After dumping waste water and chemical toilet, taking on water and paying the bill, it was time to leave Ljubljana. Ann and Nick had told us how beautiful Lake Bled was and we had put in on the master plan – today was the day!
Ljubljana to Bled was an easy drive and we arrived with plenty of time to walk around the lake. We chose to park at the opposite end of the lake to Bled town near the (closed) Camping Bled. The short drive round the lake gave us a taster for the beauty but it can really only truly appreciated by walking (especially if you are the driver).
Bled is where the Slovenian Olympic rowers train and there have been many international rowing events staged here. The Slovenians are very proud of their two Olympic rowing gold medalists, who won their medals at the the Sydney games of 2000. As we started our walk around the lake we saw some rowers finishing their training.
We chose to go anti-clockwise around the lake to take advantage of the sunlight that was lighting the North and Western shores. These are the prettiest views and, combined with the mirror calmness of the water, it gave some fantastic photo opportunities. I could have chosen any of a number of excellent photographs to include with this posting. The prettiest view of all has to be Bled Island reflected in the lake, made even better by the low autumnal sun.
It was extremely quiet, there were no other vehicles parked in the car park that we used and we met hardly anyone until we reached Bled town. The acoustics of the lake at the western end meant that noises echoed across the lake and from the beginning of the walk we heard the bark of a dog in the distance. We eventually caught up with and I know understand the derivation of the term 'barking mad'. We had heard the barking on and off during the walk and here was the dog, a large one, part Newfoundland, charging around barking at everything in an excited rather than aggressive way. It spent a lot of its time barking at the lake and, at one stage, barking into the lake with its head half submerged, giving a strange, muffled, gurgling type of bark. Definitely barking mad!
An excellent quality and value lunch was taken in Bled town and we then walked up to Bled Castle. We decided not to visit it but continued the circumnavigation of the lake. The walk is highly recommended, with or without the climb to the castle and the guidebook tells us that you can even lose the crowds in summer – needless to say, we didn't see any crowds, anywhere!
On then to our next campsite – Camping Kamne at Dovje in the North-West tip of Slovenia. This is the closest campsite to Bled open at this time of the year and is also very close to the Triglav National Park. It was a good choice, small, quiet, friendly and in a stunning position. It turned out that we were the only guests – the last guests had left that morning!
Photos: Rowers on Lake Bled with Bled Castle in the background; Lake Bled Island; Bled Castle; View from our pitch at Camping Kamne;
Ljubljana to Bled was an easy drive and we arrived with plenty of time to walk around the lake. We chose to park at the opposite end of the lake to Bled town near the (closed) Camping Bled. The short drive round the lake gave us a taster for the beauty but it can really only truly appreciated by walking (especially if you are the driver).
Bled is where the Slovenian Olympic rowers train and there have been many international rowing events staged here. The Slovenians are very proud of their two Olympic rowing gold medalists, who won their medals at the the Sydney games of 2000. As we started our walk around the lake we saw some rowers finishing their training.
We chose to go anti-clockwise around the lake to take advantage of the sunlight that was lighting the North and Western shores. These are the prettiest views and, combined with the mirror calmness of the water, it gave some fantastic photo opportunities. I could have chosen any of a number of excellent photographs to include with this posting. The prettiest view of all has to be Bled Island reflected in the lake, made even better by the low autumnal sun.
It was extremely quiet, there were no other vehicles parked in the car park that we used and we met hardly anyone until we reached Bled town. The acoustics of the lake at the western end meant that noises echoed across the lake and from the beginning of the walk we heard the bark of a dog in the distance. We eventually caught up with and I know understand the derivation of the term 'barking mad'. We had heard the barking on and off during the walk and here was the dog, a large one, part Newfoundland, charging around barking at everything in an excited rather than aggressive way. It spent a lot of its time barking at the lake and, at one stage, barking into the lake with its head half submerged, giving a strange, muffled, gurgling type of bark. Definitely barking mad!
An excellent quality and value lunch was taken in Bled town and we then walked up to Bled Castle. We decided not to visit it but continued the circumnavigation of the lake. The walk is highly recommended, with or without the climb to the castle and the guidebook tells us that you can even lose the crowds in summer – needless to say, we didn't see any crowds, anywhere!
On then to our next campsite – Camping Kamne at Dovje in the North-West tip of Slovenia. This is the closest campsite to Bled open at this time of the year and is also very close to the Triglav National Park. It was a good choice, small, quiet, friendly and in a stunning position. It turned out that we were the only guests – the last guests had left that morning!
Photos: Rowers on Lake Bled with Bled Castle in the background; Lake Bled Island; Bled Castle; View from our pitch at Camping Kamne;
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