Bobby Gilbert Adventures

Nicole and I did a quick trip to the Ogwen Valley in the camper van on the evening of the 19th of December. We set off after the Gilbert Christmas pub lunch and arrived after dark to camp in North Wales’ prettiest layby at Llynn Ogwen. We had a couple of hours for cups of tea and toffee pudding while Nicole taught me a new card game before getting off to bed ready for an early start on Solstice Eve morning.

We were off by 7am and heading up into the Carneddau by headtorch. Blundering around in a mix of trail and bog (wet feet for Nicole), but gaining height, we stopped for breakfast while dawn broke then continued up the ridge to Carneddau Fach with the view changing dramatically every few minutes as the sun rose and clouds came scudding across.

As we came over the summit we were backlit by the sun and projected onto low clouds. The effect was the best Brocken Spectre I’ve seen. Quite magical.

Then on to the ridge. Whenever we got to a saddle point between peaks the wind speed rose dramatically pretty much blowing us off our feet. The best way to progress was to run, laughing, out of control, to get to the next sheltered bit.

Along the ridgeway we took in Carneddaus Dafydd and Llewelyn before descending back down to the valley, running down the soft grassy hillside (for which my thighs are now complaining 2 days later – excruciating pain if I walk downstairs – I really need to get out more often).

The three hour drive got us back home in time for a chilled evening ready for our Solstice Day celebrations. Nicole and I were doing Solstice Day as the big event this year instead of Christmas Day.

This was a weekend of extremes of luxury. Extremes that ranged from hot baths with champagne, dressing for dinner, cocktails by the fireplace, to gale force winds blowing us off our bikes and horizontal rain. Then back to the hotel to really appreciate the pampering. All in celebration of a big birthday for Sally (I’ve said that we can only manage this level of luxury for birthday’s ending in a zero – mind you, I really got into it – must be a way to repeat!).

Sally: It was lovely to be taken away for a weekend for my 60th but I had no idea what this would entail! I’d just been told ‘pack for every eventuality’, so biking gear, relaxing gear, warm gear, posh gear even! My only question had been ‘Will there be hot showers’. I guess I was secretly hoping for a nice hotel but was equally prepared for a tent, a bunkhouse, a youth hostel. I’m with Bobby after all! I was told yes, there should be hot showers, so now I’m envisaging a cold sprint across a field to a shower block. As we got closer to our destination, he’s pointing out where he’s cycled before, where he’s camped, teenage stories; and then we pull onto a sweeping driveway (it’s looking hopeful) and WOW, in to view comes Lake Vyrnwy Hotel. The boy has stepped up!

The Sockasaurus was waiting in our room (apparently its a Welsh Dragon that guards your room when you’re out). A bottle of chilled Champagne may have found its way in from the van. Chilled bubbles, hot bath, elegant supper. Sally particularly enjoyed the pork three ways.

Sally: Rude.

Next morning we had breakfast while the rain was beating down against the windows. I showed a picture to Nicole who realised she could remember visiting here when she was three, and the all-you-can-eat breakfast, which was apparently a defining childhood memory. “So many different cereals to try”

After breakfast we set off into the wind and rain to cycle around the very full reservoir and up into the mountains.

Until… We found the road was closed due to a hurricane, a year ago, blowing down a whole hillside full of trees. They seemed pretty serious about us not getting through the fencing. “Danger of death!” said the sign, with a picture of a tree falling on someone’s head, but hey, it was hardly the Kumbu Icefall, and in any case everyone knows seracs don’t fall on weekends. So we found a way through the fencing and soon were cycling in splendid isolation on a road, closed specially for us, to the end of the lake.

Sally: This road was definitely closed. No through way. Really? Because there are trees down from a storm that passed through a year ago? After a minute or two of ‘shall we, shan’t we’ and a bit of shimmying around, we found the local dog walkers gap which kind of endorsed it for me.

The climb up to the top of the Bwlch y Groes was a series of steep ramps but gentle in between. The main challenge was the strengthening wind and rain. At one point descending the other side we were both lifted up and blown across the road. Exciting!

Sally: Exciting for Bobby. Tourette’s for me.

We were back at the hotel by 2.30 for an afternoon and evening of more relaxing and luxury. Reading books while drinking cocktails by the fireside, then dressing for dinner. It was almost like being a grown-up.

