The Alps with ULKC Part 3 - Slovenia

After the week of advanced training, the next two weeks of the trip cater for all levels of paddler in the club. After the few easy days towards the end of the first week, by the time we moved on everyone was refreshed and excited for the next stage of the trip. So one morning we broke camp, packed up everything and headed for Malpensa airport in Milan, where we picked up another 15 or so people who would be with us for the rest of the trip. This was meant to be a quick 'grab and go' where we barely stop the vans before everyone hops in and we get going on the long drive to Slovenia but of course the flight was delayed, the Americans in the group got stopped at immigration and some people had checked in bags that took ages to show up. Best case scenario was that we reach Kobarid, Slovenia at around 12.00/1.00 in the morning and after a few hours in the airport, and the obligatory Decathlon, food and piss stops it was more like 4 or 5 in the morning and the sky was starting to get bright as we were pitching our tents.

 

Typical mellow Slovenian paddling in beautiful green water. Photo by Oliviana Bailey.

I had never been in Slovenia before and I woke up a few hours later to some of the most stunning scenery I have ever seen, with huge, snow-covered mountains rising almost vertically from each side of the Soca valley. The next few days were spent paddling some handy beginner and intermediate runs and generally chilling out and having the craic. It was great to have a holiday after the pretty hectic first week and the new arrivals from Ireland brought some new personalities and new energy to the trip. We had a great time in the evenings playing volleyball, having campfires and going exploring the area, which is full of things like hidden waterfalls that are well worth the walk it takes to find them.

 

Group photo from a day off at Lake Bled. Photo by Mike Shaw.

After paddling over there, now I can see why it is so popular as a kayaking destination. Unlike Italy which has many different rivers to choose from, in Slovenia there is just one, the Soca. However it is broken down into clearly defined sections which range in difficulty from flatwater with the occasional eddy line to the grade 5 Siphon Canyon. Every level of paddler will find something to challenge them out here, and even the easy boulder garden rapids create micro-eddies with powerful eddylines that are great craic to zip in and out of. Even the easiest sections have enough eddies like these to keep them interesting and leading beginner trips never gets boring, which is a great change from Ireland! All this eddy hopping is great for improving boat control and general paddling skills, and it's intermediate paddlers who will get the most out of a trip here.

 

Taking a moment to float, enjoy the scenery and take a photo. Photo by Mark Scanlon.

One of the weekends we were in Slovenia the local kayak shop held an event that involved a time trial and boaterX on a short section of river in between the two campsites. It was held at night, under floodlights which was feckin awesome! The course consisted of a deadly ramp into the water on the river right bank, an upstream gate on river left, a banner to touch on river left and a ferry over to another touch banner on river right, which was the finish line. It was dead short and took under 40 seconds if you were moving quickly. 10 ULKC paddlers took part which was deadly to see, in a field of mostly local paddlers plus all of the team Pyranha paddlers from the UK who were helping to run the event. It might as well have been a home race for us as the noise made by our 20-strong cheerleading squad on the bank completely drowned out any sound being made by anyone else!

 

Start ramp for the time trial. Photo by Mike Shaw, fire courtesy of Matt Cooke!

The event went great, all of our guys who took part had a great time, saying racing a kayak, under lights, in Slovenia, with massive support from ULKC was the coolest thing they had ever done! Cathal came 3rd in the boaterX which he was rightfully delighted with! I had a bad time in the boaterX, only two people raced at a time and the way the ramp was set up meant that even tho I got a decent start, as soon as I hit the water the other guy pretty much landed on top of me, knocking me over and destroying any chance I had of overtaking. The time trial went better thankfully! I got a decent start off the ramp, made a mess of the first gate but hit the last breakout and ferry pretty much perfectly. I ended up coming second behind David Bain of team Pyranha, with a time of 39 seconds versus his 37. Delighted with it!

 

Another free t-shirt! Happy days! Photo by Positive Sport.

After the event, a prize giving was held in the other campsite followed by music that went on until some unknown time in the morning. An otherwise chilled out, respectable gathering was turned into a pretty full on rave by 30 ULKC heads bouncing around the place while all the locals looked on and tried to figure out what was happening. In the end one or two of them joined in the craic, along with the team Pyranha guys. Those guys have it figured out, driving around Europe for a few months going from event to event. Dream summer right there! Despite the local's disapproval, it was mental craic and ended up being one of the best nights of the trip! Which is saying a lot since we did a lot of partying over the three weeks!

The water levels in Slovenia were perfect while we were there and it suited the group down to the ground. Every day we were able to find a section that was perfectly suited to the group's mood and abilities, and often the more advanced paddlers were able to do a morning or evening run on something a bit more challenging. I even got to paddle Siphon canyon on the day of the race with Rob and a german dude called Max, turns out it's a lovely section of river with lots of brilliant, steep boulder garden rapids on it. And when you do it quickly you don't get to see any siphons at all! It was so perfect that we ended up staying there for a few days longer than we had originally intended. However eventually it was time to move on...