We decided to spurn the Scottish 6-Days for our orienteering holiday this year, and instead went south to the OOcup. The event moves around, but this year was taking place on the Slovenia/Italy border. We flew Easyjet to Venice and then hired a car to drive the 200km to Kranjska Gora where we had rented an apartment. (I now know much more about cross-border hire charges than I ever wanted to. For the record, Enterprise was around £25 for the week.)
We were straight into the orienteering the next day, with a 45-minute drive in the direction of Ljubljana. The area was a mixture of large karst depressions and then over a steep slope into rock-strewn terrain. I was incredibly slow in the latter, but my biggest mistake was probably missing an absolutely enormous depression! On the way back, we joined the queue of tourists for the famous Lake Bled.
We’d entered Emma late, and due to transport constraints on the second day (a fleet of minibuses ferrying competitors to the start in convoy), she’d been unable to get an entry. It was probably a good one to miss, as it rained the whole time I was out. A shame, as the Alpine terrain on the Italian side of the border would have been lovely in the sunshine.
The next two days involved getting a bus across the border. On the first, we were grateful for the large, if somewhat crowded marquee, that offered shelter from the rain when we arrived. Thankfully, when we returned the next day, the sun was out again. The area was pretty physical, and I failed to break 10 min/kms on my 6km course (as well as getting stung by a wasp!). On the way back, we stopped at Zelenci, the beauty spot that graced the cover of our Lonely Planet guide.
The last day was, dare I say it, more like the terrain back home. That showed in my result, which was the best of the week: 14th, pulling me up to 25th overall. We then had one more day in Slovenia. Christine and Duncan hired bikes, while I went for a walk. Emma and I then took the free bus to a nearby waterfall.
We relocated to Venice for our last day. We left our stuff at the hotel near the airport and then took the bus into the city. Unfortunately, the thunder that had been rumbling around the plain turned into a torrential downpour, and we were soaked by the time the bus arrived. Still, it meant the streets were nowhere near as busy as they might have been! We’d all dried out sufficiently to enjoy a final dinner beside one of the canals.
The OOCup was a great event, but I’m not sure we’ll be following it to Killarney next year, having been on holiday there in 2024. Christine has plans to make the most of Duncan finishing school early after exams to head to Swiss O Week…
More photos on Flickr.