Sally: I could seriously get used to this lifestyle! One minute getting blown sideways off a hillside, blowing like a whale up another one, but then returning to a nice hot bath, and relaxing in really lovely surroundings.

Next morning, after another pleasant breakfast looking out onto more soft Welsh weather (fog and mist) we set off for another battle with the elements. Climbing out of the valley by the road we’d descended the previous afternoon was very atmospheric.

There was lots of evidence of storm damage. In some places whole hillsides that been blown over. I’m guessing it only took a matter of minutes. Must have been awesome to see it happen.

No room or hot bath to return to this time, but we were able to change into dry clothes and have a drink in the warm bar before heading home. Must find a way to do this more often.

Sally: I loved our stay in Lake Vyrnwy hotel. The room was spacious, the bathroom was a bit old school with a big bath (perfect). The hotel had lovely spaces to sit by a fireside with a book, a game, a drink. The food was excellent. Thanks Bobby – you could not have got it more right! (Can we do it again?).

We stayed on the Greek island of Spetses for a long week,18th-29th September, next door to Sally’s sister Jane. We hired mountain bikes. It was the perfect size island for a relaxing week with bursts of cycling. The only tarmac road is around the coast and is 15 miles long. There are almost no cars allowed on Spetses apart from Taxis and a few of the more remote residences. There are however a huge number of mopeds and quad bikes, often not under particularly good control. However, it is mostly quiet on the island so you can hear them coming.

The centre of the island is a mountain (big hill) criss-crossed with tracks that range from landrover to goat tracks. We did lots of exploring of these by bike and walking Jane’s dog. There were lots of trails marked on the map. I think we ticked most of the obvious ones, often while cycling out to one of the beaches. Plenty more to come back for though.

Sally: I’ve been coming to Spetses fairly regularly since my sister, Jane, moved here in 1985. Safe to say, I have never explored the island quite so thoroughly as I did this week with Bobby! Virtually no trail was left unblazed, at least by him, if not always by me.  Spetses is a great little island to explore by mountain bike as there are tracks to suit all abilities. Loads of fun to be had, and whichever way you descend you can soon find a nice beach to spend the rest of the day. 

Our apartment looked over Spetses town. The balcony was hailing distance from Jane’s balcony. Very handy when it was time for Gin and Tonic.

Spetses town is about the size of our home town, Wirksworth, though it feels larger because of all the holiday homes.

I did loads of cycling, but based on the evidence of the pictures it was all Sally…

Sally: So annoying! I’m always on the lookout for tortoises whenever I’m on Spetses. I used to say to Jane’s kids ‘first to find a tortoise, gets an ice-cream’. The same applied to Bobby and when he was out on his own he didn’t just find one, but two. As you can see, he got the ice-cream!

Based again on the evidence of the pictures, I did all the eating. It was delicious food! I love all the ways Greeks do vegetables and salads. The pastries were addictive too, particularly a custard filled Bougatsa which went very well with an intense Greek coffee.

We had a couple of sessions water skiing. Sally had done it in recent memory and after a couple of failures did a complete lap of the bay. It was my first time since I was aged 10 but I managed to get up first time, to Sally’s disappointment, but she was happy 30 seconds later when I fell in. I’m keen to do this again. Maybe I won’t wait 50 years for the next go.

Sally: ‘A couple of failures’?! It was more like a dozen! I got totally shown up at this game. I’ll get him on a horse yet…

Greek words learnt:

• Bougatsa
• Efcharistó (a fairy’s toe)
• dýo megáles býres parakaló (which got me a lovely smile from the waitress and an extra bowl of crisps – good result)

FABLES original Alt-Pop is driven by Afro-Cuban percussion grooves. Restrained fury, black humour, and hopeless sentimentality shape the band’s unmistakable voice.

The Band:

• Chad Bean (Vocals, Saxophone, Keyboard)
• Rich Kensington (Percussion, backing vocals);
• Bobby Gilbert (Keyboard, Blues Harmonica);
• Steve Canner (Bass)

The 2026 set list:

• Heart Of This, D_m, 110 (Bean)
• Regicide, A, 110 (Bean)
• Chapeltown, C_m, 120 (Bean)
• Bubbling Over, F, 128 (Bean)
• Fearless, A_m, 148 (Bean)
• Low, E, 148 (Bean)
• Wokeflake, C, 128 (Bean)
• Overdriven, C_m, 120 (Bean)

The 3rd of July was our final full day. We packed up and left the Soča valley to drive over the border into Italy to the Lago del Predil. Had a lazy picnic on the beach and a nice swim before intending to walk up into the mountains and bivvi out under the stars for our last night.

