PADDLER 28
Words: Carmen Kuntz Photos: Rožle Bregar & Rok Rozman
PADDLER 28
FROM SOURCE TO SEA ON
THE SOCA and everything inbetween –
paddles, politics, and plovers
Words: Carmen Kuntz Photos: Rožle Bregar & Rok Rozman
For paddlers, there exists a land of fairy tales. A magical world where a river begins as a trickle in the mountains, growing into white water that rushes through grey-white limestone canyons, whose walls were carved by centuries of flowing water. Through gravel bars, it flows, with vistas of mountains and sky before plunging into boulder gardens, flowing beneath ancient bridges, winding through fertile fields, old towns, and small villages before eventually mixing with the Adriatic Sea.
FROM SLOVENIA TO ITALY, IT RUNS
Through war-scarred mountains and flatlands that still nourish thousands. From sharp mountain peaks to lowland marshes and into an exotic inland sea before finally meeting with the world’ s waters.
A place where those who wield paddles can find a stretch of river for every ability and type of vessel. It’ s a place where the put-ins and take-outs are spacious, and the shuttle is uncomplicated. Where the beer is cold, and the pizza is hot. Where campsites welcome old camper vans and where the showers are hot and the coffee fresh. Where you can meet like-minded, paddle-passionate people from around Europe and the world.
THE SOCA VALLEY
But an ominous shadow looms over the Soča, cast by a villainous, unjust decree. Paddlers face discrimination
compared to swimmers and others, and they are charged steep fees for access and use of the river. The most supernatural section of the river has been forbidden for reasons that are not based in fact.
I am one of four friends who are on a six-day quest to paddle the Soča – from its hidden alpine source in the Julian Alps to where its waters turn salty, joining the Adriatic in Italy. Our mission: explore lesserknown stretches, paddling the entire river. With me are three Slovenes who call any moving water of this river-rich country home. I’ m the foreigner of this crew, but after calling this valley home for six years, I’ m no stranger to the river, tributaries, mountains and forests that enchant this place.
Two of us had been on a similar journey before, paddling the Soča from source to sea to help protect the river and raise awareness of its threats. Rok Rozman, the leader of this trip and the founder of the river conservation movement Balkan River Defence led the trip, and I came along as the on-water journalist.
For five years, he organised Balkan Rivers Tours, where river lovers could join for the paddle, protest, press conference, and party formula that snowballed into Europe’ s largest grassroots river conservation movement. That source to sea descent was rowdier. This one is quieter and slower-paced, focused on exploration and camaraderie. It’ s about having a good time discovering the most unknown stretches of one of the most famous rivers in Europe. About going slow, letting the river eddy us out and open our eyes to lessons. For Branko and Bor, this was their first time using paddle power to get from source to sea, but we have been on many different rivers together, a crew that finds harmony in the differences in our personalities, paddling styles and abilities. A crew of good friends paddling down a good river.