Fun in the snow

The snow in the Bled area has been a bit intermittant so far.  We had some on the mountain tops as far back as September and had our first dumping in October.  However, by the end of December everything had melted and even up at Poklujka at 1200m it wasn't very deep.  In the middle of January we had several days of heavy snow and it reached an astonishing 20 inches outside our windows - and starting blocking out our light!  The Slovenians are very organised and the roads (and footpaths) were cleared very quickly.  If you walked in the snow it came above your knees, but we could get about on the cleared paths. We got arm-ache clearing the drive so the gates could open and the car get in and out.

Vicki had a go at skiing - which she promises to write about separately, but I've never really fancied careering down hill out of control, so we booked ourselves up with a local adventure company "Amigo" to do a "Fun in the snow" day.  It promised a walk in snowshoes, sledging and a chance to try a Slovenian invention, the Buttshaker. 

We picked a day shortly after the large dumping of snow, which meant the snow was very soft and even with the snowshoes we sank - a lot! It was a beautiful sunny day, with gorgeous views of the Julian Alps and a barmy  -12 degrees celsius. It was hard going and we had a couple of problems with the snowshoes, but finally made it through the woods to a beautiful plateau.  We thought we were at the end, but our guide proceeded to walk us round the plateau before we'd had enough and headed back.

The next activity on the agenda was sledging.  Unfortunately, it was the first sunny saturday after the snow and every family in Slovenia had the same idea.  The slope at Poklujka was very busy and as I was inexperienced at sledging I very nearly took out a couple of toddlers who decided to have tantrums in the middle of the slope.  A close call....  The sledging was fun, but walking back up the slope after all the hiking wasn't. 

Then it was time to try the Buttshaker.  This slovenian invention is smaller than a sledge with only one ski and you hold at the back and balance on it.  It goes fast than a sledge (although we didn't go that fast) and is more manouverable - less chance of colliding with the children.  We enjoyed.