all a good day!

National Costume Festival

11th September

Today we are in Kamnik, and its the national costume festival, a folk music
and costume festival. I am in my element, not sure Chris is quite as
convinced! I am currently resisting the urge to buy a costume doll to add
to my collection of French regional costume dolls from years ago that I am
sure Mum will be delivering to us when we get home along with a whole lot
of other "stuff"! I have spent this morning listening to the accordian
competition and am now sat in a cafe watching the world go by.

Unfortunately we have van problems again, this time internally with our
power supply. The batteries are not holding their charge, and we spent last
night trying to figure it out with head torches in the dark after they
suddenly went flat! We are hoping its the batteries and not the solar
panel, but are going to have to figure it out slowly by a process of
elimination. Luckily the weather is good today so hopefully we can get some
charge back into them. We are moving the van every couple of hours to keep
it in full sun!

Anyway I am off to see if I can get some good costume pictures, without
being too obvious! The womens head dresses are stunning (Picture) And maybe
buy some more beads to make necklaces from the craft market.