Day 1 - May 6 - A sleepy start

I have ridden many times through Austria, so I decided to catch a train to Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital. It was a gloomy day and was hoping to get a break in the weather by traveling south - while the rain stopped, it was still rather gloomy. I was thoroughly bored on the train and got off the train in the town of Celje, some 75 kilometers to the east of the capital.

Celje is a pretty town, with a castle and some mosaics in the middle - but I was so keen to start my ride, I left town shortly after I arrived - by now it was 1 in the afternoon.

I started riding southwards on a rather busy road - it being around one pm on a Friday afternoon. Soon, the road forked, traffic became lighter, yet another fork and there were practically no cars around.

The country in beautiful, hilly, and looks much like Austria - pretty, but not all too exciting (forgive me, any people of Austrian origin).

It is also small - and I soon reached the Croatian border. I was headed for a small crossing, which was indicated in Google Maps, but not marked by any road signs. I asked some villagers if this was the right road, they said yes, but warned me to watch out for all those migrants. Well, I was potentially on the Balkan route, but did not come across anyone wanting to cross illegally.

It was a tiny crossing point, but protected heavily by barbed wire. This was the year before Croatia became part of the Schengen area (these barbed wire fences have subsequently been removed). The officer took my ID and I played with a stray cat while waiting. He disappeared (i.e. the border guy, not the cat, it would not want to leave, especially after it received some of my sandwiches) reappeared some 15 minutes later, apologizing in broken English, complaining the system was slow.

The other side of the border was not too exciting either - village after village, not much to see. I finished the day in a hotel steep, steep hill, close to, but just short of the capital city of Zagreb. I even had to shove my bike, as it was such an incline. Right when I got tot the hotel, it started raining, I was glad not to have gotten wet that day. About 90 km of biking hat day - not bad, considering that I started only in the afternoon.