I noticed a week or so ago that people on the camper forums were making their way to Spain…they are affectionately known as snow birds, arriving early November and staying in the warmth until Feb/March.
Having realised our original winter destination of Greece is rather cold/wet I’ve been resisting joining the masses in Spain choosing instead to linger in the east. However today we really felt like we had pushed our luck with the weather.
Driving through the hills to Lake Bled we caught the first glimpse of the snow capped mountains. I’d hoped to drive all 50 hairpins of the iconic Vrsic Pass…but already you need winter ready vehicles and it seems likely it will close before our snow chains arrive.
Talking of which, having left it to the last minute (as usual), none of the tyre shops have our size chains in stock so we have to wait two days for them to be delivered to Ljubljana (we even checked stock in Vienna but no luck).
And then the clouds descended and rain started…its not stopped…its not expected to for the next 3 days at least. Still we wanted to make the best of it so we continued as planned to Soteska Vintgar – a deep gorge made passable by bridges and galleries.
The website was selling tickets and this was the final week it was open…but on arrival it was actually closed. We managed to slip the turn style to the first bridge but it was locked beyond. The typically calm turquoise waters are churned and fast flowing after all the rain.
Onwards to Bled Castle! The castle itself isn’t much to see but usually you would have magnificent views of the lake and mountains beyond…erm not so much today. Still this saved my calves as it meant it wasn’t worth the steep hike up Mala Osojnica which arguably gives the best view. We also opted to be healthy and thus skipped the Bled Cake – a vanilla custard slice (no vegan option on Happy Cow 😞).
The less touristy option is Lake Bohinj, where the mountains are mirrored in a lovely spot for swimming and boating. We really need to come back in the spring/summer – you can easily picture it being stunning but the drizzle rather dampens everything.
Given 3 of the 5 family members dont like walking in the rain and Mark doesn’t overly enjoy it, we decided against the steep stepped hike to Waterfall Savica. Instead we drove back to Bohinjska Bistrica and got soaked walking around the small town. Fellow dog walkers were the only other people out and about. I confess I was tempted to stay in the warmth but get restless cabin fever so quickly lol.
Having experienced the rain and burnt off excess energy, we are all snug in our pjs, have bolognese for dinner, books, games and have downloaded the David Attenborough first episode – our first tv in 6 months! Winter in the van ain’t too bad.
SofaWolves 