This was almost thwarted by a 3 hour thunderstorm forcing us to shelter in the van. Eventually it stopped (according to me, Sally didn’t totally agree) and we walked up in the dark with head torches fading (at about the same speed as our sense of humour). There was absolutely nowhere flat that you could have slept that we could see, and everywhere was soaking.

But then out came the fireflies. Magical. It felt like they were leading us on until, we saw the silhouette of what appeared to be a refuge full of lights (the Re di Sassonia). It was actually empty and locked, just more fireflies making a welcome party for us. There was lots of space to sit around, make a brew and heat up food, and plenty of flat space to sleep. Romantic night under the stars was now back on.

The next morning we had a cup of tea, packed up, and climbed up to the Col delle Cenge.

More Via Ferrata – we recklessly hadn’t brought harnesses this time (Sally took it in her stride).

We brewed up again on the col for a nice cup of tea and a breakfast of overnight oats, while enjoying the spectacular views.

An hour or so of descending took us back to the van. By 11am we were driving back home to the UK feeling like we had snatched final day of adventure on our last morning.

From the 30th June to 2nd of July we found a great campsite near Kobarid in the beautiful Soča valley (location of Hemingway’s A Farewell To Arms). We did a bit of cycling, a lot of time relaxing in hammock, enjoyed cooking and drinking a few beers. But most fun was spending time cooling down and playing in the river.

I asked at the campsite if there was a way down to the river below. “Yes, but you can’t swim there, it is too fast, you have to go downstream”. We went down and dipped our toes in.

I reckoned it would be possible to dive in a bit upstream and if you went feet first, to fend of submerged rocks, and swam very hard, you could get back into a quiet eddy a bit further down. “Go on then” said Sally wrongly assuming that my declared general reticence to swim meant is was all talk. But this wasn’t swimming, this was adventure! See video at bottom of this post – the out-takes and preparation bit at the end. Sally thought it was total madness but then agreed to join me if I did it again. Crazy woman!

We studied the rather more exciting rapids further down the river. “What we really need is an old tractor inner tube”, declared Sally, “then we could really go for it. Shame there’s nowhere to buy one”.

The following day we were wandering around the huge supermarket in Kobarid. It really had everything. Then we spotted the inflatable rings. “This is not a flotation device, this is a toy” it said on the package. Well they looked like flotation devices to us.

And so was born “Honest Bob’s Budget White Water Rafting – We never knowingly lose a client” to the tune of a seven Euro investment.

We “rafted” the gorge down to the shallows below. Then the following day Sally did a recce upstream and we incorporated about a mile of rapids to the surprise of canoeists and sunbathers. So much fun. Six months later my leg has just about stopped hurting from the bolder I hit. How we laughed.

Hot on the heals of our success on Prisank we had a pre-dawn start on the 26th June for our 2 day climb of Triglav. At 2864m the highest mountain in Slovenia. You aren’t allowed to drive up the approach valley so we caught the park and ride shuttle service in the dark. After some blundering around route finding we found the path which soon steepened as the sun rose. Lovely views across the valley while we stopped for breakfast. Strange to think we’d end up higher than all the peaks we could see. We carried on up to the Tominsek Via Ferrata.

The Via Ferrata sections started to come thick and fast with some superbly exposed sections (I thought they were superb – Sally was staring down at the 2 metres in front of her).

At one point we were passed by a fast Slovenian who was soloing up. He gave us a little lecture about our lanyards not being the safer, stretchy, ones (I’d warned Sally that someone would do this). I pointed out that he didn’t have any lanyards at all, which made him laugh (nice chap). He didn’t seem to notice that Sally was in trainers and I had a cycling helmet on so we avoided another lecture. I’d have had to explained that it was all in the spirit of British mountaineering (that’s what I told Sally).

Some serious concentration needed on the steeper bits.

