Places

14
Sep
2022

Excelled Myself Today

I’m looking forward to just sitting in one place for at least half of tomorrow, whilst driving the van across Austria and into south Germany. Today has seen an extraordinary hive of activity reminiscent of my brother-in-law.

Encouraged by my now-long-gone neighbours from Grimsargh – Gill and Greg – with whom I spent an enjoyable couple of hours last night chatting about the Longridge Aldi and the like, I did indeed get the SUP board out this morning.

That plus the 20 minutes pumping it up could be seen as exercise enough, but I then got on the lake under the blue sky and sun – all perfect for the activity – well before 10:00am. As I gracefully stood up and paddled up to the island, I realised that I was still listening to the R4 Today programme. I suddenly became aware of the incongruity of my happy – in beautiful surroundings, peace and quiet on the lake -pootling, whilst snorting at Nick Robinson’s interview with the latest Russian media mouthpiece, as he danced on a pin re the latest news of significant defeat. Now he insisted that the Russians would potentially need to step up their activity to liberate the Ukrainians from the US & UK occupation – or words/sentiments to that effect.

My age must tell, in that I am always incredulous at the “up is down”, “black is white” varieties of ‘truth’ out there, and how people can be so invested in their conspiracy beliefs, that they prefer not to apply their own brain power but hand it over to those who claim omnipotence. That’s Group a) anyway. Group b) know exactly what they are doing in their support of the omnipotent naked emperors. But how do they live with themselves suspending their consciences, as they continue to peddle lies to Group a), that can and are leading literally to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths. And while all this fiddling goes on, Rome burns.

I switched it off. My mission was to be actively immersed in the surroundings above the board and take a selfie to prove that the prowess happened. This however is no easy task given that I also have to swap my sunglasses for my reading glasses to be able to operate the camera; the phone has to come out of its protective case and risk being lost to the deep, which would be a catastrophe. The photos below do show some limited evidence of me standing up on the board, and then reverting to kayaking position photos as my left knee had had enough by then. I did kayak over to the other side of the lake and back again, and Google timeline calls that 2.9 miles walking.

Revived by a coffee back at the van and having re-packed the sup board, i set off on the bike for the nearby town of Radovljika. This was also recommended for its medieval centre, and it was worth the 15 mile ride still in sunshine under the blue sky.

  • This beautiful building contained the music school and scales by clarinet were drifting out through the windows.

Posted by admin in Cities-Towns, Equipment, Places, Slovenia
11
Sep
2022

Lake Bled & Slovenia – ticking the boxes

It is interesting to me that I was so focussed on reaching Croatia that I had no intention of stopping on the way down in Slovenia nor was I considering it for the way back. This was despite journey account articles ripped out of the likes of Motorhome Monthly Mag (MMM) and brought with me, with titles such as ‘Heavenly Pursuits’, ‘Fall in love with Slovenia’, “Why We Love Slovenia”.

Deciding to pursue roughly the same route back, and Lake Bled being more or less on that route, I followed the accounts and latest review recommendations to book 2 nights at Camping Bled. I have just booked a 3rd night given a ‘little rain'(as in not really, but in the mountains can be variable) forecast.

The location ticks all boxes, altho’ the mountain weather is very influential on this, and the site likewise with the exception of a wifi provision which won’t allow me to stream to my firestick for film watching. My mobile data allowance has refreshed again, and altho’ the signal is not great, in a certain positioning of the phone, I managed to get enough signal to do the streaming. EE is also not applying roaming charges, and I can get a month’s worth of 50Gb if needed for £30 ish.

What are my boxes then, after 12 years of this roaming by campervan, with much of the last 5 years of trips alone? A beautiful location; a ‘happening, non-kiss-me-quick (British culture knowledge needed to get the drift of that phrase) town/city’ nearby so I can cycle/public transport to it easily; with peace and quiet though, a short distance from it; cycle ways, and walking easily accessible; clean, functioning toilet block – doesn’t have to be state of the art/renewed; respectful, considerate campsite culture; sufficient internet connection for streaming; pricing recognising that single people use less electricity, hot water etc than 2.

Having hardly seen a british-plated vehicle outside of France up-to-now, there are significant numbers of british motorhomes here – two groups, one british Adria owners group, and a CaMH group, but they are all together in specific parts of the campsite. I was made aware of this by my cross-the-campsite-road neighbours who I saw had a british van, and in conversation with them found out they were from Grimsargh of all places which is near my home town of Preston, and the house of my mum’s partner’s in Longridge.

Here’s my pitch – using my solar panels, and avoiding elec. charges, whilst I write this post.

This morning I have gone out and about, e-biking 12 miles up and down with glee in this area of Slovenia – its only national park called Triglavski Narodni.

Having taken seriously now those articles, I would love to come back and spend more than just 2.5 days in Slovenia. It even has abit of the Adriatic coast. More photos of the lake to come …

Posted by admin in Slovenia, The Good
08
Sep
2022

Digital Nomadery & Trogir

3 days work has been completed from the inside of my over-heated metal box, given temperatures of late 20s to 30 degrees outside. I have taken the suggestion of a friend to do some paddle-boarding before! work given that we are an hour ahead of the UK, the sea is beautiful and calm and the beaches empty, so no-one needs to see my unsteady attempts to do the stand-up thing rather than reverting to kayak mode.

