Bled : Arriving via Salzburg

Salzburg Airport, Austria
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My advice to anyone contemplating two holidays back to back is don’t! I had just travelled the length of England by train and yet here I was the next day, embarking on yet another trip, this time by train, plane and coach, to Slovenia.

Surprisingly the train part was faultless. Why do we always expect them to be late, slow or cancelled? Just occasionally they manage to get you where you want to be on time.

We don’t get our key back unless we say it right ‘Dva, Tree, Awesome’ or 238.

Leaving Gatwick
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On our first train I bumped into Sue, a lady I chat to most mornings on the way to work. I’m not sure who was more surprised. She was off shopping in Reading, with permission to buy lots of new clothes – lucky girl!

At reading Y and I had no problem finding the Gatwick train, getting some comfortable seats on it and even buying a cup of tea from a man with a trolley. I could have done with that on yesterday’s four hour journey!

Even Gatwick was pretty straight forward; we leapt onto the monorail and zipped over to Gatwick North. We had the check-in desk within our sights when a polite young man asked us who we were travelling with. When we said Thompsonfly he directed us straight back outside the terminal, to an enormous, snaking queue! Ah well, it had been going all too well. That queue took 45 minutes to clear, but it was very well managed and you never actually stopped moving.

Arriving at Lake Bled, Slovenia
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Finally free of our bags we went through security (oh joy another queue) where I set the alarm off with a belt I don’t normally wear. Still that must happen all the time. I can’t believe they normally have idiots trying to get lighter fluid through, like the man in front of us. The final surprise is the machine for x-raying our shoes – thank heavens I had put my sandals on! I’d have been there a while with my walking boots.

I won’t bore you too much with the airport as they don’t tend to vary that much. The only things of note were the vast numbers of very young women jetting off to Spain wearing branded T-shirts. Each had their own nickname emblazoned on the back “naughty”, “little miss sexy”, etc. Y is now seriously considering doing the same for our walking holiday. I suggested “Little Miss Knackered”, but she didn’t think the ‘Little Miss’ part was appropriate!

Bridge over the runway, Gatwick Airport, London
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Amazingly even our flight was on time, and in the end it even arrived ahead of schedule. Our pilot was a very chatty soul, giving us lots of useful information about the flight. I had rightly recognised Dungerness and Dover beneath us, although I hadn’t recognised Belgium. We were also flying at 35,000 feet and at over 500 miles an hour, with a 60 miles an hour tailwind. I don’t think I can recall ever being so well informed on a flight before.

We were on a roll now and our luck held passing through Salzburg airport in record time and our luggage was almost the first items off. We were being directed to our minibus in the car park before we knew it.

Now the observant amongst you may have noticed I mentioned Salzburg, that well known Austrian city and yet we were going to Slovenia. We had a choice of flights. One with a one hour transfer and this one, with a three hour transfer. However this one had involved getting up at 7 o’clock not midnight! Plus I had a hope that we might see the mountains as we drove to Lake Bled.

I was pretty much spot on, we did drive through the mountains, often quite literally! I had forgotten that most of the time motorways head through vast tunnels. 5 to 6 kilometres was about the average length of these and we even crossed the Austrian/Slovenian border inside one!

However we did see some glorious countryside, particularly when we reverted to smaller roads to avoid traffic jams. Beside one such road was a fast flowing mountain stream, with crystal clear water, the like of which I have never seen before.

We also become experts in spotting Lidel supermarkets. It was a bit of a shock when we first pulled into one. The driver said it was so we could do our shopping and we almost fell for it. In fact he was dropping off people, to transfer to their nearby hotel. However I was glad he waited for them. I would have been extremely nervous if I’d been cast adrift like that.

Luckily for us, we had the same driver all the way to our destination, Lake Bled. We finally arrived as the sun was setting over the Julian Alps, about 13 hours after setting out this morning.

By the time we had unpacked our things and headed out for dinner, the sun had long since set and the only sense we had of the lake were the twinkling lights that ring its shores. However the castle above it was illuminated as was the tiny church on the island at its centre. Perhaps we’ll get to see it tomorrow night.

Strangely neither Y nor I are fluent in Slovenian, but we’ve read our welcome pack and manage a “Dober Dan” to the receptionist. She’s so impressed she prints off a crib sheet of phrases and writes our room number down as well. We don’t get our key back unless we say it right ‘Dva, Tree, Awesome’ or 238. I think she may be joking!

After a brief wander in the under-lit town centre, we opt for a pizza in an okay restaurant. However we do benefit from some excellent live Rhythm and Blues being played in the restaurant across the street.

Later we dream about a quiet, peaceful day tomorrow sitting beside the lake. Unfortunately this won’t be happening as one of our pre-booked trips is on the cards – looks like another lengthy coach trip then!