Following busgate and over three hours after we were meant to catch the bus back to Ljubljana, I’m pleased to write that we were successful.

Rather than stand at the bus stop waiting for the fifth bus, we went back to the cafe that we were in earlier and Bev acquired us some chicken strips with fries.

And a healthy and warming hot chocolate.

The lake was peaceful at night and the area was becoming ever quieter.

It’s not a very clear photo of Bled Castle, but it gives the impression of its beauty.

Even at this time, with relatively few buses left, the bus filled up and people were left behind. We were fortunate on this one and a local lad said I could stand next to him as he said he was getting on it regardless. Bev, as she’s fearless, told a group of four young ladies off for barging their way past her to get on. We were pretty near the front of the queue and so easily got on and it was a relief to be honest, as I wanted to get some food in Ljubljana before the restaurants closed. Unfortunately, the Indian we had planned to go to was closing by this point, but I had another restaurant plan.

Safely back, but not before I managed to get off the bus and realise it was the wrong stop and we had to get back on again. The driver of this bus was calm and collected, so there were no dramas, although everyone at the airport was refused boarding and there was a minor altercation there as well.

I’ve already written about the fiasco so far with Arriva, which involved punched passengers, angry drivers and complete chaos. As I hadn’t expected any of this, I hadn’t videoed the physical assaults, but I did video this which gives an impression of the driver created confusion.

This was the fourth bus that we missed and two of the drivers launched into tirades about Arriva management in Ljubljana, so I think it’s fair to say that this mess was really the fault of Arriva drivers. There was a younger guy I was talking to who lives at Lake Bled and he said that there just aren’t enough buses at the weekends and although he hadn’t seen a physical assault before, the chaos was not an unusual one. He said that when there is a backlog he just goes home and gets a later bus, there’s no point in waiting. Another local added that the drivers had given up caring as there was just nothing that they could do.

So this sets the scene, the driver pulled way too far back and so the people who had been waiting for three hours missed another bus. In a later tirade, he blamed the passengers that were in his way so he couldn’t safely stop. I’m not sure that’s a very valid argument, but he did make that argument whilst shouting at a really upset passenger.

Bev and I decided that we weren’t going to wait for any more buses and we went back for food and drinks in the cafe we were earlier. We went back two buses later and only just boarded that one. There was still jostling and anger, with more passengers being left behind.

The poor passengers at the airport, which is en route, were all abandoned. There was another altercation there between the driver of the bus which we were on and a passenger, but the driver was really doing his best on that one and was calm, helpful and personable.

I’ve emailed this to Arriva, to see if this was completely exceptional. Because, I’d otherwise suggest that it would be unsafe for families to try and catch the bus to Lake Bled at the weekends, having seen the assaults that were committed by angry and stressed passengers. If Arriva don’t have any more buses or drivers, it feels as if they should, as most other bus companies would do, have a staff member on hand to have a queueing system so that passengers could board fairly and then only experience a maximum of a thirty minute wait. Arriva left some passengers stranded here for four hours, which is by any measure appalling.

We had anticipated leaving Lake Bled with our pre-paid tickets so that we could get back to look in a couple of churches in Ljubljana before going for an evening meal. We assumed that there might be a bus that we could catch…..

I’d add that I wasn’t initially planning to take many photos of this, so I was a little slow to capture the whole arrangement, although there’s a video in part two that gives a taste of things to come.

There was a relatively orderly queue at the bus stop, but it became apparent that some people had already been waiting for two hours. There was excitement when the bus to Ljubljana pulled up, but in an act of what generally felt like incompetence, the bus driver pulled up mid-way along the bus stop and opened the doors.

This led to the worst incident of bus rage that I’ve ever seen. A passenger hit another passenger and another was physically assaulted by being pushed. A rush of customers forced onto the bus and the driver lost control. Those waiting for two hours were visibly upset and none of those got on. Those that had just arrived were able to board, but the driver looked upset and confused, somehow as if he had managed not to realise that this was inevitable. There were numerous altercations with customers between themselves and some yelling at the driver. The driver started yelling back, closed the doors and drove off, although he didn’t have much choice by then as his bus was full.

One group of what appeared to be Portuguese tourists shouted at a local saying “we’ve visitors, we get priority” and this poor local lady said “we get priority, I’ve got to get to work, you could get a taxi” and I’m afraid I do feel that locals should get priority here as public transport should serve their needs. The aggressive passengers won here, but I’m pleased to say that the local lady did just board.

The next driver was very sensible and he stopped at the obvious location to allow passengers to board. But, the previous driver had made his life impossible, there was fear from passengers that they wouldn’t be getting home and a child’s throat was grabbed by another passenger as a rush started. There were two quite serious altercations between passengers and this frankly shamed Arriva Buses as this was entirely their fault.

At this stage, Susanna and Steve managed to board, but Bev and I didn’t. I’m quite relaxed about this, things happen for a reason, so we decided to wait for one more bus.

And this was the real problem bus.

The driver stopped there. Complete madness as now some people had been waiting for three hours and he boarded passengers who had just got there. But, in the next post I have a video of this, as it all became quite exciting.

After we had climbed up to Bled Castle, Steve found us another route back down to the lake that we thought we’d investigate instead of going back the way that we had come.

Back down we go, although the steps soon ran out and we hit raw countryside again.

It felt a privilege to be walking in such a lovely area and this is the view of the mountains, with the view over the lake being behind me.

Our first proper sight of the pilgrimage church, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary, located on an island that visitors need to get a boat to.

