Thursday 9th June
Oh dear - what a wet and dreary day! It just didn't stop raining for any proper length of time at all. We had planned to cycle a short way to do a walk with views with a picnic, but the low clouds meant that would be a bit pointless, so we had a morning in, keeping warm and dry. John read his R.D. Robb "..... in Death" ebook while I did some geocaching research (until the wifi dropped off), then he beat me at Upwords! At least eating our picnic in the van meant there was no washing up. But we can't sit around all day, so put on the boots and wet-weather gear and walked around the lake to Bled village, taking in a high path towards the castle and visiting St. Martin's Church perched above the lake.
We would have contined to walk around the southern side of the lake back to the campsite, but we happened to see the little tourist train and it was about to leave, so we came home the easy way!
It's still raining now at 9 o'clock - it is supposed to be better tomorrow .....
Friday 10th June
.... Yes it has been so much better today. The clouds took a little while to lift off the mountains, but it was warm from the start and then the sun got hotter as the day went on. We discovered this morning that a chap comes to the campsite around 8.45 on his bike with a difference - it has a large baker's shop on the back! Various perspex boxes with lids contained all kinds of breads, rolls, croissants and pastries. We were actually on the way to shop by the lake to buy some rolls, but didn't need to go any further - and we came back with more than just rolls! Lovely! If we see him tomorrow, I'll try and get a photo.
Our plan was to go to the Vintgar Gorge and our campsite receptionist drew a line on our map to show the best way to walk there. He said, 6k and will take an hour and a half. Then the walk through the gorge is about another 2k - and of course, we need to come back again. So we worked out it was going to be a fair way for us to tackle, but we'd been told it would be worth it. It certainly was - after a fairly gentle climb all the way there, mainly along minor lanes and through the delightful village of Spodnje Gorje, we eventually came to the Radovna river and resed for while at the cafe. It had taken us an hour and a half too - that pleased us. Then we came to a little wooden kiosk where we paid the lady our 4€ each to visit the gorge. She gave us 2 tickets and out of the other side of the kiosk popped an elderly gentleman who asked us for our tickets and tore a tiny nick in them! What a job eh??
Wooden walkways have been built cantilevered out from rock faces and the paths criss-cross over the raging river as it cascades downwards through the ravine. I took far too many photos, but at every turn there was another gurgling mass of turquoise water beneath us. Often we were showered with drips from the overhanging rocks and at the end of the walkway is the Sum waterfall, sending lots of spray in all directions. A great experience!
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| We found that 'hand' sticking up a little unnerving! |
After our picnic near the waterfall, we had to make a choice - go back the way we had come, or take a footpath signed to Bled and use our map and GPS to bring us back to our end of the lake. We did the latter, not realising at first that it meant a great deal of up through woods on Hom Hill. But when we reached the little church of St. Katarina, we appreciated the views through the wide valley north of Bled and way down to the lake.
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| Another pretty church on the way down |
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| Bled Castle |
By this time, we were feeling our age(!) and the rest of the way became a bit more of a slog, but at last we were seeing Lake Bled in all its glory. The GPS told us that we had walked just over 17k when we reached home, and a shower and an easy tea of salmon and salad revived us somewhat - and hopefully a good night's rest will ease the back pain! Yes - did a washload when we got back too!
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