Friday 27th September 2024

From Triglav to Lake Bohingski

Bloody hell those weather forecasters got it right. With 30mm overnight, rain on awakening and  44m more to come   wet weather gear was  the order of the day.

The amount of rain was obvious with the streams and rivers bubbling along swiftly enough to exhilarate the Fox sisters.

Todays walk started at high altitude in the Triglax National Park. After  driving an hour along, around, over and then up again into the mountains.

I could not work out whether Jane was suffering motion or altitude sickness or trepidation as the driver spend the last 20 minutes twisting his way to the top, but it was not a face of delight.

With a wry grin the driver handed us our bags, shrugged his shoulders and said ‘maybe you should seek shelter in that hotel’ as he dropped us in a carpark in rain, howling wind and mist.

Once he drove off there was no option and with jackets and ponchos on we struck out along the path taking a bit of a buffeting, but soldiering on along now familiar paths.

The sign at this NP was  the  same,  highlighting  the wild animals we might encounter on the way, strangely it added turkeys- if we did see one that would be three of us.

Visibility was ordinary so no real sights to soak up. Jane as ever kept a watchful eye on the walking instructions. She suddenly stopped in her tracks and uttered something like’ yikes we have to cross a gorge – what is that going to be like with all this rain”. A large concrete bridge across a foaming stream soon settled our nerves and we pushed on through mostly forests before popping out into some mountain meadows that were home to dairies. 

Right next door was a chapel which gave us a raucous welcome with bells a pealing for midday.

We soon fell for the excitement of a short cut to take us off the gravel road. Never trust a shortcut – 300 – 400 metres of steep slippery rocks had to be trodden before we were back on terra firma.

The only saving grace was we popped out near a view point which gave fabulous views up into the mountains and along the valley.

We were surprised by the lack of wildlife. Other than a couple of startled deer and the occasional bird it was us, and the rocks and trees, plus a couple of cars heading upward and in the great Slovenian tradition a garbage truck going down. 

It was 3 and a bit hours into the walk and our pants were sodden despite the rain gear. We both looked like we needed an appointment at the incontinence clinic.

With the mist lifting we spotted a town towards the bottom of the valley, but again the old shortcut option had us slip sliding away to town, ironically at the gates to the cemetery. 

As with many here they are beautifully maintained. Sadly we wandered through a group after a funeral- makes you feel lucky to be enjoying our existence.

The next shortcut into town, was genuine with 70 properly formed steps and a handrail.

Found a seat beneath some shelter and enjoyed lunch, as the kids left school and jumped on the bus.

Seems the bells and us have some sort of affinity as they bade us farewell with a 2 minute tolling.

Down in the valley the mist had cleared and we gazed up at the mountains we had traversed, glad to be on flat ground, albeit wet.

The area  is famed for its hay drying racks and like bums everybody had one. Further out of town was a horse ranch with a wide range of stock including a couple of Lupica and  Icelandic , horses.  Not sure which was which but they were all up for a pat and got one.

The weather finally fell our way when rain eased to the occasional scudding shower.

Took a wrong turn out of town and ended up walking the main road into the penultimate town adjacent to the lake , where a load  of buses were dropping off the tourists at the swanky  apartments. 

Seems that the Japanese Ski Jump teams family and friends had arrived in droves here and when we reached town.

It’s an amazing lake surrounded by mountains and with all of this rain it was overflowing right  into a river outside our hotel.

Hotel was pretty flash and after a shower we enjoyed some dramatic thunder and lightning right through till dark. 

Dinner was in the a la carte restaurant and we were very happen with solids and liquids.

A walk around lake and maybe a cable car ride , plus huddling around mobile listening to AFL is all that is planned for tomorrow.