Lake Bohinj

The bridge and church

Another day, another lake. Lake Bonhinj is 20 km west of Lake Bled and much less developed. It is inside the Triglav National Park and no development is allowed around the water's edge. You go through the town of Bohinjska Bistrica (which one might have thought would be near the lake, but turns out not to be) and reach the village of Ribcev Laz. We parked near the bridge over the Sava Bohinka river and headed clockwise around the lake.

The lake is a glacial one and is dammed by a moraine. It is 4.2 km long and 1 km wide. It was a cloudy morning, but the magnificent mountain setting was still impressive.



At first, the path (actually a minor road) ran by the lakeside, but quite soon it diverged and there was no choice but to follow - along a path on the far side of the road from the lake. After a while we came on the small Church of the Holy Spirit, dating from 1743, with a pretty external fresco.



A bit further on, we spied a parking area and crossed the road to descend to a sort of beach with a nice view of the end of the lake.



Not too long afterwards, about 3 miles into the walk, we came to the hamlet of Ukanc where we had a pleasant lunch. We crossed the Savica river, with its startling green colour - we assumed it must come from some copper salts.



There was another beach area at this, the far end of the lake, but once we had passed it we entered a rough track right by the lake end with scattered trees to the right (lake side) and a steep slope to the left.



It was now much more peaceful and the beauty of the lake could be more fully appreciated.



Wildlife was in rather short supply, so I was pleased by this snap. I was not sure if it was a butterfly or a moth, but I have since identified it as a Speckled yellow moth.



Eventually we reached the wide end and swung right beside classic Slovenian flower meadows to pass by the church, cross the bridge and return to the start.



Distance: 7 miles.

Conditions: cool and wet at first, but gradually becoming brighter to end with hot sunshine.

Rating: four stars. A bit tiresome at first, but ultimately wonderful.