Day 15: Ljubljana to Lake Bled 🇸🇮 63kms 🚴‍♀️

We set off this morning with Tim on his first day of touring in Europe.  His Ridley gravel bike is excellent and he is enjoying the ride.
The first 5kms were on one long road with a bike lane heading straight out of the capital city.
There are many beautiful little villages and so many cyclists out enjoying a Sunday ride.  We stopped in a quaint little village for some morning tea with a church nearly finished its renovations,
a pretty community garden and farm folk with tractors passing by.
We stumbled across the huge Slovenia Le Etappe 130km or 80km cycling road race finishing in the outdoorsy town of Kranji.
We saw race numbers up to around 1500 people and joined in the fun vibe with the theme from Rocky music on the speakers, media etc and us hilariously trying to get through the crowd with loaded bikes 😂
We rode alongside a river and then into a huge forested area with a long descent followed by a long 11% climb!  We ate grapes straight from a vine on an old barn.  
We arrived into Lake Bled and to our hostel.  The campground was booked out and had a 3 night min and we managed to get beds in a 4 bed mixed dorm (me and 3 guys) in a lovely old town area.  We quickly changed and cycled around the lake to do the hike to the vantage point where you can see the little island with a church on it in the middle of the lake.  The hike is steep and rocky 😂
followed by a drink a nibbly platter of local foods overlooking the lake. 
We rode back to the hostel for well needed showers and then off to a local pub serving hearty Slovenian dishes.  We both loved our meals. 
A wander along the lake after dark for gelati and views up to the castle on the clifftop.
A fabulous start to our Slovenian cycle trip.

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