We arrived at the Triglavski Dom refuge late morning. It is an hour or two’s sustained Via Ferrata to the summit and our original plan was to stay the night there and climb to the summit in the morning. But we’d made good time, the afternoon storms didn’t seem to be arriving, and the forecast for next day was not so good, so we decided to press on to the summit. First we treated ourselves to a small beer (a large one would not be advisable when climbing – I think we agreed). Sally ordered from the refuge bar and was told “We only do large beers”. “We’ll have two of those” she instantly replied. Very nice too.

The Via Ferrata up to the summit was steep, but if you clip in on every section it does slow you down a lot so I explained the concept that you could decide on each section if you want to clip in, or treat it as a hand rail. Sally was soon surging up many sections without the lanyards clipped in, though she was still pretty much refusing to take her hands off the rock at any point. Her crab-like progress was amusing but effective.

Nearing the summit there were some horizontal, but very narrow edges. In one of the pictures Sally is pointing at the summit, but refused to look at where she was pointing because it was too scary. We got the photo though with a bit of direction “Up a bit, to your right a bit, hold that…”.

The summit has a tiny, steel, shelter on it. Just the thing for the many electrical storms that pass over? Hmm.

After descending back to the hut we checked in for our evening meal and another beer. There were up to 100 people staying in a mixture of alpine bunks of different capacities. We got one for about 10 but with subdivisions for two which was nice. It was in the roof space so if you sat up you hit your head and had to swear loudly. During the night there was a huge thunderstorm. Most of the dormitories had skylights that had to be shut to keep the rain out and became stiflingly hot. We were lucky in having an eaves window which could be kept open. Sally said next day she wished she had gone out to see the storm properly. It was a real alpine one, full on explosions, torrential rain, lightning.

Next day we made our way back down to the valley via the Prag route. An easier scramble with fewer sections of Via Ferrata (which we didn’t bother to gear up for, pros that we now were).

A lot of tedious scrambling down scree until we finally got to dip our feet in the cold river before strolling down the easier path back to the roadhead. At the refuge there we were amazed to get some of the cheapest beer in Slovenia. Cheap beer is unheard of in a mountain refuge. It would have been rude not to have a second one.

23rd June – We set off on our first big climb, Prisank (A.K.A. Prisojnik) at 2547 metres. We had a 5am start before it got HOT! (Limestone turns into a bit of an oven in the sun). We drove up the 26 hairpins to the Vršič pass (no, I don’t know how you pronounce that) to find some happy sheep wandering around the empty parking area and set off. An hour or so of gradually steepening paths and scree crossings took us to the start of the Via Ferrata cables.

It was Sally’s first go at via ferrata climbing but we’d done a bit of a practice the night before where I showed her how to clip lanyards into cables so that you were always attached by at least one point. She seemed to get the hang of it despite our “cables” being guy ropes, the washing line, and the hammock. Maybe she thought we’d find such things on the mountain.

We wobbled around gearing up on a small sloping ledge (yes, it would have made more sense to gear up lower) and Sally led the way up the cables. I’m not sure she was aware of how dramatic the situation was as she climbed through the airy cave window in the rock (see picture above), but I thought it best not to say anything as she made good progress concentrating on the next 6 feet at all times.

Finally we reached the summit! Sally said it was terrifying, and that she was only happy with four limbs in contact with the rock (an effecting scuttling approach) but we’d done it and she was really pleased. “So is the way down pretty easy then?”. Hmm

The way down was scrambly with some exciting down-climbing. We crossed some snow patches but the glaciers had long gone. Global warming taking effect before your eyes.

The descent was long an laborious. Always seems harder going down than up. Eventually we got back to the easier path we’d come up. Sally now taking the scree crossing in her stride. In fact I always struggle to keep up with her towards the end of a long walk.

I cautiously said that she should wait until this evening to decide if she wanted to do more of this, specifically our planned ascent of Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia, was completely optional. No point doing it unless we were keen and confident.

Fifteen minutes later she told me that Triglav sounded even more terrifying, and that she definitely wanted to do it. What a woman!

We got back to the parking area at the col at about mid-day. There were now many hundreds of cars. The poor sheep were trying to get shade in amongst the cars, though it wasn’t obvious why they didn’t disappear into the trees. Maybe they were hoping to be fed.

