Day 2 - Mariborska koča to Grmovškov dom

After yesterday's short walk up from Maribor, this was the first full day of the trip: 42km, 2,000m ascent.

My intention had been to reach Slovenj Gradec today, but this wasn't going to happen. And in fact I never caught up with my planned schedule, despite back-to-back long days and early starts. Virtually every stage turned out to be longer and tougher than I'd expected.

It was a little tricky to get onto the right trail, and to follow the correct path through the woods, with no sense of what direction I was heading in.  After about 2km, the heavens opened with freezing cold torrential rain. There was nothing for it but to scarper for some shelter. I 'sprinted' off down the hill to reach Hotel Zarja to get some protection from the absolute monsoon rain.  Everything was soaked in seconds.  It was early and off-season, so the hotel was not yet open, but eventually a couple opened up and I managed to order a coffee, whilst bracing myself for a day of getting battered by the weather.

I don't remember much about this day, apart from it rained pretty much the whole time, and the scenery was desolate forests and peaty, boggy paths.

It was already getting dark when I reached Grmovškov dom, and I'd been cold and wet for hours, so there was no real possibility of heading on any further today.

I hung up my sopping wet clothes as best I could, and got some food and beer downstairs.