Day 23 Vrsic Pass and Soca River

Today started wet but improved slowly as we climbed up out of Kranjska Gora towards the Vrsic Pass, a road built by Russian POWs during the first world war and now a very popular alpine road. We are now right into the Julian Alps and they are as rugged and spectacular as anything we have seen to date.

The first stop was a Russian chapel built during the first world war to commerate the lives of hundreds of Russian POWs and dozens of Austrian soldiers killed when an avalanche struck during construction.

It was very cold and blowing a gale when we reached the pass at 1611m, the highest road in Slovenia. This is an iconic European alpine road and it was very busy with cars and lots of bikes.

It was then downhill to the Soca River which we followed from it's source to Trenta, where we stayed the night.  The Soca is a beautiful river, fast flowing, crystal clear water over white boulders and gravel, surrounded by green alpine forest and spectacular mountains.

Quiz: What makes the holes in the trees shown in the last photo?






















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