Go live – 24-07-2013
Before starting to build this site, I totally underestimated the amount of time it would take to describe all the locations. Searching for the right pictures in a collection of over 1500 pictures, collecting GPS data, finding the right words to describe locations and directions to it… all that trying to be informative enough without making this site another hiking book.
Trying to imagine that the reader doesn’t know what I know, so how to figure out what’s obvious to me, but not to others.
There has to be a moment at which the site has to go live. If I would wait until all the locations and walks are added, it might take another six months. If I would wait until everything is perfect, the site would never go live…
I still wonder how useful this site might become, but there is only one way to find out.
So today I decided that it was time to press on the Publish button at Weebly. There are not so many locations described yet, but this will change over the next months.
Please let me know if I missed a č or š…:-)
Locations added – 09-08-2013
In the last two weeks the Lepenjica, Martuljkov falls, Moznica valley and the three waterfalls Slap Brinta, Gregorčičev slap, Slap Malenšček have been added. I’ve had 25 unique visitors untill now…, 20 from The Netherlands and 5 abroad, of which 1 from Slovenia (I know who).
The Map page is operational – 28-08-2013
Finally I found an easy way to get all the locations shown on the Map page, so that page is now operational. Some locations have been added the last few weeks: Pokljuška Soteska, Mostnica and Mangart. The website has a few new and returning visitors every day. I have received two nice comments per mail about the site, many thanks for that.
I would be interested to receive comments from people who actually used the information, also the GPS data provided. To know if it is informational enough, for I will always have that tunnel vision of someone who knows how to get there already.
Updated the Slap Brinta, Gregorčičev slap, Slap Malenšček walk – 22-09-2013
When I was in Slovenia again last week, for the second time this year, I did this walk again with the new GPS. So I could update the GPS data of this walk and make it much more accurate. Also the route to the parking has been updated since there is no sign to Selce in Kamno…
Added five locations – 26-10-2013
The locations Ucja valley, Sopotnica, Koritnica gorge, Rakov Skocjan and Vintgar gorge have been added the last five weeks. If I keep up this speed, I’ll be ready just after New Year :-). With the Vintgar gorge I have started to add the well known locations that probably don’t need to be mentioned on this site, but are nice to add just to make it complete.
I am very happy with the improving search engine results on location names. This means that this site is visited and it makes it all worth the work. I must say that now that there is no rush anymore on giving this site some body, it is nicer to work on it.
It gives me the opportunity to be where I would like to be, just in thoughts…
Still busy – 08-02-2014
Due to circumstances I haven’t spent as much time on this website as planned. But now it is almost ready. The locations Črno jezero, Slap Savica, Slap Supot and Krampež, Slap Boka, Slap Virje, Slap Kozjak, Krnsko jezero and Slemenova špica have been added in the last three and a half months. Not that few after all.
I am happy to see that my website is still visited a few times every day. Let’s see how that goes the coming summer.
I still hope to hear from people if they used information from this website and found it useful, or incomplete, or confusing, or whatever…
Last location added for now – 03-03-2014
On 22-02-14 the last location of the list that I had in mind, Koseška korita, was added. Now it is time to review the site and change some things. I reformatted the home page and rearranged the locations on the area pages from North to South.
It seemed to me that arranging the locations geographically would be the best way to let people choose their walks.
I had a very nice mail from Hungary with compliments on the site, nice to hear that people like it!
For a few locations that I would like to add I need more information or better pictures, so I hope to add those after our next stay in Slovenia next May. Can’t wait…
Added a part of the Soča trail (Soška pot) – 25-03-2014
Ever since I made the Soča page and its locations, I was not happy with the confusing way in which I mentioned possible walks around the Third gorge and the Rock wall at Brjeka. Finally I decided that I had enough GPS data to at least describe a part of the Soča trail after all. So I added it as the last Soča location.
Now the website will have to stay as it is till new locations are found. Looking forward to it…
Back in Slovenia – 28-05-2014
Last thursday we arrived at Ribčev Laz and stayed at Hotel Jezero for a few days, and now we are at Kamp Soča. More updates to follow, but for now I just want to mention that the suspension bridge at the Third Soča gorge is back!
It was rebuilt in April 2014 as part of an EU project.