The ladies trying to remember the skills they learned when attending a Hike Norfolk mapping course. There was a route down that was quite steep, but Susanna and I were quite scared of that, so we just carried on a more calm course.

Steve went ahead to find a suitable route that we were all happy with. I’m pleased to report that there were no trips, falls or injury related incidents on this little trek.

This really was a lovely walk and there were very people around here, although that’s likely as they weren’t natural hill walkers like we were and they were just meandering around the lakeside path that didn’t involve climbing.

I was busy looking at the lovely views.

My peace was shattered by Bev yelling “Susanna” at a ridiculous volume, it was like a banshee to be honest. They had managed to get muddled up between them and got lost. Steve and I didn’t say anything, we just watched from afar.

I’m pleased to report that Susanna was located and we were able to complete our walk. I’d note that it’s worth the diversion to go up to the castle and back down, it’s peaceful, quiet and there are fine views over the local area including the mountains and the lake.

We didn’t have time to go inside Bled Castle, but we thought that we’d walk the fifteen minutes up a huge hill (David Morgan would once again be pleased with me) to get to see the outside of it.

There it is, up there.

My bravery never ceases to amaze me.

Here the rest of the group comes, jogging up the mountain.

It wasn’t a technically difficult path to be fair, although there was quite a lot of it. As a natural hill walker, I rarely complained.

Having a little rest, waiting for the ladies, who were also doing a very recent pace up this mountain. We wondered how Richard would have got on and views differed on that.

Nearing the castle and the first recorded mention of a defensive structure being here is from 1101. This was when the German Emperor Henry II decided the Bishops of Brixen needed a little defensive structure to protect them, whilst also offering them lovely views over the lake. That feels like something of a win, the medieval bishops must have been pleased with this.

The castle arrangement looks pretty robust. For many centuries it was a symbol of ecclesiastical authority, but countries and territories changed around them. By the early twentieth century, this was very much a tourist attraction and the visitor numbers increased, so it was turned into a museum.

There are some lovely views from up here. I should mention as well that we’re in the Julian Alps here, which is very appropriate.

The moat and drawbridge, which as Steve pointed out didn’t seem hard to penetrate. Maybe things have been changed about a bit over the last few hundred years.

Imposing.

Susanna taking a photo of us….

Then it was the walk back down, but I’ll cover this excitement in another post. The anticipation for my two loyal blog readers really must be almost unbearable…..

Bev and Susanna saw this and demanded that they go for a little ride on it, or whatever it was they were wittering on about.

I mentioned to them that we were danger of looking like tourists.

They didn’t seem concerned about that. Steve and I did our best to look like authentic locals, but I’m not sure we entirely achieved that with these two.

I hadn’t realised that Lake Bled was well known for a cake that was sold here, but when Steve mentioned this, it was inevitable that we would have to try such a thing when visiting the area.

We had to go to the home of the original.

Bev was disappointed that she had missed out on tickets to the Cliff Richard gig she was looking forward to. But at least we had beautiful alpine views to look across to instead over the lake.

Susanna announced that the cake looked a bit much for her. I announced it didn’t look too much for me.

The cake was a bit much, but apparently this hot chocolate wasn’t.

Food was delivered by this automated robot, it’s only the second time that I’ve seen these, the first was at Hard Rock Cafe in London.

Here they are on their little break.

I went to have a little look at the cakes being lined up at the counter. They’re made at the hotel over the road, with this cafe (Kavarna Park) being an extension to that arrangement.

It’s fair to say that they sell a lot of these and a couple more trays arrived from the hotel whilst we were there. The whole process felt regimented and a little like a conveyor belt, but at least the cakes are homemade and they don’t use preservatives and the like in them.

There are instructions on how to eat them.

And here it is, safely delivered to the table. The others had more food, but I’m not greedy and I wanted to focus on the cake. It did wobble as promised and I used the eating instructions provided. Now, I did like it as the top was firm and added texture, the custard had a pleasant taste and it was all agreeable. But, I’m not sure that it was a food of international quality like chicken bakes, but I enjoyed it.

The beer was actually really rather good and I liked that the cafe had made an effort here. It’s a Chimay Grande Reserve and this was a punchy 9% ABV which tasted strong, with some toffee and it was certainly rich. It was also robust and went well with the cake.

I liked the service here, although Bev was annoyed at something or other. We had a table which overlooked the lake and the venue was clean, tidy and comfortable. We weren’t rushed and the whole arrangement was relaxed and enjoyable. I’d have another cake if I returned to Lake Bled.

This was an interesting sign at Lake Bled, encouraging people to do some exercises whilst enjoying the view. I helpfully suggested that Bev tried them.

She saw this and refused.

I took far too many photos when at Lake Bled, so to set the scene of the day, here’s a heap of them….. More text based excitement in other posts about the whole Lake Bled arrangement.

Arnold Rikli was one of those glorious nineteenth century characters who was clearly upbeat, positive, new world and slightly odd. He decided that there was a way of getting people healthier, so he made them go into the country, walk about a bit, eat healthily and rest. He effectively developed a wellness retreat at Lake Bled and is perhaps the main reason that it’s as popular today as it is.

At Lake Bled, he established a health resort devoted to cold baths, woodland walks and standing around quite a lot in the sunshine looking optimistic. This was all billed as therapeutic and it was likely quite a financially lucrative arrangement for him as well.

Bled’s reputation as a spa destination grew and Rikli became known as a sort of eccentric health prophet. His legacy today, as can be seen from this sign, is as some sort of early Wim Hof. I could be engaged with the walking, but the cold dips into the river certainly wouldn’t excite and delight me.