Descending in the van for a few hairpins we found a very peaceful spot to have a late breakfast with views across the valley of the World War I fortifications.

We arrived in Slovenia early afternoon of the 21st June at Kranjskz Gora and immediately got our bikes out for a ride up white roads to a point on the hilltop ridge which was a border for three countries. You could simultaneously have one leg in Slovenian, one in Austrian and one in Italy. If you had at least 3 legs.

The following day we did another great ride on the white roads that gave great views of the mountains in the Triglav national park, above our campsite. The descent from this second ride was described in the guide book as sporty. If you had a full-sus mountain bike, no doubt, but on gravel bikes it was a steep, terrifying, bolder descent. I raced ahead to release our van from the campsite before we got charged for another night. Sally was not far behind despite having chosen to be less bold with the bolders.

The next day we climbed Prisank which I’ve covered in a separate post.

Then June 24th, 5am start for Bobby to get a 50 mile ride through Slovenia and Italy. There were 26 hairpins up the first climb and 24 cobbled ones on the descent which took me to a cycle path along a beautiful old railway line into Italy. The last climb was over a col back into Slovenia. Halfway up I realised I didn’t have a passport with me. Fortunately, the joy of Shengen is that you don’t need one. Just as well as it was back in Slovenia in the van. The early start meant I was back in time to join Sally by 10am before the heat of the day. She had already had her first freezing cold dip in the river.

We next went to climb Triglav (covered in a separate post) but after this, on the 29th June, I went for another 50 mile loop which took me around the back of it to give views of it from the other side. The picture below shows the ridge we climbed, from right to left, to get to the summit. We approached it from the other side.

On the last of the big climbs I was told, at the summit that the road ahead was closed and I had to go back down and do a 30 mile detour because of a car race. Really?! I managed to talk my way past this first checkpoint then pedaled flat out for the next 10 miles to get through before the race started and avoid being stopped by the marshals along the way. Lots of smiling and waving while going past at speed. On the hairpinned descent at the end of this section (zigzags middle left in the map below) I was racing to stay ahead of the lead car which was clearing the road. Such fun!

We then moved on to the beautiful Soča valley where life was nearly all about the river (post here), but managed some more bike rides together. The big zig zags at the bottom of the map below are the 10 mile climb at the start of the ride. The “sporty” descent was again, taxing.

We also did this nice loop in the hills above Kobarid to Drežnica. I think that in the first world war the Austrians were bombarding the Slovenians and Italians across the river here (from my reading of “A Farewell to Arms”). Strange to imagine in such a beautiful place. Coming back along the river we got told off by a policeman for going the wrong way along a one-way road (as most of the locals appeared to do). He shrugged and said not to crash.

Sally and I took a two week trip to Slovenia. Got the ferry to Calais then drove down through Germany and Austria to Triglav area of Slovenia. We had a great time climbing mountains, cycling, swimming in cool (cold!) rivers, camping, cooking and even the odd little drink. Best holiday I can remember! Here are some highlights of van living:

19/20 June – Drove down through Germany, swapping driver every hour and a half. This seemed to work well as we never got tired driving, took it in turns to put on music an research camping options. We had one overnight stop in an Aire in Belgium (not as nice as the French ones), plenty of breaks for breakfast, yummy sandwiches, cups of tea, and another overnight stop in a pretty Austrian village. Mastering the bucket loo went without incident.

Our campervan home was perfect for mostly outdoor living, forming a bedroom and base camp. The permanent bed setup meant there was loads of storage space for various “toys” in the “garage” (bikes, climbing gear etc.). Cunning design meant you only needed one tree to put up the hammock (though the conventional 2 was also fine). A hammock has been added to our essential camping items list.

Whenever we were at campsites we’d move the kitchen outside. Cooking from a deckchair is so relaxed. Other good things about van camping is always having a fridge full of cold beers, ice and tonic water. Power all came from the solar panels so no need to hook up anywhere.

Here we are on the 28th of June relaxing around Bled including cycling around the incredibly touristy, but beautiful lake. Note the expedition flip-flops for cycling.

We came across a lot of beautiful fauna in Slovenia including “Colin” the iridescent rose chafer, “notable by their clumsy flying”, according to Wikipedia. Colin was quite comical in the way he kept bumping into things.