OFF TO SUNNY SPAIN

January 17th 2013

who came down twice, spent a lot of The Fridge......had problems in September when the fridge wouldn't switch to 12v power when driving. Not a huge problem as it worked on gas and mains whenever we stopped, but not right, and then on our last night in France, it stopped working on gas and defrosted itself. So took it down to Chelston in Taunton in November for repairs - and had the filler connector for the refillable autogas bottles moved from inside the locker to outside to keep the french happy. The fridge problem was an electrical relay from the engine that had died so was soon fixed, but the fridge still didn't seem to be getting cold enough when I got home. This is a long story and I'm getting tired of typing.......found a Dometic engineer in Norwich time and eventually replaced everything on the fridge except the carcase and seemed to have it working...it was a brand new fridge by now. However, when we came to switch it on prior to loading up and leaving for Spain it certainly wasn't anywhere near cold. Frantic phone calls to our man in Norwich finally isolated the problem to having the winter covers on the ventillation ducts which was preventing a satisfactory airflow.....normally the covers go on in October and remain in situ until the spring but it seems the very large fridge we now have only requires vent covers when the temp. is below 10c. as there is a large gap between top & bottom ducts. So they are off all the time now and the fridge works and this may have been the problem from the start.
Stop me if this getting too technical.......

Down to Folkestone 6th.Jan. and through the Tunnel on the 7th at 07.50. Weather cloudy all the way to La Suze s/Sarthe (Lemans) and next day to Bordeaux. The continued work on the N10 seems near to completion and depressingly we passed a large Toll Station being built so more expense there next year. Decided to continue past San Sebastian where we have stopped before as we were making good time, and onto Vitorio Gasteiz, capital of the Basque country. Adequate but subsequently noisy aire in town but nice tram ride to historic centre which is worth a detour. Salamanca the next night where it was warm and sunny for the first time but the mist, cloud and drizzle returned the next day all the way to Zafra, another new stop on the route. Scrubby Aire in the showground complex but for some reason we followed 2 german vans round the back to find a quieter but more vulnerable place to park. Turned out ok but I still don't know why I let the Gf persuade me to go there.. Mist and fog next day down to Seville where we stopped for to top up the gas bottles (LPG is not readily available in Spain and the closest to Conil are Jerez & Seville, so best to fill up whenever possible) and then the sun came out as we passed Cadiz and arrived Conil about 14.00. Refueled, stopped at the supremarket for fresh supplies ( 2litre wine up from €2.17 last year to €2.70 but the usual Rioja down from €1.79 to €1.64 and Cruz Campo beer on offer at €1 for 2 550ml tins.)
Conil looking good, La Rosaleda fuller than it was this time last year and lots of old faces. Spent Saturday & Sunday getting straight after 7 days of travel (GF very tired & weary). Obviously without P&M to partner us in the Wed. quiz we had to find new blood and were happy to find Paul & Caroline, neighbours last year, had also just arrived and were happy to team up. Came 4th out of 22 last night with 39/50 and the winners only scored 41/50 so we are in the right zone...I said that the ribbon on the VC was purple but the Gf overruled me and that the Road to Istanbul was not a Hope&Crosby film otherwise we would have tied for 1st and we know how bad that could be for us..... 

Here we go Again.

