Tales of a railway cyclist : 2 October: broccoli, beans, cake and bikes

At 8 in the morning it is nippy – 4° C. A light covering of mist floats over the cattle grazing in the valley. The sun caresses Kočna peak. Magical.

Breakfast is another feast. I feel awkward regaling myself and being served coffee – isn’t it me who is supposed to be working. But the kitchen team is in its habitual flow of good-humoured efficiency, Rebecca angst or Rebecca no-angst.

Soon it will be my turn – the reason for being here is to volunteer in the vegetable garden which supports the family and guest house throughout the year. https://www.senkovadomacija.si/en/. The family has run the business for 10 years. But four years ago, a massive renovation resulted in the current, high-spec accommodation.

Peggy and Pat, who were here when I arrived, leave in the morning. So it just me who starts working with the gardener, Anja, at 9 o’clock – an hour later than I have been expecting because it was deemed too cold to start earlier. Tentatively, I cut run-away broccoli heads in a polytunnel, then shell 2 huge crates of beans, crunching up the pods so that the beans drop out with no further encouragement. So far so good. And in the short while that I am there the morning chill gives way to a glorious, sun-drenched day.

The 11 o’clock break is a birthday celebration for one of the kitchen staff. An epic chocolate and strawberry cake is produced. Delish!

I am joined by Maria, a young Mexican who has just arrived from a potato farm across the Austrian border. And we start a chunky weeding job. Aged 27, and with a background in marketing, the main reason for her trip to Europe is to skill share with a women’s retreat centre in the south of France. She is a sweet, bouncy young woman. And this may be the first time she has done any weeding. I do my best to talk down the let-me-show-you-how-to-do-it-properly voice in my head. Time passes quickly as we fill buckets with weeds and tip them into the adjacent pig field. I seem to be coping just fine.

Lunch continues a theme: broccoli soup, followed by a broccoli and bacon tortilla and then a second portion of the yummy chocolate cake. Morning bells are beginning to ring; how many kilograms am I willing to put on during this trip?

Gradually, I am beginning to understand who the different personalities are, and their names:

Polona – main shaker and mover

Drejc – her husband, mayor of the village

Krristijan – son, works on the farm

Luka – works part time on the farm (I haven’t yet met him)

Markus – part time German employee, who was here as a Woofer in 2021 and didn’t leave

Andrej – Polona’s brother, who had a massive tractor accident aged two, and in the treatment of that a catastrophic stroke that left him seriously handicapped

Brigita – Polona and Andrej’s mother

Maya – a key member of the kitchen team with a career in catering, lives in the village

Anja – gardener and Drejc’s niece, also lives in the village, President of the local mountaineering club

Uf!

After lunch – late, at 2 pm – we are free. I do a quick house move, shifting my gear into the volunteer dorm in a separate barn. This is the view from the front door:

There is talk of lending us bikes and Maria is quick to follow up. And so, just when I think it can’t get any better, I find myself peddling in late-afternoon sun to the head of the valley.

On the way back Maria seems to have a stronger head for fast downhill descents than I do. I opt for a variation on the route that allows me to streak diagonally across verdant pasture.