Walking The Perimeter of Lake Bled

An early start to the day—up at 6am and off to the bus station by 6:45am. It’s the reverse of yesterday’s walk, as the bus station is right next to the train station. The morning is cool and fresh, around 14°C, but it’s meant to reach 31°C later in the day.

We bought bus tickets at the station to Bled, a town about 55km away. It’s famous for its lake and the picturesque church on a small island in the middle. We’d seen it on The Amazing Race and thought, since we’re nearby, we should definitely check it out.

The bus ride takes about an hour, maybe less, with just a few stops along the way. A return ticket only cost €3.80 each—cheap as chips! Though not quite as cheap as Lidl’s wheat beer! 😂

Oh, and before I forget—I didn’t get whacked last night. 😁

Not only are we visiting Lake Bled, but Sarah informs me we’re walking the entire perimeter of it. What?! I guess, since we’re not paying to take a boat out to the island, we might as well burn some calories and enjoy the scenery. The walk really is beautiful—mostly shaded, with plenty of stunning views of the lake and island. We stop often for photos, and there’s lots of birdsong along the way.

There’s also a rowing regatta happening today, with races running the full length of the lake. That suggests the lake is a little over 2km long. Sarah said the walk is 6km. The regatta is an international masters event—‘masters’ meaning over 30 years old in the rowing world.

There’s been a church on the island since 1142, though the current one was built in the 17th century. High above the lake, perched on a dramatic rock outcrop, is Bled Castle. It sits imposingly over the lake and must offer amazing views. Apparently there has been a castle of some form up there since 1011. 

With the lake circuit complete, we find a dairy/café for a coffee and a very tasty cheese roll. While sitting there, I suddenly remember I was meant to find a geocache along the walk—but completely forgot. Doh! It’s only 435m back, so off we go to find it. It turns out to be a good one—hidden up a bank beside the main road, inside a fake bird box. Pretty cool! That little detour added another 900m, bringing our total walk to 8km by the time we got back to the bus station.

We’d brought our togs to swim in the lake, but in the end, just seeing it felt like enough.

We hopped off the bus one stop before the station—much closer to our apartment, and right across from Lidl. Time for an afternoon beer? Nope—not today. Supermarkets here are closed on Sundays! What a great idea. Though it does make dinner a bit tricky. We can’t even resort to rice and beans—or eggs. All we have left is a little bread, some salad, and a couple of capsicums from last night. We'll have to come up with a Plan B… stay tuned. 🤔

Luckily, we found two options just down the road. One was a Chinese and Mongolian restaurant that would’ve cost around $50 NZD. The other was a takeaway chicken kebab and fries for half that. We opted for the kebab—and it was delicious. We couldn’t even finish all the fries!

While we were standing at the menu board using Google Translate, the young guy behind the counter said, in near-perfect English, “How can I help you guys?” English is taught early here, and both he and his friend (or brother) who also worked there have travelled a bit—including to the US.