On paper the country looks fully recreational : 60% of the territory is covered by forests, you can find more than 800 animal species (including bears and many beavers) and with only 2 million people in the whole country, traffic is likely to be at record lows.... Good times are ahead!

Based on our past mistakes, we decided to lower the sail by reducing the number of kilometres covered per day. This is not a race and we decided to to cross Slovenia as slowly as possible! The objective: maximize the fun, triple our photo-to-km ratio and who knows, maybe pitch our tents in daylight.

We can report that the trip was productive. We discovered a lot during those 8 days of roaming. So here are the 10 things that we’ve learned in 'Slowvénia'.

1. Carrying 8 bicycles by train is always easy… Well on paper!

2. Crossing a communist gathering after 30km of cycling is always a good idea

3. The ascent of Mount Stole is as hard as it is beautiful

4. The soča river is very very blue but also really, really cold

5. Sheep are giving free hugs at the top of the Vrsic Pass

6. Reducing the number of kilometres means increasing your chances of pitching your tent in daylight by 200%

7. Long-distance hiking trails are still not intended for bicycles

8. Technology is good, but (waterproof) paper maps are still better

9. Slovenia holds 99% of the world's greatest gravel

Photography: Simon Taulelle and Renaud Skyronka