Hours walked: 8:00 to 3:30
Kilometres walked: 20
Jesuses seen: 4
Quote of the day: “Salve!” (This was literally the only word we said to anyone else all day)
The day dawned sunny and cloudless. Tamar had scored ingredients for oatmeal with vanilla sugar, cinnamon and apple, which was a huge hit. We headed out on a series of single track trails that went gently up and down through a forest. The boosted breakfast seemed to have a positive effect on our small walkers and we walked more quickly than usual all morning.
We passed by a small, modern-looking church that was open; so far, most of the churches in Slovenia have been locked, so we were happy to enter the cool, bright room. It had enough seats for about ten people and the main wall was dominated by a huge mural of Jesus tending some sheep with the local mountains in the background. Somehow, this church made me feel like Slovenians are just as practical as they are religious.
After walking through forest, we crossed over the Soca river on a bridge that was closed. We felt bad about sneaking through the barriers, but didn’t care to take the longer alternate route. The river kept us company for the next section of waking. We were high above it, but could catch glimpses of its shimmery green waters, moving just as briskly as ever, through the trees below.
We were on a 4x4 road for much of the day, so walking was easy and Jakob was even able to read some of a book out loud. We got to a very long swinging bridge and saw a nice swinging beach on the other side - so we detoured to the beach so Tova could get her swimming fix in and we could have lunch.
The beach was so lovely, and we’d walked so quickly, that we lingered by the river for at least an hour. Kayakers floated by in droves, doing unnecessarily fancy twists in the gentle rapids. Zadie splashed around in the icy water, while Sophia and Tova plunged beneath the surface then warmed themselves on rocks (Tova made a herself-shaped heap of black stones because they were warmest). Aurora waded while eating corn cakes. It was all very mellow.
As we set out for the second half of the day, the sun really set in. We all felt slightly zonked by the heat, and ran low on water. We did cross one stream where we could gratefully dip our hats, but otherwise it was the hottest afternoon we’ve had yet.
As we finally approached Magozd, the tiny hamlet where we’d be staying, we saw an overgrown playground and basketball court just sitting in a field. Everyone plopped down in the shade of a tree, except of course Tova who somehow found a basketball and started shooting hoops without even bothering to take off her backpack. For a kid battling blisters and carrying weight, she has an unbelievable amount of energy.
Our apartment is cute, the lightweight dinner was very successful (alphabet soup, couscous with rehydrated bean gloop) and everyone is showered and cool again.
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