Lake Bled

The first full day there my friend and I decided to walk completely round the lake and what a lovely walk it was, if I remember rightly it took us about four hours, we don’t do rush! With the crystal clear water all the fish were visible including some very large pike and shoals of many other fish including trout, guess which silly person did not take any fishing equipment with her? Thought I would not need it on a trip up into the mountain areas, but it did not bother me too much as there were plenty of other things to do and see. There were ducks and ducklings about in the tourist areas but not a lot of other wild life, the views from all the different angles around the lake were lovely, with pink lily beds along some of the edges.

The next day looked even more promising so we took the cable car up to the Ski resort overlooking the lake, but after a few hours of walking down came the rain again. So it was back to the camp site deciding that the next day we would head off for the Dolomites, “The Italian Alps” which were only 215 miles away and hope for an improvement in the weather.

Have you noticed no history lesson this time or facts and figures? I did promise I would give you a rest from them.

Christine L Culley

Lake Bohinj

The Happy Wanderer in Solvenia

Moving on from Birchtesgaden we headed the 190 miles to Slovenia and Lake Bled, “being very careful to keep clear of the Auto routes” this time, one large fine was enough! The scenery was great; we drove through narrow gorges following the river valleys around the edges of mountains and through them, via tunnels of course! We went on across Austria cutting into the top right corner of Italy then into Slovenia. Although the drive was lovely it was also very tiring at the same time, so I was glad to reach the camp site, which was on the shores of Lake Bled, put my feet up and have a well earned Gin and Tonic. Remember it’s for medicinal purposes only!!

Lake Bled is a very beautiful area and the water was crystal clear and a turquoise colour of blue, glacier run off colour, those of you who have been to the Norwegian Fjords know what I mean.

Summer Edition 2010

Ventgar’s Gorge

The next day was a lovely sunny one, so we decided to walk to Ventgar’s Gorge which was about five miles away, after about three hours walking I being nosey as usual looking into everyone’s garden to see what they were growing, we were completely lost. So it was time to head back to the Lake Bled, having decided to go in one of the vans the next day. It probably took us another couple of hours walking to get back to the camp site, so it being a very hot day we were once again in need of a little more of the liquid refreshment.

After a night of thunder and lightning the next day was another lovely day so we set off in David’s van for the Gorge, after about four miles we had to park up due to the narrowness of the road and do the last couple of miles on foot. The entrance fee was 4 euros, I expect due to the high water levels during the snow melt, many of the catwalks along the gorge are washed away each year and a lot of the entrance money is used on repair work. The walk along the gorge and catwalks were well worth the visit and was probably about two miles long cannot remember the exact length for sure, but I do remember it being nice and cool and the sound of running water made it a very enjoyable walk indeed.

The following day we decided to visit another gorge in a National Park area, and once again set off in David’s van. When about three miles away we came to a railway bridge, the tallest part of the arch was 8ft! the van 10ft high by 7ft wide? Won’t fit! So once again it was back to shanks pony for the last three miles. Would you believe it when we did finally get there the gorge was closed. The least they could have done was put up a sign warning of the closure near the bridge, to top it all the weather changed to drizzle. Still it was a nice walk there and back.

Lake Bled area investigated, the weather still raining it was time to move on further up into the Julian Alps, about thirty miles east to another lake called Lake Bohinj. Not in such a picturesque setting as Bled but once again had lovely clear water and was full of trout, we had an excellent position on the campsite within three feet of the lake and facing it. This time it did annoy me having no fishing gear with me, they seemed to take great delight swimming around just in front of me. So I now have a rod and tackle permanently situated under the floor of my motorhome, no more missed fish suppers!

The next day looked a bit brighter so we set off to walk round the lake, not so straight forward and a more difficult terrain than Bled, it took us about two and a half hours to get two thirds of the way round about eight kilometres. Then it started to pour with rain again, so as we were by then at a small village we took shelter in a bar /restaurant which had an awning over it, for a coffee, well a beer actually! The rain continued so we decided to get the boat which left from near by back to the camp site, we had done the best part of the walk anyway.