January 17th 2013

Well there's a bit of catching up to do as I left this in the wilds of Croatia with a distinctly poorly member of the group who was having a great deal of trouble driving, on account of gear changing with his right arm being agony....alert readers will have spotted that he drives a lefthand drive vehicle, so there's a lesson to be learned.
From Croatia we had planned to visit Venice, always a pleasure, and we pitched up at a very pleasant site at Lido di Jessolo. P&M went straight to the hospital where x-rays revealed a detached muscle and he was told to rest it and take pain killers. We ended up staying for 11 days at Lido as the sun was shining, we were on the beach and Venice was a short ride away on the ferry which we could cycle to or catch a bus, and the local farm shop across the road had an excellent selection of fill-your-own-bottles of wine at €1.25 a litre and they would also fill 5 litre wine boxes as you waited, so a few of those came home when we left. Had 2 trips into Venice which was heaving with visitors even at the end of September and it is surprising how much a day out in Venice can cost, even if you go prepared. Eventually D&M set off home first as M. wanted to go shopping in France (?) and they had to have the dog vetted, followed by P&M a few days later who were going to be driving on the motorways very slowly and resting inbetween. If they got into difficulties we would not be far behind and could help out.  
We left Lido on Oct.8th and after all the sunshine had a rather miserable trip home getting colder and wetter by the day. Started at Locarno, over the Simplon Pass to Lac Leman, Bad Sackingen on the Rhine and then following the Neckar river - stopping at Rottenburg, a visit to the Porsche factory at Stuttgart (where we had the best meal of the whole trip), Eberbach for 3 days to visit Heidelberg and onto Trier. Apart from the day we went on the train to Heidelberg, the weather was cloudy,misty, drizzly and cool and we should have stayed in the South for longer but for wanting to help Paul in case of problems. We also had a week longer to stay as when rebooking after the kidney stone episode we added another week for some reason.So we stayed at Spa in Belgium for 2 days which was more than enough and then a night at Gravelines where the fridge finally packed up before  catching the ferry home on Oct.19th.
Great trip, lot of fun, destruction of preconceptions re Croatia (ie. not a land full of murderous bandits waiting to rob, plunder and sell our wives into slavery), marred by P.'s accident which curtailed our journey somewhat and setting off for home too early when the sun was still shining. Will definitely return to Croatia again and continue down to Dubrovnik, probably giving the Istrian coast a miss next time.
  

Ok we won't close down.

After throwing a hissy-fit over irritating comments from u-know-who I have been persuaded by nice comments from others to continue with my 'diary' as it appears to amuse. I have also set up a new facility now available whereby i can post by email which may solve some issues I've had in the past..so this is by way of a test run. Should it work i will finish off the Croatian trip in the next few days.

ADRIATIC HIGHWAY....

21st.- 24th.September

Left the lakes and headed south through scenic countryside towards ZADAR, turning up the coast slightly to STARIGRAD PAKLENCA and found a terrific campsite on the coast where we were lucky enough to get pitches right on the beach. Only downside is that Paul missed the step getting out of the van (no, he was sober) and has done serious damage to his shoulder and gear changing is agony let alone lifting beer & wine glasses and opening bottles has had to be delegated to Marianne. Actually its quite serious and we are now reorganising things so that he only drives on motorways and rests the shoulder  by stopping longer on sites......

Love STARIGRAD. Close to ZADAR where we took the bus to on Sunday. Nice town. Alfred Hitchcock said that Zadar had the best sunsets in the world and from Starigrad, about 20 miles as the crow flies, I feel he might be right. The bus trip was hilarious. Outward leg charged at 41 kune each, no ticket issued; return leg 5pm on a packed bus taking mostly students back up Rijecka and as we didn't have reservations it nearly caused a riot as we sat tight looking bemused and people with reservations had to stand and the conductor calmed everyone down ( I thinK ) pointing out that we would be getting off in half an hour into a 4 hour journey. In the end I had a long conversation with a nice Croation lad from Zadar whose parents owned a restaurant and who
was returning to uni after the weekend at home to study archeology. Saw no future in Croatia and was planning to emigrate to Canada or Australia and said he was typical of his generation. Scathing about the EU and saw joining the Euro as a disaster. Parents were suffering as tourism, on which this country seems to exist, was slowing and takings were less than 4 years ago. We have seen practically no agriculture and little livestock and he confirmed that most farms are little more than smallholdings feeding one extended family with no surplus for market even though there are fertile regions.....apparently potatoes all come from Moldova.

We feel that Croatians are a very happy bunch of people who are always smiling  and for whom service is a pleasure. Everybody speaks some english, even in country stores and most speak very good english. Campsites are very good and the facilities mainly modern, clean and always an abundance of hot water. We have never felt threatened and everyone we have encountered has been cheerful whilst relieving us of money - the country not being cheap and probably on a par with France (except in attitude). Food is plain, grilled mainly and lots of fish along the cost as you would expect but service is quite exceptional and a pleasure.

