A whole new country!

 Day 19: Baumgartnerhöhe to Kranjska Gora

Hours walked: 7:45-5:15

Kilometres walked: 24

Quote of the day: “I’m sure you were a lot taller at the top of the mountain!” - Jovial Australian to Zadie

Bonus quote of the day: “Mama help! I got a candy splinter!” - Tova (bad news: nobody could get it out)

Jesuses seen: 1

We were eager to get out the door early, but our kids had to eat breakfast (and we did too) so we hovered outside the breakfast area until a flustered waitress seated us 15 minutes before opening. Gesturing at the weather forecast thoughtfully set on our table, she shook her head and said, “Rain, rain, rain.” Girls slathered their rolls with Nutella, I chugged an entire pot of coffee and then, juiced to the gills, we all steamed uphill. 

I think our talk of how long the day was made the children nervous. They were complaining, thirsty and hungry before we hit the 1-km mark. Thankfully, we came across an empty cabin with a water spout and we all drank to our heart’s content.

We walked up a forest trail for a few hours, talking about the wonderful break we would have at the Jepcec saddle. When we got to the saddle, it took us a couple of minutes to realise it was really there, because it was nothing more than a trail intersection. We all had so much fun hopping back and forth across the border, though, that the fact that the saddle was not even large enough for all six of us to stand up on was okay. 

And then we continued uphill on an even smaller, steeper track. Our thighs burned but we got really good views - to one side, at least. To our right, Austria had vanished behind a solid wall of grey, as though to attest to its completion. Tova’s mood was as temperamental as the weather all day: we cajoled, encouraged and storytold her along the ridge. 

After some steep and misty kilometres along the ridgeline, we came up to the much-anticipated Schwarzkogel. There was one other hiker at the summit, but he quickly packed up and left when we arrived (we’re not sure why.) We had planned on allowing the children to rest at the peak and have a bite of lunch, but thick grey clouds and claps of thunder had us ushering them back to their feet, muting their grumbles with a rare Bonus Lolly. 

We were all happy the rain was holding off for our steep downhill on the ridge line - the track was scree and broken rock, leading to many falls on butts and egos. For an hour or so, we made unbelievably slow progress as we picked out one firm foothold at a time. Tova was tearful and outraged, but Zadie was surprisingly joyful for this part, as she skateboarded down the scree telling Aurora stories. 

Our scree path turned into grassy tussocks, and the incredible views of the Slovenian mountains just kept on coming. I’m sure the views of the Austrian alps would have been amazing had they not been covered in mist. It started raining just as we were getting off the ridge, making Jakob feel less guilty about pushing the pace. And then we went downhill for a very, very long time. Sheep baaed at us and we baaed back. Jakob pulled out all the stops and told Moomin stories until he was hoarse. The wooden bridges were all wet and very slippery but thankfully the white gravelly scree we were walking on was not. 

After a few hours of downhill, our stabiliser muscles were happy to spend the last few kilometres on a single-track along the river. The rain let up as we entered Kranjska Gora, and moods picked up after bellies were filled with pasta. Although the children found this day difficult, I have to say it was one of the more beautiful ones we’ve done. It turns out the limbo between Austria and Slovenia is breathtaking.