21-22 August 2013
Day 12: Travel day
Yep, surprisingly enough, these do happen when you're travelling. We spent most of the day on trains but it was still quite pleasant because I was surrounded by friends so we could chat. I also watched Due Date, it was ok, and found a gold mine of Californication episodes on my tablet that I hadn't seen yet.
Dinner
We arrived at Lake Bled in time for dinner so we dumped our bags at the apartments and walked into town to find a restaurant. I ordered another goulash that was really nice with its thick bread dumplings. Afterwards we went for a walk down to the lake to have a quick look around.
Day 13: Bike ride
Two of the other group members and myself woke up early, for travellers anyway, and went into town to hire some bicycles for the day. We ended up with really nice Scott branded mountain bikes so we had a chance of beating the surrounding hills. We started off with a lap around the lake, where we saw some of the other group members going for a walk.
Next we headed off toward a gorge that was recommended to us and this is where we started the hill climb. We made it to the entrance to the gorge but it was a no bikes allowed kind of place plus we didn't have locks but we didn't want to let that stop us. Being the brave trekkers we were, we took another trail higher up the side of the mountain but we quickly established that certain death awaited at least one of us if we kept following the trail so we snuck back down the trail and past the entrance to the gorge to the main road with our tails between our legs and continued riding to the next town.
We'd finally reached the peak of our climb so it could pay off as a nice long downhill coast. It was about 1km of down hill and it was rather steep so I managed to overtake a few cars on the way down (oh, did I mention that everything is a competition?) before ending up in Jesenice (some town).
After consulting the map we thought we had the way home under control but apparently we were wrong because we ended up at the entrance to a highway that didn't look particularly bike friendly. We avoided the highway and instead took the scenic route that eventually led to the dirt track that would take us home.
Well earned lunch
Back in Bled we stopped at a restaurant that seemed to have a specialty in large plates of meat, which seemed like the perfect thing after a 30km ride. I ordered the mixed grill plate and I'll admit it might've been the exercise high talking but it was amazing! All the meat was lean and cooked well, just how I like it.
Dinner
After a relaxed afternoon, we headed back into town for a group dinner. I ordered a schnitzel here and it was pretty much the same as in Vienna i.e. not bad but still quite bland compared with an Australian one.
Great day
In summary, it was an awesome day. We had really good weather, the bikes went well and all the scenery looked so different to what I'm used to (I love the mountains). We had a good workout and had the chance for some good photos then ended with yummy food.
Thoughts on Bled
Day 12: Travel day
Yep, surprisingly enough, these do happen when you're travelling. We spent most of the day on trains but it was still quite pleasant because I was surrounded by friends so we could chat. I also watched Due Date, it was ok, and found a gold mine of Californication episodes on my tablet that I hadn't seen yet.
Dinner
We arrived at Lake Bled in time for dinner so we dumped our bags at the apartments and walked into town to find a restaurant. I ordered another goulash that was really nice with its thick bread dumplings. Afterwards we went for a walk down to the lake to have a quick look around.
Day 13: Bike ride
Two of the other group members and myself woke up early, for travellers anyway, and went into town to hire some bicycles for the day. We ended up with really nice Scott branded mountain bikes so we had a chance of beating the surrounding hills. We started off with a lap around the lake, where we saw some of the other group members going for a walk.
Next we headed off toward a gorge that was recommended to us and this is where we started the hill climb. We made it to the entrance to the gorge but it was a no bikes allowed kind of place plus we didn't have locks but we didn't want to let that stop us. Being the brave trekkers we were, we took another trail higher up the side of the mountain but we quickly established that certain death awaited at least one of us if we kept following the trail so we snuck back down the trail and past the entrance to the gorge to the main road with our tails between our legs and continued riding to the next town.
We'd finally reached the peak of our climb so it could pay off as a nice long downhill coast. It was about 1km of down hill and it was rather steep so I managed to overtake a few cars on the way down (oh, did I mention that everything is a competition?) before ending up in Jesenice (some town).
After consulting the map we thought we had the way home under control but apparently we were wrong because we ended up at the entrance to a highway that didn't look particularly bike friendly. We avoided the highway and instead took the scenic route that eventually led to the dirt track that would take us home.
Well earned lunch
Back in Bled we stopped at a restaurant that seemed to have a specialty in large plates of meat, which seemed like the perfect thing after a 30km ride. I ordered the mixed grill plate and I'll admit it might've been the exercise high talking but it was amazing! All the meat was lean and cooked well, just how I like it.
Dinner
After a relaxed afternoon, we headed back into town for a group dinner. I ordered a schnitzel here and it was pretty much the same as in Vienna i.e. not bad but still quite bland compared with an Australian one.
Great day
In summary, it was an awesome day. We had really good weather, the bikes went well and all the scenery looked so different to what I'm used to (I love the mountains). We had a good workout and had the chance for some good photos then ended with yummy food.
Thoughts on Bled
- It's a bit more expensive than other parts of eastern Europe, which is probably thanks to both the Euro and the fact it's a tourist hot spot
- The scenery is really nice. Apparently it's similar to Switzerland but I haven't been so I can't confirm
- It's probably not a place I'd go back to because once you've seen the lake and the church, there isn't a lot new left to do
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| Posing in front of Lake Bled and the church in the middle |
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| The path of death that we attempted and quickly decided against |
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| Goulash with a side of cabbage |
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| Stopping for a break and to enjoy the view |
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| A people-less panorama of the same view |
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| A panorama of Lake Bled (from a different perspective) |
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| The train we took from Bled to the Italian border |
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