Paul's shoulder made the group decision not to go further south an easy one and as a long term decision to spend a few days in Venice had already been made we spent longer in Starigrad than we planned. This was no problem to me as I have fallen in love with the place and will return, I hope, many more times. The national park, Paklenica, is famouse for westerns being made there and I would like to explore more.

We left there with regret, heading north to OPatija and Lovran which we had passed through on the way to Krk and which looked like nice places.

Paul went the long way round on the motorway, we took the pretty route up the Adriatic Highway coast road which was the most spectacular 100 miles or so I have ever driven.
Dramatic coastline, sheer drops, mountains and views across to the islands of Pag,Rab and Krk.Not sure about driving down it, as that would be on the side of the road where the drops are (and the road was unguarded in some Places) but we had a great drive.

Fairly scrubby campsite at MEDVEJA but we all turned up, Paul in pain but a few beers revived him........beers are now bought in 2 litre bottles for about £2 which seems very civilised but which don't seem to last long.

43 YEAR WAIT IS OVER

KRK TO THE LAKES.......20th

A very pleasant sojurn on the island of KRK, some interesting walks past the naturist beaches of which Croatia has a great many.....the sign for one includes the letters FKK....and our evenings have fallen into a very predictable pattern. The sunsets continue to amaze and the weather is very warm and sunny, the town of PUNAT a short walk away and is a pleasant stroll. We did intend joining one of the many cruises out to other islands but they all stopped on the Tuesay we had put aside for it which was predictable as we were leaving the following day.
Stayed on KRK from 15th-18th and then headed inland to the lakes at PLITVICA.

THE PLITVICA LAKES AND NATIONAL PARK

We first heard about the Plitvica lakes in 1969 and planned a camping trip that year to what was then Yugoslavia but events conspired against us and the adventure was postponed for 43 years as it turned out. In the meantime, the lakes became a Unesco World Heritage site, Yugoslavia disappeared, Croatia went to war with Serbia and access to the lakes was denied by the Serbs, who mined the area and murdered the workers, between 1991-995 and we had 2 children, celebrated their marriages and rejoiced in the birth of our grandsons, so a lot of water had poured over the waterfalls..........
With so much baggage I had approached a visit here with some trepidation in case it disappointed. It did not and the 43 year wait was worth it...

There are a series of 16 lakes, fed by the Karana river, which drop about 600 mtrs. through a gorge, like a series of canal locks. The make-up of the water and the limestone is a unique combination which carves out channels and caverns in the rock to produce wonderful waterfalls.  Wooden walkways allow you to cross the lakes and the walk along the lakesides and hillsides; electric boats cross one of the largest lakes and after we had spent 6 hours walking from the bottom to the top there was an electric shuttle bus to take us back to the bottom ( in hindsight, taking the shuttle to the top and walking back down would be a good option, but at least our way meant that although walking uphill we did have the waterfalls in front of us all the time.).

The lakes are a national park now so camping etc is highly restricted. The official site is expensive, large, busy,fairly naff and 7kms from the lake entrance but a shuttle of free coaches arrives at 9am to transport happy campers to the entrance returning at 5pm.. for those not wishing to spend all day, a local bus runs hourly or taxis abound.

We arrived the first day in sunshine but it rained all night, not stopping until 6.30am. We had thought that the visit would have to be postponed another day but the forcast was right and the sun came out and the heavy overnight rain meant that more water was pouring over the falls than usual, so win-win. We were well stocked up with picnics but the catering in the park was of an excellent quality and reasonable price with pig-roast and spit-roast chickens at a huge log cabin complex beside one of the lakes and geared up very professionally for the thousands of visitors......even at this time of the year there was constant stream of coaches disgorging tourists from every corner of the known globe.....I personally took many photographs for young japanese,koreans and americans as you do...but I would not like to be shuffling along in the high summer when the pictures make the crowds look unbearable......bad enough in parts in September. But a great experience and I cannot rate a visit more highly. Go see for yourselves.

Wed. the 20th was Margaret's birthday and a very pleasant evening spent at the restaurant on the campsite where we had a great meal for around a £100 for the 6 of us.

Entrance to the lakes complex was 110 Kune a head 0r £12, which included hopping on and off as many boats or buses as you liked, all of which ran constantly with little waiting about so very efficient and we all thought good value

ALL TOGETHER NOW........

