A little while ago we discovered another hidden gem, and quite close to home as well. I’d love to tell you about it, but mind you, it’s meant just for you, so don’t tell anyone! It has to remain a “hidden” gem, of course 😉.

Bine and I wanted to get out for a bit that day and felt like taking a longer ride on the quad. It was very hot and muggy weather again, so it’s nice to drive on the quad and get some wind 😊. We searched the internet for a place nearby where we could go for a walk and stumbled upon Divji Potok, near Črmošnjice, about 30 kilometers from our house, towards Semič. Divji Potok means something like “Wild Stream”. Never heard of it before or come across it on the internet, but what a find!

After a nice ride, we parked the quad in the parking lot, which is reserved especially for visitors to Divji Potok. There was exactly one car there. At the parking lot, signs immediately indicate where you need to go, so you really can’t miss the route.

You first walk down a steep section where the route begins. All in all, it is perhaps not even an hour’s walk, but it is so beautiful! Due to the heat of the past few weeks, we thought the stream and the promised little waterfalls would be almost dry, but that turned out to be much better than expected. And because you walk through the forest for a large part of the route, the temperature was also quite bearable, considering it was another very hot day.

The route is a so-called “Učni pot,” which means “educational path.” This means that there are information signs and educational “games” at various points. You find many such routes in Slovenia, and they are mainly aimed at (school) children. For example, they are also used as field trips for school classes, combining the pleasant with the educational. They could learn a thing or two from that in the Netherlands.

On the way there, we stopped at the bakery to buy some delicious things for lunch. Halfway through the route, we therefore sat down near the river for a while, with my feet in the lovely fresh water, to eat our bakery goodies.

Crayfish live in the river, as indicated on the information board in the parking lot, and indeed, after looking around carefully, we discovered two of them. Crayfish only live in very clean, oxygen-rich water, so their presence means that the water quality in this little river is very good. What was strange though, was that both specimens we saw seemed to have only one claw. I read on the internet, however, that they regularly lose a claw during a fight with other crayfish or after an attack by a predator (such as an otter, heron, or fish). But luckily, they can grow a new claw back. After every molt, a small new claw grows back. It usually takes several molts before it reaches the same size as the other one again. Because of this, it can look as if they only had one claw. So, we learned something new that day as well😉.