Back home, starting to update – 22-06-2014
So now I sit at home, partly sad with just memories of another great time in Slovenia. What wondered us was the bad weather forecast for the period which turned out to be much better than expected. We had some rain every now and then during just a few days, but never a whole day or even a few days, as forecasted. So: never let weather forecasts withhold you from going to Slovenia!
The hospitality at Hotel Jezero was great again, our stay in an apartment at Kamp Soča also great as usual and like every year we had a few very nice rafting trips with the excellent SportMix outdoor activity team at Bovec.
We did a new walk, I recorded information on three other walks that we already knew but had too little information about to put them on this site until now. For now I improved the description of the walk to Izvir Bistrice and deleted the Note on the suspension bridge at the Third Soča gorge.
I also went to the source of Slap Savica to refresh my memories and to find out that what I wrote of how to get there was absolute rubbish, I mixed up two paths. Now the description is okay, apologies to anyone who tried to find the path to the source and ended up on a path to the hydroelectric power station that is not allowed to be used.
One little story: be careful with snow – 22-06-2014
We couldn’t do any mountain walks this time. There was a lot of snowfall during the winter, 8 meters at Kanin they said. Because spring was relatively cold there was still quite some snow above 1300 meters in shady areas.
Despite knowing that, we did the Viševnik on May 25th. Reaching the top at 2050 meters was not the problem with most of the ascent on southern slopes. Looking at the rest of our path to Blejska koča (and from there back to Rudno polje), there was a lot of white surface. We decided that we could do this.
That was a bad decision. Walking along a snowy slope where slipping was no option most of the time, chopping footsteps in the snow with our heels, was something that we could do for ten minutes if necessary, but not for almost three hours. Being the strong guy, I walked in front and chopped the steps for Jet who was behind me. There were times that I was so exhausted that I thought I couldn’t carry on anymore. So 20 seconds resting and 10 more chops was how we did it.
We exceeded our limits and realized what we were capable to do, but the second half of this walk was not so joyful. But we found the correct path from the koča back to Rudno polje that we were unable to find the last time, not bad after all.
Added a Facebook page for Slovenia Locations – 23-07-2014
Let’s be optimistic and think that some people who visit my site do a little more than just view a couple of pictures.
Would someone ever go to the About page, notice the email address at the bottom and type it over to write a comment?
A few people did and I was grateful for that!
To make things easier I launched a Facebook page where everyone is free to add a comment on the Timeline. So now there is a Facebook icon on top of every page.
I hope to receive some critics about the usability of the site. Was it helpful or did you find yourselves left in the middle of a walk not knowing where to go next…
Started to add new locations – 09-08-2014
Today I published the first of the four new walks that can be added, the Viševnik. In the next few weeks I hope to add the Sušec canyon, Tolminska korita and the Bavšica valley to this site.
Two loactions added – 27-09-2014
At the beginning of September the Sušec canyon was added. Today I added the Tolminska korita. The first time we were there was in 2005, without GPS. At that time the Tolminka gorge was closed. A year later the LTO Sotočje started the restoration of the path in the gorge. So we had to visit the gorges again to get enough information to publish the walk.
Updated the Map page – 28-12-2014
Google has stopped giving us an opportunity to embed a Map/Earth frame in private websites. At the beginning of December I discovered that the map disappeared on my page. I tried to find another way to create an interactive map page where you could zoom in but couldn’t find anything. So I decided to put a screen print on this page, better than nothing I thought.
Added the Bavšica valley – 25-01-2015
It was about time to finish the website with walks from our last holiday last year. Adding the Bavšica valley walk was the last thing to do. After we were made aware of this valley, we drove through but we didn’t find a place were we wanted to walk. Back at Fort Kluže, we decided to cross the Koritnica at the first possible suspension bridge and walk in direction of the valley. So we found the Šunik creek and it became a nice circular walk…
The map is back! – 27-02-2015
Recently I found out that embedding Google maps in a website was still possible. I was just using a tool via Google Earth Outreach that got discontinued. I found my way in the Google Maps JavaScript API adventure.
After a week struggle with lots of example code that I hardy understood I managed to get back what I had and even more.
All the controls that I would like to have are there. You can switch between satellite view and road view, and, most important: a local copy of Google Earth or the Google Earth Plugin is no longer needed. And last but not least: it works in all the browsers for so far I’ve been able to test! I hope that visitors like it too.
After another holiday – 06-07-2015
After another great time in Slovenia I had to recapture myself first, being back home in Dutch man-made nature.