NOTHING WRONG WITH LUXEMBOURG    ....  13th.SEPT 2012

It's a well known fact that fuel is cheap in the Duchy, as anyone who has queued behind 200 lorries trying to get into a Luxembourg service station will attest so any trip south benefits from including a visit.

After days of sweltering heat, copious beers and plenty of wine, we were pleasantly surprised to hear that D&M were in Trieste and closing fast.....an ambiguous text which now appears to have been truncated lead us to believe that they had postponed starting yet again due to illness in the family but this was not the case. As we had planned on moving to PULA on the wednesday, it was decided that they would go straight there and we would join them. Rovinj to Pula was only an hours drive but complicated by the necessity to find a decent supermarket as essentials (beer and wine) were running perilously low, as were luxuries like meat and veg. Croatia does not seem to have a terrific supermarket network and the local Kozumo brand is very disappointing. Pula is the largest city on the Istrian peninsular, has a major traffic problem exacerbated by a major roadwork project on the main through route and signposting to supermarkets/trading estates is abysmal. Paul has a Garmin satnav which made a political decision to ignore the existence of Croatia when we crossed the border from Slovenia so he has to follow me closely or rely on Marianne to read a map ...plus alot of new roads have appeared in Croatia since I last updated the Tomtom and in trying to avoid the roadworks in Pula central by attempting to swing round the city to enter via Pula South, the Tomtom had us in the middle of nowhere for most of the trip. The net result of all this was we got separated trying to find the local Lidl (not my favourite but the only super/m of any size) and they ended up in downtown Pula in the roadworks..........We were eventually reunited at Lidl and fully stocked found the campsite and D&M. Good site on the coast (rocky)and great views. Much rejoicing to be quorate and much beer and wine consumed to celebrate and swap stories.
Mass visit to Pula by bus to see the roman amphitheatre which was rather spoilt by it being set up for a weekend of ice-hockey (it is wonderfully preserved and in constant use as a concert venue.......flooding & freezing it for icehockey is a first but it did detract from the overall view and was somewhat bizarre).

3 nights at Pula then a short trip to the KRK on the island of the same name. D&M shot off to the Lidl for supplies whilst Paul followed me, the planned route being to take the scenic coast road (which was indeed very scenic) but he misread the signs at the first junction and managed to get on the motorway heading back to Italy. This road eventually joined up with the motorway to Rijeka so he took the long toll road through the mountains and a tunnel to meet up with us at the toll bridge to the island of KRK, 46 Kune or about £5 for a motorhome. Island not very exciting to start with but when we reached the town of KRK the views were spectacular again, and we stopped 2 nights at a campsite overlooking the town and within walking distance ( bit of a slog back though). Excellent old town, very busy, lovely harbour where we all had a riotous sunday lunch followed by much sleeping off.

On Monday a short trip PUNAT, the other side of the town of KRK to another lovely site on the waters edge of a very pretty bay surrounded by hills.

Beer has now been found to be quite cheap, especially the local Ozujsko in 2 litre bottles 5% and 22 Kune (£2.40) which disappear very rapidly. Wine is perfectly acceptable but nothing decent under £3.....the girls tried some litres of white at under £2 but were not impressed and they still have 2 litres to get through. Paul & I found a wine shop selling red wine in 5 litre plastic bottles at £2 but as they wouldn't let us try it we gave it a miss.
 

ON THE ROAD AGAIN.....

BEST LAID PLANS....ROVINJ(CROATIA)........9TH SEPTEMBER 2012

This may well ramble and be continued in several parts as I have not put finger to keyboard  since Spain in April and a lot of water has flown under the proverbial.

It's 10am, the sun is hot and the Adriatic is a lovely deep blue and I need to do some catching up.

