Day 1.
We flew into Trieste, northeast Italy where John had a bus arranged to drive us to the beautiful
town of Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, which took about 2 hrs. After arriving John had booked a
restaurant for all 16 members of Tyndall and we ate a hearty meal of mostly meat or fish washed
down by copious amount of their local beer and wines.
Day 2.
Up early to catch a bus or two to walk in the Triglav Nation Park down the Vintgar Gorge to Bled,
in glorious sunshine. The Gorge has an entry fee of €10 and an allocated timeslot to entre, so
ample time to have tea or coffee and sample some apple
strudel and especially their Kremna Rezina (delicious)
desserts. The Gorge is 1,600m long and up to 250m deep
canyon, with fabulous ice blue water, it has wooden walkways
and bridges to observe this beautiful part of the national park.
At the end of the gorge was a hydroelectric dam and over this is an arch railway bridge which we crossed on our train journey back to catch our bus home.
After the gorge, and before we descended to Lake Bled, we visited Bled Castle, perched on a
sheer cliff and it gardens and observed the emerald green lake below. We then descended to
Bled and sampled some beer beside the lake and the final leg of our walk to the railway station.
Day 3.Up early again to catch the bus to bring us to the start
of the walk to Martuljek waterfalls. We walked up
we shortly met two low waterfalls, and hundreds
of manmade cairns, then halfway into the walk, it
started to rain and didn’t stop all day but that didn’t
dampen our spirits as the scenery was so beautiful.
When we came to the Martuljek Falls, where 5
brave souls climbed the last rock face to land
under the 40m height fall and captured some
fabulous photos. At 1pm, John brought us to a
shelter to have our lunch under a large BBQ area
and we were delighted with the seating and shelter. After the hours of rain it was amazing how the river
and waterfalls had swollen to give a different view on our path home, the walk was approx. 12km.
Day 4.
Pec (Tromeja) 1,508m After a night of thunder
and lightning we awoke to a sprinkle of snow on thesurrounding mountains. We headed once again to the bus and off to the village of Ratece and thestart of our walk. Not long into the walk and weencountered the snow, which was great and change the countryside to a Christmas wonderland.
We zig zagged our way up to the top of the Three-Border area, where we stood in Austria, Slovenian and Italy, the views were magnificent. The monument on top is a symbol of peace and friendship, and representatives of each nation meet each year at this point.
Day 5.
Baba mountain 1,650m, was our next challenge,
back to the usual bus stop and headed to the little
village of Dovska Rozca, we had a lovely walk
though the quiet village with water troughs full of
fish, and all the houses beaming with beautiful
colour flowers on the windowsills. Walking up thought forests of fallen leaves we soon reached
the snow line once again but this time the snow was icier underfoot and the winds were picking up. John decided it was too dangerous to continue, so we abandoned out attempt at BABA.
Day 6.
Russian Church & Postarski dom (hut) Vrsicu 1,688m
This was la Crème de la Crème Walk. We walked from
Kranjska Gora to the beautiful artificial
Lakes, Jezero Jasna, only 10 mins from town, a hidden gem! We walked by the Velika Risnic river
and crossed over into open farm land with cows and their bells and steep snow cap mountains
in the background, it was a magical place.
The whiff of Slovenian coffee and apple strudel beckoned us to the next hut where we sat taking in
our beautiful surroundings. Our next stop was the Russian Church, this is a small wooden chapel built in 1915, the building is of typical Russian design, with two small towers on either side of the nave.
We then headed up through the forest to another hut covered in snow but this was closed, so we continued on and up to Postarski Dom (Postman’s Lodge) 1,699m in the hearth of the Julian Alps. The views were amazing and looking back at us from the mountain itself was the “The Pagan Girl” (see can you spot her behind the group). Some of the group took to the trail again and headed back down, while the remainer stayed to enjoy the views and the local beer and food on offer is this beautiful hut. All too soon it was time to leave and catch the busback to Kranjska Gora.
Day 7.
Our final bus trip to Mojstrana on a beautiful sunny day along the Triglavska Bistrica river,
where you can walk behind the falls to
experience the sheer force and amazing views.
After this we walked down in through the forest
amounts leaves and fallen trees back to catch the
bus and our final night in Slovenia.
What a trip, thank you John.
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