30th May: The Zumberak

This was our last trip out before leaving Croatia, to a region located between the campsite and the Slovenian border. It comprises remote villages and steep green hills. Buildings like this old mill were typical.

There were also some beautifully simple small country churches as shown in the photo below.

None of our maps covered the area in enough detail to navigate the small country roads, so we used the sat-nav. Just put the name of the next village in and let the device do the work. We stopped at a lovely spot for lunch, in a valley by a stream, en route to the next destination. It was from there on that the trouble began. The road started to deteriorate and soon became a rubble-strewn, narrow, grass covered track that ascended steeply through dense forest. At one point the trees fell away down a steep ravine to reveal this lovely view.

Why do we have such blind faith in these gadgets? After 20 miles of crawling along the dirt track at no more than 10 miles per hour, the sat-nav voice cheerfully announced: “Welcome to Slovenia.” It had taken us into another country! We were expecting customs officers to appear through the trees at any minute, and of course we had no passports with us. Was this an ancient smuggling trail perhaps?

But plod on, having come so far we didn’t want to retrace our steps on such an awful road. A sigh of relief- in a few miles, the sat-nav welcomed us back to Croatia. Soon after, at a crossroads in the track, I was able to reset a route to another and nearer village, still 6 miles away, but here was a proper tarmac road, with lines on. It was like driving on a motorway.

Off-roading adventure not withstanding, we found the Zumberak a lovely area. Just as we were running out of the hills, we passed another unusual small church, complete with reflection, that could have been transported straight from Russia. With love.