\05/07/15 - Hiking in the Julian Alps
Uneventful bike ride to Luton airport at 5am to get our wizzair flight to Ljubljana. It's not as easy as it looks to ride a motorbike with a loaded passanger and a backpack strapped to your front but we made it! We claimed our free motorbike parking when we got there :) Like a Charlie Brooker play of a distopian future it was necessary to buy 2 plastic bags in a plastic capsule from a kids bubblegum machine before checkin - amazing - I'm sure they used to dish out the stupid plastic bags for tiny bottles of fluid for free.
An hour later we were flying over mountains and Kerry had a silly grin on her face. Found Shuttle bus to bled (13 Euros each) leaving in over an hour.... Got comfortable under a tree to wait and then was ushered back to bus after about 5 mins. Put watch forward an hour :) 20km or so to bled.
The shuttle bus took us to a place we had pre-booked - Villa Gorenka. When the bus pulled up there was a shady looking character next to the full size statue of Christ being crucified. He ushered us in and we were instructed to sit at the table. Physco style. Violin solo playing, lots of christ paraphernalia about the place. Due to bad planning on our part we had booked 2 nights here, but only actually wanted to stay for 1. The owner wasn't happy and would only let us stay if we payed for both nights. He wanted 109 euros for a night. We left and scouted round the corner and found a much swankier place for 84E, complete with breakfast! Not cheap, but bled in summer isn't cheap.
Lake Bled
We headed off for a walk around the lake (cue pictures of the incredibly picturesque island in centre) in the heat. Super busy. Went swimming listened to Paul hardcastle, 19, drank beer. Ate ice cream.
Saw a cool looking luge track on the side of a mountain. Going to try and visit before we leave.
We passed by Villa Gorenka. The creepy violin music was still playing... I think we dodged a bullet there!
Anyway, we are staying in 'mayor Penzion'. After an hours kip we went down to the basement for some wine tasting (where we sampled some hairy cheese - apparently made at high pressure) and then off out for a meal.
Tracks in the lake
06/07/25 - Sausage with attachment
Our route over the next 4 days
Amazing breakfast of cold meats and fruit then caught bus to lake Bohinj. We stocked up on chocolate and nuts at the supermarket and bought a 1:2500 map of the national park before heading off along the edge of the lake to head off into the Julian Alps. We had decided to walk the Triglav lakes valley walk as described in the Julian Alps of slovenia, cicerone. We decided to take a side trip to a local waterfall, Slap Savica - about a 1 hour detour and a very slow, painful slog up steps behind lots of iPhone wielding, ill prepared day trippers.
Slap Savica
In the carpark at the bottom I bought 500g of smoked cheese. After that it was up. Lots of up. Ascending the Komarca cliff face in the heat. It was pretty hardcore.
lake #2 - green lake
This is a grade 4 walk and we are certainly feeling it! And my cheese was stinking. I spent the day gradually whittling it down by taking bites. At the top of the cliff we hit lake #2 'black lake'. We were both exhausted as we had ascended 1000m. We plodded, more up until we reached lakes #3 and #4. By this time Kerry had a headache and we were out of water. The promised water trough was alas, empty. We spent 20 minutes catching the drips falling from the rocks above us. It's very dry - very hot for this time of year.
lake #3 - black lake
Finally hit the valley
Great food (cabbage soup) and a 12 bed dorm room at the Koca pri Triglavskih jezerih at 1685m made for an enjoyable evening. Was about 50 Euro total for beds and food. Glacial water to drink. Kerry even treated herself to a shower for 7E
Hut last night was big. Around 200 beds. About 20 were occupied
Sausage with attachment
07/07/15 - Ridge day
7am start. Bread and jam for breakfast and then walked through the valley we entered yesterday. It really is a botanists dream. Wild flowers galore. Our feet got wet trudging though the undergrowth until we started climbing out of the valley at the end.