Now it’s time to add the new locations we were happy to find, and update some facts.
An overlooked junction during the walk to Izvir Bistrice was added. We went to the Otona pool once again, this time with GPS so that a track could be added just like everywhere else, the estimated figures could be replaced and I’ve added two photos.
We did the Koseška korita walk once again and now I had a good GPS track, so that page is updated.
As a result of my website activities we had a casual meeting with the director of the Local Tourist Office in Bovec. I was very happy to hear that he found the website very extensive and informative, but one walk was definitely missing, the walk to the Zapotok waterfalls. So we did the walk a few days later and I was surprised. The name of the stream Suhi potok (dry stream) has always prevented me from doing this walk, I had a note of it dating back some six years or so. Added the walk, highly recommended!
In the next months I will add five more new walks we did this year.
Three walks added – 29-08-2015
Today I added Slap Beri and Slap Sopota, both close to Tolmin. Now the Tolmin area is well covered with short walks.
Two weeks ago I added the walk to Dvojno jezero in the Bohinj area. I decided to keep it a separate walk from the Crno jezero walk that was already on the site. In such way it is easier to see what effort it takes if you want to visit both lakes or just Crno jezero.
After an extra holiday – 04-10-2015
This year we were able to go to Slovenia a second time again. We didn’t do much because unfortunately Jet catched a cold just before we went and of course I took it over from her.
But we borrowed the book “Sto Slapov”, 100 waterfalls in the Koritnica valley, that inspired us to investigate the first steam near Log pod Mangartom, the Gorejca. So that walk was added. The next months of this year I will add the three remaining walks we did in May and June.
The last three walks added – 24-10-2015
This week the last three locations from our May holiday where added: Galetovec, Vogel and Strunjan.
So for now no work in progress anymore, except for some minor changes. With 47 locations already!
The walk to Vogel was special for us.
From 2006 onwards we wanted to go to Vogel during our annual stay at Hotel Jezero in May. But in the time that we were there, the Vogel cable car was always in maintenance. For the first time in 2009 they changed the maintenance period and we could go up. But there was so much snow left the end of May that even finding a path past Planina Zadnji Vogel was impossible. In 2011 we tried again and came a lot further until we reached a snow area on the slope of Vogel that we couldn’t pass, without equipment it was too dangerous.
Finally this year, because of very little snowfall during winter, we could go. The only day we had left in Bohinj it rained until 11:00 and after that it remained heavily clouded. The person selling tickets for the cable car pointed at the webcam screen behind her like “are you sure?” Jet had to ask me if we were sure, yes I was, it was then or who knows when in future.
The walk was special. No views at all. No orientation either actually… Without the GPS track from 2011 we might not have reached Vogel again, though maybe the signs and red-white dots would have been enough.
When we came back at the top cable car station just before 17:30, the second to last run of the day, the driver was happy to see that we didn’t get lost in the fog. After ten years we made it to Vogel in May!
Website up to date again – 21-02-2016
During the last weeks I worked through the notes I still had on things to add or change. The trip information for the Parabola stated that is was a 25 minutes walk but that was one way, so it had to be 50 minutes. Last September I investigated the Boka riverbed and added this alternative walk to the Boka page. We finally found a nicer path to get to the Možnica gorge, so that page has been completely revised.
So now the website has the status “finished” again. Hopefully not for long, as we are curious to find new destinations the end of May when we spend another two weeks in this beautiful country. The Nadiža river will be one of our targets, still need to find a path along a great part of the riverbed. And hopefully we will be able to use the reconstructed Kanin cableway. Just in the year that we decided to do a walk in the Kanin mountain region in 2013, the cableway got damaged. Looking forward to it!
Starting to update again – 17-07-2016
During the last holiday in May, I made some notes and we did four new walks. So it is about time to start working on the site again. I did some updates on the Ribnica falls page, and some minor changes elsewhere. In the coming months the four walks will be added: Slap Grmečica, Soteska Pekel, Nadiža river and Lepenjica waterfall.
The first new tracks – 08-08-2016
This year we managed to do a walk outside Triglav National Park again, so Soteska Pekel was added last week. We also went to Slap Grmečica in Bohinj once again. In 2006 we saw it on a map but couldn’t find it, in 2007 we tried harder and found the waterfall. This year we went back again to get enough details to publish the walk.
