Lake Bled in Slovenia was on our list of places to visit before we left home. It is listed by many as having the best fall colors in Europe. But our unplanned diversion into Tuscany and Umbria almost knocked it off the list. But our last day in Umbria we looked at the logistics and the weather and decided to go for it.
The weather forecast today was not great, heavy clouds. The drive over to Bled from Ljubljana was easy on a good freeway and we arrived at our aire within 45 minutes of leaving. The problem was that the town was pretty will socked in with fog.
As we were walking to town from the aire I told Ton we could always extend a day as the weather forecast for tomorrow was supposed to be better. She answered me with a skeptical we’ll see.
When we reached the waterfront, Ton took one look and said we should stay tomorrow. The lake is beautiful and the fall colors are in their prime.
We decided to wait to visit the island until tomorrow hoping for a little clearer skies. When there is a hike involved in our plans I usually get a lot of questions from Ton about, how far, how long, how steep. Today I didn’t even propose we hike the lake, she just took off.
This is one of the best walks we have ever been on. To walk around the lake is 6 kilometers ( about 4 miles), and is said to take about 90 minutes. It took us over 5 hours including a coffee break half way. Part of the reason is we are slowing down a bit in our old age, but the main reason is that it is an incredibly beautiful walk that frequently brought us to a halt so we could take in what we were seeing.
Ton was in heaven. She took so many pictures that she nearly killed the battery on her phone. About half way we had to connect her to the portable phone charger we carry for just these sort of emergencies.
Not only is the lake photogenic, but it is a pleasure to walk around. For most of the way around it is pedestrian only, there are no roads anywhere near the lake, and with no motorized boats, and no road noise the only sounds you hear are natural.
There were a lot of very well equipped people fishing as we walked. We stopped and asked one of them about the fish. He said there were pike, trout, and carp in the lake. Some of the pike were over 3 feet long, the trout were about 2 feet, and he said he once caught a carp that weighed nearly 70 pounds.
While this is a popular, and pricey vacation destination the crowds today were not too bad. It is a popular stop for tour busses as the aire we are staying in is next to the staging area for the tour busses and there were always 10 to 15 in the lot all day. But the trail itself was not super crowded.
After five thoroughly enjoyable hours we returned to the waterfront for Bled. I asked Ton if she wanted to walk thru the town, but she said no we could wait on that. So we headed back to François and had a hearty meal as reward for out efforts today.
