We had planned a day off by the seaside, and fortunately, on the day we needed it, the sun shone all day.☀️😁
We had a morning stroll around the pretty Ankaran peninsular, through the vineyards.
Honestly, the camera was totally level! The pine trees are all leaning over the cliff edge! At 45 degrees and some were 90 degreesWe found a seaside restaurant and bar, and after a plateful of calamari and a couple of drinks we headed off to the shingle beach for a swim. Fortunately there was plenty of dry, fine seaweed, which made a comfy bed for an afternoon nap.This dog, with a tail that looked like a wig, kept us amused all afternoon. She was playing on in the water most of the time.The beach was close to Slovenia’s main shipping port, on is tiny 40 km coastline, but thankfully the warm water was crystal clear.This dandelion seed head wallpaper in our room was so detailed, I had to touch it as it looked so real. Shame our host had screwed his bike holder in the centre🤔
Final Day, (20.) Our last day pedalling this year .
Within 3 km of setting off, we’d entered our 8th country on our trip; Italy.
The route was busy along the coast, with as many bikes as cars but it was scenic
It took us into this totally chaotic town of Muggia, where we had to push our bikes as there was a one way system of busy traffic, coming towards us! The other option was a long tunnel, which we didn’t fancy.The route through Trieste was mostly on roads, but fortunately being a Sunday, not too busy. This was a very steep cobble street that took us onto the actual cycle track: Euro vélo 8Trieste harbour, with an enormous cruise liner in the backgroundThis TUI cruise ship carries 2500 guests; most of whom were walking on our cycle track just following each other in a daze, oblivious of cycled.😡.Total chaos. The ship has 15 decks, 1000 crew members, and weighs nearly 100, 000 tons.We were thankful to leave the city and head along the coast.
When looking at a map I was surprised to see that we were travelling along a 35 km sliver of Italian territory which is only about 5 km wide after which you reach Slovenia again.
À new ugly church on top and an old pretty one below.Apparently this multi million pound sailing yacht belongs to a Russian oligarch and was seized by the Italians. It has been bobbing up and down here for 2 years; what a shame.🤭. At least the paddle boarder can go where he chooses!We were getting hungry so stopped at this beauty spot peninsular, but the only restaurant was full.
Another 3 kms up the road we found another place, with a car park full of Porches! It looked more promising. We parked the bikes looking down onto the fancy cars, and joined the terrace full of Porche owners and their dolled up wives, having their lunch meeting, overlooking the sea.
Unfortunately, as it was mid afternoon, the kitchen was closed but the staff kindly put together a plate of tasty mozzarella, tomatoes and prosciutto ham, which was fine. A bit pricey, but the view was worth it
Such a flat calm seaMore cycle route along the busy coast road.It was really good to get away from the traffic and do our final 4 kms on a pretty good gravel track. Brestovica was at the foot of the mountain ahead. No sign of habitation until we were almost in the village.We crossed over the border to Slovenia on this gravel track, marked by a rusty pole and a painted lump of concrete!We were off the gravel and Sue was happy. Only 200 metres to go to our destination, and home for our bikes for the winter.Our accommodation,Villa Borealis; only opened in August and we were the only guests.The bikes’ winter home, in what is going to be a new dining room.
Our hosts have agreed to keep them safe until we return
The intention is to carry on our journey through Italy and back to Borde Neuve in France during 2025.
Overall we’ve had a great trip through countryside that we haven’t seen before. It wasn’t our original plan, which was to traverse Europe on our bikes. However we’ve turned it into a tour of Central Europe around the Alps.
The Blue line was our intention, but we’ve changed course and have headed along the red line and are now at the blue dot in Slovenia.
After the third leg of our bike tour we’ve now travelled 3767 km since we left, just over a year ago. It will be approximately 1600 km to get back to Borde Neuve next year🤞🤞
And now you can enjoy a well deserved break – great job guys, as usual I have loved reading your blog updates and seeing the photos and happy to see Sue with a huge smile on her face as you reached final destination! Sorry to say there is rain forecast here at home too but when the sun does come out it is warm, fresh and lovely – see you soon xx Brij and Chris
Euro Vélo Route 6 
And now you can enjoy a well deserved break – great job guys, as usual I have loved reading your blog updates and seeing the photos and happy to see Sue with a huge smile on her face as you reached final destination! Sorry to say there is rain forecast here at home too but when the sun does come out it is warm, fresh and lovely – see you soon xx Brij and Chris
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Brilliant guys!
Loved following your adventures on the blog!
RESPECT🙂
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Thank you for your entertaining blog, and great photos. It has been special to follow you on your travels. xx
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Glad you enjoyed it!
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