Thanks to the public holiday we spent four magnificent days in the soca valley/Slovenia. Babsi had some testruns with her new paddle and the new, fantastic Canyon Nerve ES Mountain bike while I enjoyed my new kayak – the Wavesport Project 52. While the boat itself is really cool, the outfitting is the worst I ever paddled due the thigh braces. When you adjusted them for a perfect fit, then it’s really really tough to get out of the boat in the case of an emergency …
The last testing group were Britta and Wolfi who paddled their Puffin double-kayak for 2 freezing hours ….

OK, time for the photos from Christof and myself

Pfingsten arrived and Babsi and I had to go on another trip. Due to some articles & guidebooks we decided to explore the rivers of Slovenia and Croatia – except the well known Soca. We started in the region of Bled, continued on to the slovenian Krka and there we had an accident that changed the hole trip: someone broke into our car.

Due to that we drove all the way to the croatian island Cres (fighting hail & snow with the heather and an always open – non-existing – window). There we found some nice mountainbiking, a very refreshing sea and a campsite that was the perfect muni-trailparcour.

Enough of the introduction – photos are just one click away or if you want to know some details ….

Kayak: Sava Bohinjka

Entry: follow the gravelroad at the bridge of the Soteska damn for a few meters

Exit: at the bridge of Bohinska Bella (or something like that, can’t remember the name)

Info: A really nice 3(+) run with one dangerous undercut. When you pass the second bridge, paddle around the corner and you see the big rock with the red cross on it – portage or take the chicken route on the right side.

The rest of the run is just a funny playrun – lots of waves for wavewheels and some nice little playspots …

Kayak: Slovenian Krka

Entry: we started at Zagradec, but you can also start at Krka (then it’s 15km to run)

Exit: Zuzemberk

Info: roughly 9km of Drop-Pool – the only problem is that there a long strechtes between the Tuffdrops (max. height: 3.5m). All drops are runable – just paddle to the edge of the fall and look down where to run it ….

More at www.paddeln.at

Bike: Cres – Lubenice- Valun – Cres

All the way to Lubenice is on paved roads (no heavy traffic), but all the way back is singletrail and gravelroads with some small hops.

Follow the road from Cres to Valun. Shortly before Valun leave this road and ride on until you reach Lubenice. Bike through this nice village. At the end you will find a small church and a hiking path goes on. Follow this – mostly rideable – singletrail until you arrive in a little village – follow the road back to the cross-section that leades to Valun (to the right). Ride a little bit uphill. Leave the road here and bike on the gravelroad that starts at the left side. Exactly at this point is a watertap where you can refill you bottles. Now ride along the gravelroad all the way to the Marina of Cres.

MUni/Hike: Cres

Starting from Cres or the campsite of Cres walk or ride north. After some time the paved path turns to mud until you reach a gate. The path gets really interessting now (or should I say challenging …). Enjoy the hike along the coast until the path starts to climb up the hill. After a long time between all the rockwalls and olive trees you reach a church. Take the path back to Cres (to the right) and ride down. Near Cres comes a crossing: if you go straight you come directly to Cres, if you turn right you will arrive at the bungalows near the campsite.

Additional tip: The campsite and the coastal path offer an endless amount of unicylce trails ….