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The sun rose over the wooded mountain at my feet at 07:15, but I didn’t get up until about half past. I slept exceptionally well. I was snug and warm in the bag and bivvy, and the earplugs and white noise from the river drowned out all sound. I was asleep very quickly last night. I got into the bag at 20:45, I think. The temperature was starting to drop and I was too exhausted to read. I’ve rinsed my socks in the river and now I’m going to pack up. I’ll either get breakfast in the village or make it later. I hope I find the tap at the side of my host’s house without to much faffing. I skipped dinner last night. I’m starting to realise dinner isn’t a meal I want or enjoy that much. I’m not even hungry now, just calm and rested and looking forward to making decent progress today.
08:25: As I was packing up, my host Robert offered me a cup of coffee. A few minutes later he reappeared with ham and cheese sandwiches and fruit.1
09:18:10: My host Robert and myself.
09:23: On the road after a brilliant chat with Robert. He showed me his picture of Marshall Tito in the scullery. Hand tinted, Tito as a venerable older statesman.2 After that experience, my mood is phenomenal.
09:42: Leaving Jagnjenica.
09:48: Stari Dvor.
09:48:08
09:53: Leaving Stari Dvor.
10:18: Radeče. The stretch between Jagnjenica and here includes a paper mill, a sticker (or ticket) manufacturer and a print and graphics company — in that order.
10:24:08:
10:37:46:
10:39:50: I triggered the traffic calming sign.
10:52: Stopping for elevenses and a wash at a pizzeria that’s not yet open for food.
11:12: Socks washed, teeth brushed. Bizarrely, looking at myself in the mirror — greasy, unshaven, tousle-haired and in need of a haircut — I look more alive to myself than I ever remember. I’m about to have a black tea and half a litre of apple juice and water half-and-half.
11:31: Checked in with Aisling and the siblings3. Time to hit the road again.
11:36: Except I’m not — I’m having an outrageous portion of ice cream: orange sorbet, lemon sorbet, cinnamon and caramel ice cream. Total six scoops, I think. Yikes. OK, standing up to pay now and hit the road for Brestanica.
11:44: All in, €6.00. Wow.
11:48: Leaving Radeče.
11:54: Crossing to the North bank of the Sava river.
11:56:39 
11:57:00 
12:06:19
12:18: Winding road. Breeze. Loka.
12:28: Račica.
12:42: Leaving Račica.
12:54: Šentjur na Polyu.
On the valley floor beside the railway track.
13:03: Leaving Šentjur na Polyu.
13:05:15
13:06: Breg.
13:12: Leaving Breg. Climbing out of the river valley.
13:15:53 
13:34:02 
13:34:11 
13:37:31
13:49: Stopping in a shady patch by the side of the road for a rest and lunch.
14:42: About to put my bag on and carry on.
14:54: Orehevo. Junkyard.
15:10: Leaving Orehevo. Suburbia. View of an industrial river opens up.
15:31: Sevnica.
15:44: Stopping for 500ml apple juice and water.
16:24: Found a hostel in Brestanica, but I can’t get in contact with them. €1.60 for apple juice.
16:55:32 
16:58:25
17:01: Leaving Sevnica.
17:13: Just walked along a stretch forbidden to walkers and cyclists. Saw plenty of cyclists. Gornje Brezovo.
17:33: Leaving Gornje Brezovo.
17:40: Dolnje Brezovo.
17:51: Leaving Dolnje Brezovo.
18:11: Blanca.
18:13:10
18:21: Leaving Blanca.
18:23:53
18:47: Rožno.
19:00: Rožno. Eh?
19:05: Leaving Rožno.
19:19: Dolenji Leskovec.
19:29:40
19:33: Brestanica.
19:44:26 
19:52:44
20:04: Checked in to a dorm. €15.00. €3.00 for clothes washing and €1.80 for 50cl apple juice/water mix.
20:08: I told the Olympic athlete owner of the hostel what I’m doing — he nods and looks almost blank.
We sat in Robert’s gazebo, near where I’d pitched up next to the river, chatting in (I think) German. He’d been a little guarded yesterday evening, but this morning he was warm and chatty. He told me that a few years before, a group of cyclists had also asked permission to camp overnight in his garden! I wish I’d taken a snap of it to share here; his garden is beautifully situated between the road and the river in a steep-sided valley.↩︎
Marshall Tito is still revered by plenty of people all across the Balkans. For them, he represents a time of unity, prosperity and stability in Yugoslavia. Just a few years after Tito’s death in 1980, the conflagration in the Balkans started. I remember my dad commenting at the time of Tito’s death, when I was barely a teenager, that Tito’s authoritarianism had kept the lid on ethnic tensions. He was dead before Yugoslavia disintegrated in violence.↩︎
I’m on a schedule to get to Zagreb in time to met Aisling for a few days’ holidays, and the day after Aisling flies out, my brother David flies in to join me for a few days, walking out of Zagreb.↩︎
