Day 39 – Lake Bled again (Tuesday 21st May 2024)

Well, as the title suggests, we spent the day around Lake Bled but that was not our intention for the day. I had learned of a gorge not far from Bled when planning the trip – Vintgar Gorge – that looked like it would be worth a visit. Sasha from our Balkans had been there a couple of weeks ago and confirmed that. I booked two tickets online at €10.00 ea last night for an 11:20 visit. The gorge walk is 1.6km long on elevated walkways alongside the Radovna River. The information I received with my tickets told me that I could catch a free shuttle bus to the gorge from one of three parking areas a few kilometres from the gorge visitor centre. The map sent with the information suggested they were just behind the massif upon which the Bled Castle sits. The Bled Castle, as the crow flies, is only a couple of hundred meters from the Bled CBD. No dramas. We’ll find that.

Rain had started to fall overnight and had continued into the mid-morning. It was not particularly heavy, just particularly constant. But we headed off into town anyway, appropriately attired, on a our 2.4km trek to the Bled CBD. When we arrived there the town was completely bereft of any sort of directions or information about how to get to the gorge or, in the very least, the shuttle bus car-park. Nothing at all! For thirty minutes we wandered over street and park looking for a clue about how to find our way the the shuttle bus station. We made inquires in a couple of shops, one that traded in “adventure” tourism and the other a cafe at a prominent hotel and we might as well have been asking for directions to Mars. I recalled that age-old joke….. Q: “Please sir, can you tell me how to get to Vintgar Gorge. A: “Well, if I was going to Vintgar Gorge I wouldn’t be starting from here!” This and the now heavy constant rain got to me and we threw in the towel….. both literally and figuratively. A little more on this soon……

If were standing in the rain like “shags on a rock” we thought we might climb the rock up to Bled Castle. The walk up the steep, winding path of gravel and stone steps in the wet forest was actually quite nice. Only a few other groups of foolhardy trekkers were out there to keep us company. Kerry did a splendid job tackling the mountain in trying circumstances. At the top of the path was a carpark and bus load of Australian tourists, mostly retirees. They were a jolly lot with whom we completed the final steep and slippery ascent to the castle gate and the ticket office. The entry price was as steep as the path so not one of the party bought a ticket and neither did we, a decision made easier by the remark of one descending patron, also an Australian, who said “Not surprisingly, it’s like every other castle I’ve visited!”.

 

Time to head for home and to get out of the rain. At a view point in the way down we stopped for a great view of the lake below. A happy and lively small group of middle-aged Spanish chaps had stopped there for a group photo so we obliged them and they returned the favour for us. Back down on the shore-line path on the northern side we made for the little supermarket at the western end. There we picked up some things for dinner and took shelter from the rain for twenty minutes over a coffee and some hot chips at the cafe next door! We can highly recommend the service (and the hot chips) at the Zaka Bar. At the next table we met Tom, a very friendly Dalmatian….. and his owners. Tom was certainly up for a pat and scratch! His owners were up for a chat.

 

Warmed up, we stepped out into the rain for the final 1600m of our journey home. Most aquatic damage was done to our shoes which were saturated. Kerry’s puffer jacket was drenched also but mine was fine. I had the luxury of a proper poncho while Kerry’s was marginally better than one of those emergency “MCG” ones. We did share the large umbrella we bought in Budapest which helped a lot. The other one we had was lost weeks ago in the back of a bus. We dried off and hung out damp things out in the bathroom. I don’t expect they’ll be dry by the time we leave tomorrow morning.

So, my dear readers, if you’re ever in Bled and want to visit the Vintgar Gorge here’s a couple of bits of information that might help.

• There’s nothing in the streets of downtown Bled to help you find your way to the gorge, by any means of transportation. We did find one clear sign nowhere near downtown Bled but that ray of hope disappeared at the very next intersection. With the benefit of investigations made later in the day, that sign is on a walking path from downtown Bled to the gorge that is the advertised 4km in length but there was no information in the documentation received with the online tickets or on the accompanying website that mentions it, even though the website has a page dedicated to “How to get to the Gorge”.

• I wrongly had an expectation that the free shuttle bus might leave from some well-known, easily found place in downtown Bled for all those tourists who come to Bled without a car. It does not, even though the map suggests that it does emanate from such a place.

• The advice for getting to the gorge is heavily geared towards people who arrive in Bled with their own private transport and will park it at one of the nominated car-parks from where one can catch the free shuttle bus.

• Those car-parks are nowhere near downtown Bled. The closest one, at this time of year (the shoulder season) is the VINTGAR LIP car-park which is 2.5kms away, if you can work out how to get there using only the very poor map that comes with your online tickets.

• There are some places from which you can buy a shuttle bus ticket (€10.00) but they weren’t obvious in the street either…. and all of a sudden your €10.00 visit to the gorge has doubled in price.

So, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, if you’re in downtown Bled without a car and you buy your tickets online don’t rely on receiving concise directions on how to get there and don’t expect a usable free shuttle service. Simply fire-up Google Maps, set Vintgar Gorge as your destination and be prepared to do an 8km return walk to do a 1.6km gorge walk..... at least you'll know where you're going,,,,, and hopefully it won’t be raining.