Melo Villareal
A Guestpost by Char’s Adventure
Those who know me know that I get bored very easily. Keeping still and lying on a beach don’t exactly suit the adrenaline junkie in me. The kid in me needed a thrill for the summer otherwise I would drive my friends and family completely mad. Rounding up a group of equally hyperactive friends of mine we decided to head off to a country that could offer us all the excitement that we could get.
Sneznik Castle
We are all climbing addicts so we needed a couple of rocks to climb up and whatever else there was to offer we vowed to throw ourselves into, literally in some cases. The organised “grown up” of the group decided that Slovenia was the obvious choice. Being the only one with any kind of sense we followed his advice, packed our bags and flew off to Slovenia. We landed in Ljubljana and took the bus to Lake Bled, the base of where our adventure was going to start.
Slovenia National Cuisine
Taking quick pit stop to sort our immediate lives out we went on a hunt for some tasty food. Throughout the whole trip we lost track of the amazing quality of the many restaurants in Slovenia and Bled offered us some great grub. The next day we packed up our gear and set off to find some crags to fall off. After a quick search and some local advice I literally stumbled across the most beautiful site to climb in the Triglac National Park. The perfect day for a climb was made even better by climbing up and over a beautiful spring. This was my happy place.
Cankar Quay
It stayed my happy place until I took a nice little tumble on a slightly tricky route and one of the boys acted as my cushion. Needless to say, I owed him a drink. We found this at Shamrock, the Irish pub nearby where we found a few home comforts and a stiff drink for my traumatized friend. A good few drinks later we decided to head back. Little did we know that we would really regret those drinks. The next day I looked in horror at our itinerary. Day 2. Skydiving. Here’s a tip. Don’t skydive hungover. Some sane people would say don’t sky dive at all.
I still have the memories of the sheer joy, fear, freedom and nausea of the jump. If I could describe it in a word it would simply be, epic. After another two days of beautiful climbing conditions, beautiful scenery and a couple of scrapes and falls, it was time to hit the rapids. Our raft started from Lake Bohinj and sent us speeding down the Sava River. This was a refreshing rush, where I can admit to falling out only once. Okay twice but I’m only a beginner. This was the grand finale of our Slovenian spectacle, as we had to get back to reality eventually. Slovenia is the best-kept secret of the outdoor world and I’m glad I discovered it.
