I sat alone, under a warm August sun, with wispy cotton clouds feathering the diluted blue sky above my messy auburn hair.
My two scoops of blueberry and dark chocolate ice-cream make their roots down the wafer cone and onto my hands.
The warm dryness of the pine wood against my skin as I dangled my legs over the pier, my black nail polish glistening under the lakes surface.
Near me were three little ducks wading their way through the water with their webbed paddles, whilst the lake’s inhabitants swam secretly beneath; both existing blissfully ignorant of the flailing foreign bodies that screamed and laughed only metres away.
In the distance I could see couples rowing on little wooden boats painted yellow, blue, and lilac. Creamy lace parasols shielded the backs of their necks from the sun, as they floated through the water towards the kingdom in the middle of the water; who needs a mote when you have a lake?
Lake Bled has a reputation for being the most beautiful lake in Europe, with water so transparent and clean that it exceeds the crystal clear metaphor it is commonly awarded. It’s reputation brings it thousands of tourists every year, and I was one of them.
Upon arriving at Lake Bled after an uncomfortably long bus journey from the capital Ljubljana, I had low expectations for the rest of my visit. These expectations were lowered even further as upon seeing the lake in the far distance, it looked exactly like every other lake I had ever seen before, what a wasted journey.
Fear not dear readers! For I was horrifically mistaken!
Upon a much closer inspection of the lake, I found that it was indeed, fucking fabulous.
It was also A LOT larger than I had originally thought, the walk round the full lake took me approximately 4 hours – factoring in that I stopped every five steps to take a selfie/photo/polaroid of each tree, rock, fish, duck, and new area of lake that I passed.
Exhibit A:
Before I go any further, there’s a certain elephant in the room that needs addressing. The title of this piece does indeed state that I bled during my visit to the lake, and no it was not an ironic, feminist, menstruation gag; I actually tripped up over a tree trunk that had very long, sporadic roots whilst taking a photo of how clear the water was. It was by far the most traumatic event of the day and I was by no means graceful or reserved in my pain, I went FLYING along with my phone and badly skinned my knees. Did I pick myself up and brush myself off like the strong Scottish woman that I am? Did I fuck. I lay there stamping my feet in annoyance and rubbing the blood off my knees – which in hindsight, was a terrible idea as I ended up just spreading the red all over my sun-kissed legs. However, I could have probably got over the trauma of my morning a lot quicker if it hadn’t been for the American man who ‘rushed’ to my aid by standing three metres in front of me, pointing to the soiled iPhone that lay at his feet, offering a sympathetic ‘you dropped your phone’, before proceeding to sashay away from my crumpled existence. Yes America, thank you very much.
Whilst this was a slight negative to my visit to the most wonderful place that mother nature has gifted Earth, it actually provided me with the most excellent photo opportunity this side of the continent.
LOOK AT HOW EXTRA THIS IS
So the photo above was taken on the far right side of the lake which is lined with trees and steep bankings, it took me around 20 minutes of walking with blood running down my knees to find an area accessible and shallow enough for me to step into the lake and wash my legs. I finally found an opening and climbed down to it, sat my shoes on a tree trunk, and stepped into what can only be described as the physical embodiment of glory. The warm water lapped up to my neck and soothed my knees, my cuts, my stress, and my soul. If I never believed in the healing abilities of nature before, then I do now. I swam for about twenty minutes, hopping out every so often to catch my breath and my thoughts, then diving back in again to soak up the peaceful ripples.
Lake Bled or Lake Paradise?
The rest of my day was spent swimming with the fishes, eating ice-cream, and learning the meaning of peace. I left a part of my heart there that day, along with my blood and skin cells, and I’ll always carry a part of Bled in my heart and mind. I crave for the day I return, and make new memories, along with reliving old ones.
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