We saw a marmoset. From that point the going was tough. Very uneven limestone made for a hard walk. I thought once we had reached the ridge line things would be easy going but no. Lots of ups and downs.
We took a short side trip to the summit of veliko spicje at 2398m. Still wild flowers everywhere. Edelweiss, gentian, thalictrum, forget-me-nots, aquilegias, monks hood, orchids, geum, potentillas, lillies, anemones, dianthus to name but afew. We are going to make an alpine rock garden when we get home.
After about 7 hours walking we finally caught a glimpse of the hut we were heading for - zasavaka koca na prehodavcih at 2071m. The final stretch was across a huge, bare limestone pavement complete with 'crevaces', or sink holes. Here we saw an ibex. Finally we reached the hut were we had a well earned cuppa tea. Much smaller more basic hut than last night. More cabbage soup for dinner. And 'radler', low alcohol grapefruit drink. My special nightly treat.
Spot the hut
Triglav, Slovinia's highest peak in the distance
Made it!
08/07/§5 - Storm Front and Ice Balls
Large dorm last night but slept really well due to a combination of tiredness, earplugs and not full. Early start -out by 6am to walk down the valley on our route home. We had contemplated climbing Triglav, Slovenia's highest peak, but was pushing it with the time we had and a weather front was coming in. Rain is forecast for tonight.. We set off again over the limestone moonscape and after an hour or so we passed yet another lake
We breakfasted at the hut we stayed in 2 nights ago (cornflakes, thankfully not cabbage soup) at 8.30am. There was a guy at the bar drinking beer and vodka! Hardcore or very stupid. We had a last minute change of plan on the route front. We decided to head towards a town at the head of lake Bohinj called 'Stara Fuzina' - this would mean we could visit 2 new huts and mean we would not have to retrace our long walk along the edge of the lake. This new route entailed scaling the valley edge just after leaving the hut at 8.30.
We passed through a small infested village where cheese was for sale. We were a bit off smelly cheese by now...
At 11.30 reached the 'koca pri jezeru' hut situated right at the edge of a lake, and ate 2 slices of their delicious apple strudel. Just after we left the thunder started. 15 minutes of constant thunder behind us. It got cold. We started walking faster... Then we were hit by golf ball sized hail stones that hurt. We sheltered in the divot made by a fallen tree but all this really did was get us all muddy. After about 5 minutes it turned to rain and we continued walking towards another 'dom' or hut on the map.
Got to Kosijev Dom na Vogarju around 1pm, soaked and had delicious goulash and macaroni bolognaise (Kerry commented Mark Smith would have been fine here). We were both knackered and so took their last room at 18 Euro each. Spent the rest of the day chilling with the book Kerry bought at the airport and has been lugging about - 'the bone clocks'.
Kerry insulted the owner by insinuating he was married to the old woman cook. I think he eventually saw the funny side.
09/07/15 - Overeating
It pissed with rain all last night. After a Breakfast of dried meats we walked down to Stella Fuzina, at the head of lake Bohin.
After a couple of coffees and cake We knocked on a few doors to find some accommodation for the night. found a lovely place with a kitten, chickens, grape vines and free apple schnapps. Walked back down to the lake and after hiring some bikes and doing a bit of cycling we indulged in a large lunch consisting of a burger and pizza. On the evening we ate at the large, popular guesthouse in the town - trout chips, beer. Went to bed totally stuffed.
10/07/15 - Cable car
Finally learnt how to say hello in slovinean - Doberdan.
Walked along the lake to the cable car up to the Vogel ski area this morning. Hiked to Sija summit at 1880m. Lovely area. Would like to come back for some skiing in the winter. Had a good chat with a polish lady about the best place to ski in Europe. She Recon's northern Italy. Must check it out.
Down by 2.30 and chanced upon an immediate bus to bled. We pre-booked our room tonight at our previous accomodation in bled and so went straight there and checked in.
11/07/15 - Hometime
:(
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