Lake Bled, Canyoning and Rafting

The following morning we got a bus to Bled, which is famous for its lake, cream cakes and activities. On our first day we went for a walk around the lake and came across a tree, which overhung the river and had wooden grips nailed in so your could climb up it and jump into the lake. When we arrived at it, there were a few guys jumping off and a local kid who was nuts and pulling back flips and other ludicrous dives. We got the video camera out and got someone to record us climb to the top and make the plunge into the lake. The water was pretty cold but you soon acclimatised and the sun was beating down so it was all good. After a few more jumps we dried off and continued our walk around the lake, where we met a guy called Will (a stereotipical Etonian) who was staying at our hostel who joined us for the walk.

Before coming to Slovenia, we had heard that this was the place to do activities so we went and booked ourselves on a day of Canyoning and Rafting. Canyoning was absolutely amazing, you got kitted out with a wet suit, harness and helmet and then entered the canyon having to navigate yourself down a river over rocks. The best part was when you got to a rock slide where you lay down on your back and slid down the rock and into the pool below it was ace. There were also sections that you could jump and areas which you needed to abseil down it was so much fun.

The guide that took us canyoning was really fun and even detoured on the way back to take us to a river which had a huge wooden dive board hanging over a 6 metre drop. The water was so clear and there were huge fish swimming around it looked beautiful. Obviously we had to go for it and jump off the diving board, it was just a bit of a shock when you hit the water as it was freezing!

We went to a pizzeria for lunch to fill ourselves up before rafting in the afternoon. It was a 30 minute car journey to the river which where we put on life jackets and a helmet. I opted out of a wetsuit as I couldn't be bothered to put it on which I soon learnt was a mistake as the water was about -12 and the coldest thing ever. My feet were tingling after just having dipped them in for about 5 seconds. The water levels were fairly low so the river wasn't that challenging but fun all the same.

We had only booked our first night in the hostel and luckily the woman said we could stay another night so at least we had somewhere to go after our day of action.We hadn't paid for the second night and in the morning the woman wasn't around so we ended up just leaving the key and saving ourselves the cost of a nights accommodation which was a welcome treat. We hadn't got around to trying the local speciality dish which was a cream cake. Even though it was 9am we decided it was something that had to be done so we ate this huge cream cake after a toastie - not the most conventional breakfast.

It was then a day of travel getting the bus first to Ljubliana, then to Koper and finally to Trieste. Trieste was the one place we hadn't pre-booked a place to stay and it was also the one place that didn't have any free WiFi hotspots. We wandered around a bit trying to find the tourist office, which we eventually found tucked away after asking a policeman. Unfortunately it was closed so we were back to square one, still being unable to find a WiFi hotspot. Luckily Woody went for a scout around while I sat with the bags and he managed to find somewhere even though it was a bit more expensive than we were used to, but at this point we were fed up of lugging our bags around so just went for it. In the morning it was then off to the Airport where we sat around for a few hours waiting to check in.

Once we got through to boarding we were given priority boarding passes to our surprise as we were totally oblivious that we had booked them. Anyway these got us onto the plane first where we were able to snag ourselves some seats with extra leg room. I was under the impression that these seats were like gold dust and there was always a race to get them, but everyone just seemed to get on the plane and sit in any old seat. The last two people to get on the plane got some of these seats which still left 3 unoccupied throughout the whole flight, I couldn't believe it.

So that's it, home now back to my own bed :-) I guess it's time to start thinking about going back to work :(