Sitting in the pouring rain at Hamble in July with Derek & Margaret and Paul & Marianne, the idea of a late summer jaunt to Croatia for 2 months seemed very appealing and plans were best laid to leave on 22nd August. D&M were the first to fall after an operation on D's hand was postponed until 20th August but he thought he would be able to drive after a week so it was decided they would catch us up as we all had already made the ferry bookings. Of course, on Monday the 20th. August, my birthday, after the van was virtually packed and ready to roll, I discovered that I had what was later diagnosed as a kidney stone and spent 3 days in agony, in A&E and being scanned and tested. P&M meanwhile were heading across the channel blissfully unaware that we would not be joining them and Derek was being told that he would not be driving for at least 2 weeks..... first I was told that I would be ok to travel as long as i took plenty of painkillers but then the headman got on the phone and told me not to even think about it and he was so right.....but then the internet sourced old wives recipe of extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice and honey shifted my recalcitrant stone on Thursday and I was given the all clear to go...

So we waited over the Bank Holiday weekend to check that no repercussions were lurking and rebooked the ferry for the following Tuesday only to discover on the Saturday afternoon that one of our newly installed refillable LPG tanks was leaking, turning the motorhome into a potential firebomb.  2.30pm on a bank holiday weekend is not the time to discover things like this but after an hour on the phone I found a workshop at Stowmarket Caravans actually working and willing to sort the problem out immediately. By 4pm they had replaced the leaking bottle under warranty and reinstalled the previously incorrectly installed pipework.......a stiff letter was penned to the original installers with promises that the matter would be taken up when we returned in October. Crisis averted and off at 6am Tuesday and uneventful crosssing and run down to Luxembourg where we stopped overnight at an aire in the village of Redu. P&M had kicked their heels in Luxembourg for a couple of days then moved as per plan to Kayserburg in the Alsace where we caught up with them on Wednesday night sunning themselves in the large aire outside the town.
As they had been there for 4 nights we didn't  linger and set off on Thursday for Kussnacht near Lucerne where we stayed on a farm site for 2 nights in fairly torrential rain and on Saturday headed for Italy via the St.Gotthard which was unpleasant due to an hours delay as they controlled the huge flow of traffic into the tunnel from both sides and the pass being closed due to the bad weather.

Anyway finally arrived at Monzambano near Verona/lake Lugano where there is a sort of aire/mini camp site for 130 vans and which was very full. Stopped overnight and visited the local market on Sunday morning before heading to Monfalcone on the coast near Trieste which was a shortish run and leaving another short run to Croatia when we would try to avoid the Slovenian toll road that would require us buying an extortionatley priced vignette for 18 kms of Slovenian dual carriageway. Montfalcone was very busy,the weather improved considerably and we spent a pleasant 2 days exploring the cliffs  and seashore.

WE had a detailed route of how to exit the motorway after Trieste through a service station and before the Slovenian borderso that we could cross Slovenia on the backroads without the necessity of buying a vignette for the motorway. We even had photographs of the route courtesy of the internet but still managed to miss the correct turning before ending up in the docks at Trieste. However the Tomtom came up trumps, navigated us round the city to the correct road network which was identifiable by the nose to tail trucks,caravans and motorhomes all avoiding the 18 kms of motorway. Fairly slow negotiating the border into and out of Slovenia but we were in Croatia by lunchtime and found a nice but very busy campsite at Savudria on the shores of the Adriatic where we  whiled away 3 days, even cyling around the coastal paths. This part of Croatia still very Italian feeling but the coast looks like living up to reputation. Apart from Fuel which is £1.10 ltr as opposed to £1.43 in Italy, food,beer and wine do not yet look cheap but we have yet to find a large supermarket so that may change.

Moved down the coast, first stopping at Porec but the horrendously busy campsite we headed for seemed more like a Butlins and did not appeal, so on to Rovinj which is a an extremely attractive spot where we are stopping at another beachside site. A water bus runs hourly from the site to the town which is well worth several visits and we had a very pleasant lunch on the harbour on Saturday for about £30 a head.

Weather is extremely hot, the sea is wonderfully warm although the beaches so far have been extremely rocky and stoney, making access to the water a bit difficult at times. The coastline is very unspoilt although it is obvious that tourism is the mainstay of country and the natives are a very cheerful bunch who all appear to speak half a dozen languages, even in small shops. Beer is about £0.90 for a 1/2ltr bottle of 5% lager.(and they still charge a deposit on bottles and cans are much more expensive) Wine so far good, esp the merlot at £3 ......there are roadside stalls in abundance which we have not sampled yet and I think the wine may get cheaper.