Krn lake and Vintgar updated – 23-08-2016
We went to the Krn lake (Krnsko jezero) again this year, for the first time on a sunny day, so I replaced most of the photos. We also took the time to find the small lake Dupeljsko jezero on our way back, so the figures for the walk are updated and there is a new GPS track for the walk. We also paid a visit to the Vintgar gorge, haven’t been there since 2007. This time the GPS was on and I added a track. Not that you need it, but every walk on this site has one, so… In addition some photos were added and the text got an update.
Nadiža an Lepenjica waterfall added – 07-12-2016
The past weeks I added the last two new walks from this summer. Locations 50 and 51 already! I never imagined that I even would reach 50, and I already now that there will be more to add next year. It was a good summer with more visitors than last year, and some nice comments though mail and FB, thanks again for that!
Started processing the 2017 notes – 17-09-2017
After some less pleasant months it is time to get back on track and start updating the website. So far just some minor changes. Added some text to the Fratarica gorge page and the Slap Peričnik page.
Finished updating again – 08-04-2018
Two months ago I started processing the rest of my notes from our 2017 holiday, a little late due to circumstances.
The Soča source page has been updated. The Visevnik page now contains the track for the correct path from Blejska koča back to Rudno polje. The Slap Virje page was updated. The Strunjan page was updated. The Zapotok waterfalls page was updated. Nothing big, just some additional notes and new or more pictures here and there.
One tiny little walk was added, the walk to the Mlinarica gorge was all that we did new last year. Looking forward to be there again in little over five weeks!
The first new walk is added – 22-07-2018
It has been some time since we were in Slovenia again and this year we did four new walks. The coming months I will add those, starting now with a nice hike to the famous Lake Bled viewpoint called Osojnica. As mentioned on the About page, we do not always have the luxury to visit places when the weather conditions are perfect. So now you will see how it looks from there on a rainy day.
Modern extreme weather conditions also affect Slovenia. In December 2017 a heavy storm ravaged several parts of Slovenia, with many fallen trees as result. The storm was accompanied by heavy rainfall. The first part of the walk to Izvir Bistrice has changed for generations as many trees fell, resulting in a half open forest. They were still cleaning in May. Also walking along the Mostnica gorge in Bohinj, you might notice that the third bridge made of steel and wood was washed away. Astonishing if you see how high it was above normal water level.
Enabled the Maps page again – 03-09-2018
Two days ago I discovered that the Maps page did not work anymore. Google has changed policies and I had to create a Google Cloud account and connect my credit card. I hope that the amount of page views stays in the free of charge numbers but I think they will. For now the “For development purposes only” banner is gone.
Added Slap Rinka – 15-09-2018
Today I added Slap Rinka together with a short description of the Logar valley. Two more locations to follow after this.
Added the Šunik stream – 05-02-2019
After months I picked up the work on the website again and today the Šunik stream in the Lepena valley was added. For years I wondered if it would be possible to walk along the Lepenjica tributary called Šunik, we even tried to walk up cross-country along the wrong side of the river back in 2009. This year I prepared at home with a track created in Google Earth following the riverbed. So we tried the path to Zagreben and fortunately it ran along the Šunik for a long time. This is a real wild water walk through the forest with lots of opportunities to be at the riverbed! Nice to have four locations in Lepena already.
Added the last 2018 walk – 25-03-2019
Finally the last walk of the four new walks from 2018 has been added, the Zadnjica valley. In 2006 and 2007 already we walked in the Zadnjica valley near Trenta and found the Belopotoški slap, but I had no track or other data to be able to add it to the website. So we did some work for the website this year walking there again. All the notes from 2018 have been processed, ready for a new adventurous holiday again in two months!
NEW – coordinates of each parking added – 27-03-2019
As of today, for every location the decimal coordinates of the parking place has been added on every details page.
This means that you can use the coordinates for car navigation purpose without having to download one of the GPS files.
This was a suggestion from someone last year and recently I had time to figure out how I would do that, and time to add the 56 coordinate pairs to every page. Happy navigating!
Started updating again – 25-08-2019
My Google maps page doesn’t work with Internet Explorer anymore, so you’ll have to use another browser. Slap Virje got a large parking place recently. The Slap Brinta walk is not maintained, so it gets a bit tricky to do the walk. The remains of the December 2017 storm on the walk to Izvir Bistrice have been cleaned up. I rewrote the walk to the Rockwall at Brjeka, the circular walk now goes in the other direction which is much nicer.
