The 'OO Cup' Slovenia

Just before our trip to Slovenia we had a visit from Mark and Sylvia to Trondheim. We had a very pleasant few days walking in the forest, swimming in our lake and catching up in some good Kiwi company!

Then we found ourselves (including Cris who was still traveling with us) running full tilt down the hill in the rain to catch the bus to the airport, laden with tramping packs. A bit of a cliche start to my stories these days. We laughed as we jumped on the bus - we were already stinky and sweaty and the trip had not even started!

We flew through Stansted, then braved the evil Ryanair to Venice (actually Treviso). From Treviso, where the temperatures were soaring, we took a train to Trieste. Trieste is right near the Slovenian border. We hopped off the train and onto a bus whose driver assured us was heading to the border. We had 40 minutes to reach the train station across the border.

After 30 minutes on board the bus Chris decided we were definitely going the wrong way. Suddenly we saw a old train station, jumped off the bus and ran to it. We were in the wrong place, however, it was on the correct line and miraculously we caught the train!

Slovenian countryside

Slovenia is a beautiful country of rolling hills and quaint villages. There is an air of dilapidation, but simultaneously it is clean and flowers flow from terracotta coloured verandas. We whisked through the Logatec, the small town where the OO Cup was to be held.

We were rather hungry when we finally made it to Logatec

After a wonderful pizza and super cheap beers at a little restaurant, we located the event center and some friendly Slovenian orienteers who dropped us at the busy campground.

In the morning we got our first taste of Slovenian orienteering - extremely detailed Karst terrain with thousands of sink holes, set in a forest full of rocks! We all struggled a bit, but thoroughly enjoyed it. We met up with Kiwi Greg Barber who is living in Moscow and he suggested we visit his place the following day.

I found one!

The orienteering the next day was more of the same intricate contour detail. Cris and I downgraded ourselves which was a good move. In the afternoon we headed back to Greg's wonderful 'mountain chalet' and visited a beautiful river for a swim with his family.

A little more upmarket than our tents!

The next day the terrain was on the other side of the road - and it really was different. Fast spur gully terrain in open forest. I knew I would have to be quick to beat that sneaky Cris so I ran as fast as my little legs could carry me. When I got back I was worried. Turned out he was winning for most of the race, but a little mistake cost him at the end and I beat him by one minute!

Chris ran a speedy time and finished in 9th place. We spent the afternoon lounging by the Bella River and ate another delicious meal at Greg's.

Somehow the nasty lurgy which attacked us down in Norway decided to re attack me and I could not finish the last two days of the OO Cup because I got an ear infection. I was very annoyed. Cris found the last two days challenging, while my Chris improved in the complex terrain and finished the competition with two strong runs in 9th place despite some big mistakes at the start of the competition (10 minutes on one control - shock horror!).

On the final day we were trying to work out how to get to the event. Chris inquired at the campground office and the friendly barmaid simply offered her his car for the day! We all laughed about how he had persuaded her? Of course he was sure he had charmed her.

So we tootled off in the very cute wee yellow car to the event....only in Slovenia!

Our nice campsite by the stream

We spent the final afternoon watching the last stage of the Tour de France in the nice campground bar and buying cheap radlers.