[Closed] A little report from my trip to Slovenia (Pic Heavy)

So I seem to enjoy coming up with my harebrained ideas and thinking how hard can it be and somehow making the project happen (homemade [url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/homemade-carbon-xc-frame-pics-and-details-as-promised ]hardtail[/url] and [url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/carbon-full-suspension-frame-build-updates ]Full Sus[/url] frames being the biggest two), so last Easter when my family decided to go to Slovenia for holiday this summer I decided to cycle there to meet them...

Not owning a touring bike, or having done any cycle touring of anything more than two nights (in B&Bs) I decided to go out and get a bike trailer and stick the components off my full sus on a 1994 steel/ti raleigh I had in the garage and stick some well worn crossmarks someone gave me a year back as they looked the fastest rolling tyres in the spares box.

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I set off 20 days ahead of my family with about 1750km and 16000m climbing between me and the Slovenian border. The Route took me from Oxfordshire to Newhaven where I took the ferry to Dieppe. From here I went north around Paris and through the champagne region and over the southern end of the vosges mountains into Switzerland where I headed SE to the alps, which I followed through Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, back into Austria and finally into Slovenia, all this time using cycle paths or off road routes wherever practical!

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France seemed to be having quite extreme weather for the week I was there, with highs of 33C (garmin reached 39C) and days where the rain was forming rivers 8 inches deep across the roads. By the Time I reached Switzerland I was beginning to feel I may have bitten off more than I could chew, but luckily the weather changed and scenery improved (I hadn't quite realised how boring northern France was!).

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As I'm currently at Loughborough uni I decided to go through epinal as it is twinned with loughborough - but no signposts seemed to acknowledge this 🙁
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Switzerland seemed to fly by, following the national cycle routes seemed to be the best and easiest way of travelling, although I wouldn't recommend the mtb route 2 through Amden with 40kg of bike, trailer and kit as sections are 1 in 3 and very loose gravel, where following the road turned out to be easier and quicker. The this pass was well worth the climb as the views were stunning and the descent was pretty amazing too (even with a trailer that developed a speed wobble at 54kph).

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I was sad to leave switzerland and the weather seemed to deteriorate pretty quickly as I climbed into Austria towards St Anton. I had been aiming for a site about 8km from the summit of the pass, but upon arrival it turned out it was shut, so with tired legs I decided the best option was to turn around for the sit 12km from the summit as legs were shot. Upon arrival at this site it turned out the camping field was flooded (river in spate due to rain) but the would let me sleep in the ski loft!

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The next day the weather improved a little bit and I made the summit 12km and 900m climbing later and dropped down into the Inn valley and stopped for the night at Innsbruck, ready for the climb into Italy the next day.

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Italy was a bit of a disappointment, I spent both days there looking for a nice looking pizzeria, but struggled to find one, the campsite was next to a motorway and freight train line (still quite pretty - but very noisy) and bike paths were in quite poor condition compared to the Swiss/Austrian ones - bad enough for me to have been glad I was on an mtb for the first time this trip!

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Back in Austria I had a few easy days left to do as I was about 60km ahead of schedule with a relatively flat 150km to do 3 days, but... my rear tyre decided to split from the bead, my pannier rack broke and my garmin decided to die - all within the space of about 20km. The tyre was repaired with tooth floss, but was too rotten as split again so I had to walk the bike to the nearest site/town to replace it the next morning (a nice shop mechanic sold me a part worn tyre nice and cheap), and pannier rack was zip tied together and I sourced a few okish maps from tourist infos along my way for the final 100km or so.

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On the final day of my tour I did the 30km over the border to Kranjska Gora in Slovenia where I met up with my family for lunch.

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I will admit if I was to do a trip like this again I would do it a little differently - the biggest change would be to ditch the trailer and use a proper touring bike with tougher components (although it turns out ZTR Olympics and mavic X517 rims a good for touring) I would also likely skip out France altogether or pick a more interesting route for the first bit.

So for any of you that are still reading there are quite a few more pics [url= http://s1331.photobucket.com/user/oliverracing/library/uk%20to%20slovenia%20trip%202014?sort=3&page=1 ]here [/url] and feel free to email me for more info on the route/where I stayed/kit I used.