The afternoon we arrived we played in the sava bistrica (river) which was about 10 meters from the camper. After being dragged over the rocks on the back of jems kick board (bruises to prove it) realised it was a little shallow for canyoning and took to sending jem down on his own then hauling him out before he got washed out to sea. We did brave the plunge pool where a second river joined, which was freezing but a superb way to cool off. Most of the river was too chilly for charlotte (and ant to start off with) so she just wet her hair and paddled. We ventured into the village for supper that evening and found a super pizza place at the end of a lane. They were the biggest pizzas that i think i've ever had. Even ant was struggling! Zoe was on form charming everyone and took a liking to Charlottes strawberry ice cream grabbing hold of the whole cone trying to stuff it all in her mouth and getting very excited whilst charlotte got a little worried that she may not get it back and jem ant and i just fell about laughing!
Day 2 we ventured out on a hike but soon realised just how hot it was, how low we were, how tired Charlottes legs were and how steep the surrounding triglav range of mountains were.... so ended up with a walk to Brod and picnic in the shade of a barn; taking a short cut back across the river to camp. Day 3 fooled us into thinking it was going to be a bit grey so we opted to go to the aqua park in the village. Not quite center parcs but it had 2 wicked slides, bubble pools, a river, climbing wall over the water, baby pool and cafe so we spent about 5 hours there. Jem proved to us that he actually could swim 50 metres, all be it doggy paddle, but still swimming - we're very proud of him. Zoe was a star and loved it and charlotte enjoyed the waterfall caves, sleeping on the sun loungers and the dark slide with sparkely lights.
The following morning we thought we'd explore the lake so leaving our pitch strewn with washing line and clothes, the tarp up and the levelling ramps out (first time we used them-that's how settled we got!) we set off expecting to find someone camping in the middle of the pitch on our return. (we take back all the rude things we may have said in the past about camper van owners marking out their pitch - really theres no choice if you want to come back!) Anyway so off to lake bohinj expecting it to be heaving like Bled, instead to find our own little cove just 3 mins from a parking space. I think ant and i enjoyed ourselves more than the kids as it was a bit shady and they decided too cool to venture for long in the lake. But we'd taken our snorkles and were happy imagining that we were back in borneo or indonesia as we explored the lake, this time on our own while the other one stopped zoe from diving in and cheered up the other 2. Jem did eventually venture out in a snorkle and was immediately hooked, especially as he saw Perch and Chub. Back to the camp for lunch to find our delineation had worked a treat or possibly the evidence of 3 young children had put anyone in their right minds off coming within 10 metres of us. The boys then went off on a canoeing adventure whilst the girls explored the other playground, did a bit of retail therapy in the bakery and had a very quick drink in the bar as zoe decided that the bar was too dull and screamed her head off until the waitress quickly brought the bill and we wandered off to the river to see our hero's return. Which we almost missed (and charlotte still claims she didn't see them whiz by looking rather like the pros in llangollen). After sitting in a prime spot for 20 mins it got a bit hot so thought we ought to find a shady spot to wait .... a short series of events involving.. Slipping down the bank washing off mud in the river loosing shoes tripping over guy ropes finding shade with rubbish sightline of the river to then spot them coming so running back to original place with more shoe losses dropping of hair bobbles... you get the picture... quick cheer and wave (on my part as the boys were concentrating way too much) then back to disembarking spot where proud daddy and elated son were already pulling the canoe out, only to yield to a request from charlotte for a ride down stream and unfortunately for poor ant upstream back to where jem was telling me how fabulous it was, how he bounced out of the canoe after hitting a rock at the base of a rapid and didnt even cry (luckily, as daddy was at the back we the canoe he could haul him back in as he passed), about the man he'd seen jump off a dive board, and the canoe rental guys who both said how quick we'd made it down (they initially wanted to give jem a half paddle as he wouldn't be able to handle a full paddle and daddy a wetsuit until daddy explained politely the whole point was to make jem do some work whilst daddy relaxed, and sitting in 20 litres of sweat inside a wetsuit when it was 30+ degrees wasn't going to help either) .. ..well worth the 30 euros.
anyway we decided that we must move on (taking the tetley tea that bev had begged off some unsuspecting family from huddersfield , saying goodbye to the prospect of any fly fishing as the eur50 a day permit in bohinj was far too steep for the 2 hours daddy might have got in, said goodbye to alice from france who adopted our camper after making friends with jem and Charlotte) otherwise we'd have stayed for weeks !
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