Bohinjska Bela to Galetovec and Return
Bled
Slovenia
Distance 17km Climb 790m
Sunday 13 October 2019
It had been four years since I had last been in Slovenia. I like Slovenia it is such a lovely beautiful country and the people are so nice and friendly. It was good to be back.
Today I was wandering with friends Ajaya, Alan and Kippy. We left our accommodation and turned right, north, onto the main road walking under the railway bridge. We were following rough directions towards the top of a hill. As it was Ajaya's birthday he had the say in which direction we took when we reached a crossroad or track junction.
A hundred meters or so along the main road we turned left, west onto a forest track and started climbing up the hill heading south. This junction was just before the railway station that was a little further up on the right and Gostilna Batist a very fine bar that was a little higher up the main road and to the left.
We saw the signs for Galetovec and headed up as the forest track started twisting and turning towards the south west and north west. Between gaps in the very tall trees we occasionally saw glimpses of distant mountains.
It was very warm walking and we were soon down to tee shirts.
White scree shining in the sunlight on the distant mountains.
Occasionally we could see the cliff like features on the far side of our valley.
In places we could see narrow tracks either coming down to join the forest track or fall away from it. We stayed on the main forest track and continued to climb. In places it was a gentle climb in others it was quite steep. One thing we constantly passed under on our turns up the hill was the electric pylons.
We reached Marko's Turn a sign shows this is the snow line.
This is the view of Marko's turn or as Alan asked did Marko not turn and that was why he had an accident?
Eventually we reached a fairly level pasture where the trees dropped away and we could see houses and huts.
A junction has a seat, near a small memorial stone.
The memorial shows a date of 1943 and it must be important as it is still well looked after. Notice how the tree it growing over the sign for Galetovec.
Just passed here we saw a man stacking harvested trees in piles by the side of the road. In all the forests I have walked I have seen piles of felled trees. What was interesting here is that they seam to select which trees to harvest and not just clear a whole area of woodland. We had passed a few piles of felled trees on our walk up the hill and we could see the marks of chains on the trees and in many places where the trees had been dragged through the forest.
Our path turned towards the right and another area of pasture.
After a few hundred meters signs and AJ took us from the forest track onto a stone path up between some trees beside a steep pasture. After walking through some trees the trees fell away by an open fence and we started to climb through open countryside up towards a large hut.
On reaching PI. Ilovec, we could see that there was no path continued up the hill however Kippy spotted the path running from right to left.
We decided to follow the path right up towards a ridge. While standing here a lady coming down the path advised us to continue up for the next few hundred meters. Which is what we did.
We were now following the Slovenian walking trail markers a white dot within a red circle. I have since found out was along the National Park Boundary.
This took us to the picnic area on Galetovec of 1265m, where we signed the book.
The views across and over Lake Bled was stunning. With the Karavankas the Austrian border to our north.
The turquoise blue of Lake Bled shining below, we took a few moments to rest, take pictures and enjoy the views.
From our accommodation the cliffs on the far side of the valley look higher than Galetovec yet from here we could see they are not.
Heading down we took the same route back as we had walked up.
Back onto the forest track, and following the forest track as it twisted and turned down hill.
Reaching the main road and turning right to walk back under the railway bridge and returning to our accommodation.
It had been good to get out for a few hours and the walk was great with stunning views and good friends, Ajaya, Alan and Kippy. Happy Birthday again Ajaya you made some good choices. We had walked 17km with 790m climb. A good day out.
More to follow
Boz North
Details correct at time of walking.
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