Since half a year all the GPS file downloads that have been uploaded after March 2018 appear in the browser as text instead of being offered to download. After a long discussion with Weebly it points out that they don’t want to look into that. Not that offering .kml and .gpx files as downloads is rocket science, but they say that I am lucky that it worked all those years (?).
So it is time to look for another provider but it will take a huge amount of time to build a new website elsewhere…
The only new walk of this year added – 20-10-2019
Today the walk to viewpoint Peč in Bohinj was added. I have spent a lot of time investigating WordPress the last two months. The layout, colors and functionality is set up, now a provider has to be tested, then all the content has to be added. It seems that everything will work and hopefully at the beginning of next year the new website will be up and running.
Last 2019 modification done – 03-11-2019
Today I finished the processing of my 2019 holiday notes by adding the official Boka viewpoint walk to the Slap Boka page.
Building the new WordPress version of the website is going well, 44 detail pages still to go.
Go live again – 15-11-2019
Eleven weeks and two days ago I downloaded WordPress for the first time to see how it works. Five weeks later I knew how everything worked and building the layout of the website was finished. Then filling the 65 pages had to be done.
Today the last two pages from the Weebly website were added to the WordPress website and it is time to switch the DNS records to point SloveniaLocations to the new host.
The Google Maps page works in all browsers again, and all the GPS file downloads work again.
A wish from 1,5 years ago has been fulfilled!
As planned in February, today we would have been enjoying our second day in Bohinj. Unfortunately we had to cancel our holiday in the middle of March as it became certain that travelling to Slovenia in May wouldn’t be possible due to COVID. Very frustrating and sometimes still unreal. Looking at the amount of visitors that has dropped to a quarter of the usual amount in May, we are not the only ones who are not having our great time in Slovenian nature. There is little change that we will travel early autumn due to our uncertain financial situation caused by the lockdown. So eventually this website will remain static till next year.
Years too late I started to investigate how anchors to specific locations on a web page work and how to use them.
Until now, clicking on “Click here to go back…”on a Details page brought you back to the top of an area page and you had to remember where you were on that area page. From now on you will be brought back to the position on the area page where the location is described you just came from.
Yesterday I decided that I finally wanted to find out how that works and it was so easy…
After 114 edits of the website that navigation ease is now implemented. Happy browsing!
Two more walks will be changed the coming week, Slap Curk will get much more photos as we did the walk again last year on a sunny day and text will be added, the Možnica valley walk will get a new better track and also text added.
Today the Slap Curk walk has been updated with much more information. The track and trip information was OK, but in the directions for how to drive an exit was missing and the during the walk secion was very brief. Also six photos were added from last year. All the work from our last holiday notes have been processed now.
Since a few years there are no old GPS tracks from my old Garmin Summit on this site, all the tracks are more accurate, so it was time to change the Accuracy of the trip information and GPS data sections on the Home page.
I also added recommended apps for GPS data for people who are not familar with GPS apps on smartphones.
Yesterday I found out how it works, today I added the 59 links.
So from now on you don’t have to copy the coordinates string anymore to paste it in Apple maps or Google maps, just click on the “Send coordinates to maps app” link and start navigating!
Today I started processing the notes made in May this year when we had the pleasure again to be in Slovenia. No big changes this time. The crossing of the Koritnica to the Fratariga gorge has changed and the rope is gone for easy descent in the Parabola basin. Added the height gain of the climb through the woods on the way to Krnsko jezero.
And the first loction with some photos not taken by us. Park Škocjanske jame kindly provided them after I asked for some pictures, very happy with that.
Now the walk in the Ucja valley remains to be updated since some parts after the falls are getting really problematic, but I haven’t decided yet what to do with this walk.
Now it is time to do updates. So far only photos have been replaced. Two from Slap Kozjak and most of the pictures from Peč and a few from Osojnica have been replaced due to better weather conditions when we were there. One photo was added to Črno jezero and one replaced at Ribnica. In the near future the Učja valley walk will be updated, we finally decided how the walk can be done nicely after a part of the circular walk is getting impassable.
And finally rewrote the walk in the Učja valley. The old track had some difficult passages that got dangerous, so two years ago I did some investigation and last May we walked the new track. Added lots of new photos for this walk.
Now it’s time to look forward for new adventures in Slovenia next month!