Saturday 4/6/2011 77km dep. 11am arr. 7PM
This day we had our latest start yet, only managing to leave camping at 11, though it didn’t stop raining until about 9:30. The weather is a major source of angst for us and unfortunately it’s not looking that good for at least a week though funnily enough it’s summer now. We were riding towards Blejsko Jezero the big blue lake in Bled with an island in the middle.
As soon as we left camping the sun came out and our clothes started steaming. The sun didn’t last however and was soon replaced by storm clouds as we rode across the flat farmland towards Kranj. Just before 12 we decided to stop under the eaves of a shop because it was getting dark and the thunder was quite loud. We waited about 20 minutes for it to rain but nothing happened so we continued on our way. As we left the town for some reason they sounded a loud siren for about a minute (hurricane warning? or just a reminder that it’s lunch time) and then the bells started on the church that we passed. It was quite an eerie atmosphere.
Noisy church in Komenda
The storm was in front of us as we rode along the flats towards the mountains. Behind us it was sunny, in front we could see lighting bolts and big black clouds.
Storm clouds over mountains
Shrine in sun
We passed through the north of Kranj with the intention of buying food for the next two days. For some reason the traffic lights weren’t working and then when we got to the supermarket and it was closed we clicked that the power had gone out. But while we were buying fruit from a kiosk the power came back.
Church and mountains
We made our way towards Bled on the river plains. The idea of taking the scenic mountain route was mooted as it might risk late arrival in Bled. The low way was still nice and we found some nice quiet roads and villages and a gravel path through a forest. Unfortunately the low way involved some motorway crossings and there were more roads around to get lost on. We made a couple of moderately severe navigation errors which wasted some time. But eventually we found ourselves on the only road into Bled, which was busier than we have been used to.
Castle above Blejsko Jezero
As we reached the lake in Bled we noticed it was really quite blue and also there was rain dropping on it, the rain which had been promised all day. We tried waiting it out but realised it was no use and just rode to camping in the rain. Then we put up our tent in the rain and cooked our tea while it rained. The mood was fairly low but was improved a little by the food and general pleasantness of the forest and cliffs surrounding the campsite.