Oct 28 - Postojna to Sežana: It's almost all downhill from here at 4 C - Hvala: It's Been Thirty Sweet Years (Tour 16) - 2016 🇭🇷 🇸🇮 🇮🇹

October 28, 2016

Oct 28 - Postojna to Sežana: It's almost all downhill from here at 4 C

Hotel Prunk, Sežana

WHAT do you get when you choose a late October day to cycle adjacent to the Julian Alps? You get a Canadian with cold fingers who wants to keep pedaling to keep warm.

As always I was up early and though I had been planning to stay a little longer til it warmed up... Well, that did not happen. The forecast was for 4 C and out of town in the valleys between the mountains, I am sure they were right. I took my time as much as I could manage, but by 0800 I was itching to get going. Parts of the sky were clear and parts were sunny but I thought it would be great to see the sun burst out of the clouds while I cycled.

So, by 0815 I was rolling out of Postojna, mostly downhill to start. And the wind. Holy Crap. Fortunately, it was either behind me or off the back of my right shoulder. Had it been a headwind, I am not sure how far I would have managed today. It was not gale force, but must have been 50 to 60 km/h at times.

There was a whole bunch of downhill, then suddenly there were some switchbacks and a long grueling climb with the mountains all around. And the winds raged on. Traffic was busy but not bad and all were respectful of me being on the road. When two large vehicles were destined to meet beside me, rather than forcing one to wait behind me, I would stop and step off the road. And the temperature continued to fall. And the winds raged on.

I seemed to be coming to the top of a hill and over a minor pass when the road angled down, down, down, and down. At one point I was zipping down at 42 km/h and for quite a while af 25 km/h. Obviously if this kept up I would arrive way early. Sure enough around 1030 I arrived into town, passing through the centre and onwards to the western edge of town to my new hotel. It has been open for only one month, includes a restaurant and a brewery. They said it would be no problem to have the room early and even invited me to have some of the remaining breakfast, which is included in the stay here. Best of all, they said I was welcome to bring my bike up to the room for safekeeping.

For lunch I went to the restaurant for a salmon salad and one of their homebrew dunkels. Again, not my preferred styles of beer, but afterwards the son of the owner gave me a tour of the brewery downstairs. Much more than my home setup. Apparently this building had been a brewery/restaurant/hotel before until it failed four years ago. This family is now trying to make a go of it. If the restaurant is any indication, they will do alright. It was packed and the staff were running to keep up.

Today's riding, though cool, and not without some climbing at the beginning, was mostly pastoral and quiet. Most of the traffic was on the motorway somewhere else so traffic was non-existent, birds twittered away, and the second half of the ride had me rolling down, down, and down, as I approach the coast at Trieste. Today's destination is about 1 km from the Slovenija-Italy border - I can actually see the former border crossing from the hotel.
- Sežana, Slovenija

In the basement of Hotel Prunk (http://hotel-prunk.si/) is the local micro-brewery. Pictured here is the owner's son who is learning not only about brewing, but running a hotel, and a big busy restaurant. And doing a good job of it so far. To start, they are making a light pilsner as well as a German dunkel.
- Sežana, Slovenija

Though out of the centre of the town, it is a short three or four km cycle ride away. The staff at the hotel were very accommodating, friendly and helpful, and were more than willing to allow me to roll my bike up and into my room.
- Sežana, Slovenija
http://hotel-prunk.si/

Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 373 km (232 miles)

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