March was unbelievably warm, it seemed as though we had sunshine and blue skies for ages.
It was a great send off as we packed the van, put prayer flags on DJ and headed to Slovenia.
The first time we visited this area was in 2001 and we have been heading back there since. The river and valley are absolutely stunning and mixed with the history of the area, the hospitality of the locals and the usually warm and sunny weather make it a special place.
We were also preparing for different assessments, Ute was doing her BCU 5 star assessment and I was on a BCU Advanced Whitewater Endorsement assessment and it makes Slovenia not only a great place for such courses, it has extremely reliable water levels!!
The Otono section of the Soca is a great stretch of whitewater. Yes the walk down is pretty steep but it is well worth it.
You get a great feeling of being in such a beautiful place
Both our assessments were a success and with a final glimpse of the Julian Alps we headed back home where some 1½ metres of fresh snow had been dumped!!
However, it was not long until the snow started to recede and the rivers started to slowly rise.
The Alpine flowers were now flowering and it was just a matter of days until we could get on our home river - the Rosanna
The water temperature of the Rosanna in April is a cool 3 degrees and it is such a luxury to have a drysuit and some very toasty thermals!!!
The sweet little section of the Rosanna is open to kayak....
It has a bit of steepness and it is pretty much continuous for its duration, do not get me wrong there are plenty of eddies you have just got to look out for them and there are not many for big groups!
It is such a fun river and the few locals that kayak know just how lucky they are..
At the right water level there is a wave!!!
And to top it all off, I can practically walk from the take-out back to my house.....
Who said this is just a ski town?
www.gokayaking.at