I have also taken the opportunity of cooling off at lunchtime by diving off the rocks at the beach, spending 20 minutes or so there, before returning back to my desk.

After work yesterday I cycled to Trogir and the medieval walled centre was worth the visit. Full of restaurants and cafes in amongst the narrow little streets, and very slippy, shiny paving stones, worn down by so many feet over the years.

It is a beautiful spot, and the weather is perfect for being outside, but working?…. As this same friend commented about possible difficulties with focussing on work from such a holiday setting, tbh I am finding combining the two abit of a challenge. I can focus on the work, it’s more the fact that I can’t enjoy this location in the way I thought I would be able to. Consequently I am now contemplating heading home sooner than I had intended. My next task will be to decide on the route back, whether I will stay somewhere halfway for a few days, and to not combine work with driving slowly but surely north. Fortunately the project I am contracted to is in a bit of a waiting for decisions from elsewhere phase, so deadlines are not in place. From the employer’s perspective, if I don’t work, they don’t pay me, so given these two factors, I have flexibility.

Posted by admin in Croatia, Musings
04
Sep
2022

Labadusa/Duga Beaches via SUP Board

I must recommend my new toy and the beaches and inlets round this spot are perfect for it. It is a 500m walk from my pitch which doesn’t seem far, but it is quite a load to carry. The model I selected is great – it has a kayak seat, paddle holders, bottle holder and waterproof bag for the mobile, and also a shoulder strap, and I have used all of these. In fact will be taking some ibuprofen shortly for overuse of my shoulders and arms. The only negative was the oar which came with the board, with a plastic joining piece snapping on the first use back in the UK. So got an easy refund from the supplier, and bought another, which is holding up so far, but will need some electrical taping for the standup handle to fit more tightly. The reviews indicated that this would be the case, but it seemed the best one for the price, so at least no surprise, and I think I will end up using it in kayaking mode more anyway which is fine. The board is fantastic for kayaking on these calm sea waters, and today I tried the stand-up bit, which will take abit more practice, but I did manage to get from kneeling to standing and paddle back to shore without falling in.

Two kayakers came paddling by today, and in our on-the-water conversation I found out that they were young British women, one of whom had cycled from the UK to Croatia with her boyfriend – took them 4 months – gauntlet there for my Folkestone to Rome cycling buddies – being visited by her friend, as the boyfriend had flown back to the UK for a wedding. They were doing a 4-day kayaking tour of the coasts and islands from Split, using the company ‘Red Adventures’, wild-camping along the way. I love such meetings. 🙂

There they go into the distance, on their 17km day’s sailing

Tomorrow is back to work Monday, following the lovely beach day I’ve had today. It’s a very laid-back relaxed place here – only the campsite + some lovely beach bars and restaurant or two. Mostly German holiday-makers, but other nationalities and their languages come and go, including Belgian, Dutch, Slovenian, Polish, Italian, French. A variety of ages, with still a few German school-age children. Apologies if my subject intermingling annoys. I am aware I’m doing it, but quite like recording other bits and pieces through minor meanderings back to the main paragraph topic ……… The internet connection via the campsite’s wifi is enabling me to stream stuff to my firestick, and I’ve done a test with a Messenger video call, so fingers crossed and tonight’s activity is setting up my work desk with my large monitor etc.

But I must include my hunted-down dessert which it’s now time for – the Croatian equivalent of a custard slice/bienenstick/milles-feuilles, with a layer of marshmallow underneath the pastry. I found one in a Zagreb cafe, then saw 2-days worth in Lidl. It’s called a ‘KremÅ¡nite’.

The weather forecast is warm all week, with rain from Thursday, so after work activities will be paddling, and a cycle ride to Trogir which is about 7 kms – hilly, but not a problem on my e-bike.

Posted by admin in Croatia, Equipment, Meetings - the non-work sort
02
Sep
2022

Destination Okrug Gornji (Trogir, near Split)

This is my second night at a campsite which was not my target, and I’m very glad that my target did not have a spare pitch. It is on the main drag of Okrug Gornji which even on a second drive (or cycle) by seems somewhat reminiscent of what I remember of Ipsos in Corfu, when I was there at age 27! Definitely more a club 18-30 vibe than the silver surfer’s peace, tranquility and beautiful location I’m after. Actually I don’t think I was ever interested in club 18-30s anyway, let’s not load this onto silver surfdom. To be fair, the recommendations from two of my favourite motorhome bloggers, come from April/May, when there would be just far less people.

So my first night found me on a significant sloping pitch downwards to the electrical point hub, without any other way of positioning, next to a toilet block, where the washing up sinks had a balcony view of my side door and sitting area. Even putting the awning out ‘low’ and pegging one or two towels strategically to it didn’t quite afford me the visual privacy I was seeking, never mind the aural assault from showers, fans, dishes, cleaning, and constant electrical humming. But look at the beaches at sunset, a stone’s throw away:

and not to mention the very good wifi that enabled me to watch british stuff for the first time in a week. My mobile data solution is not quite resolved yet. And while I’m on practical subjects, in addition to language difficulties, am also currency challenged, with roughly 11 Kuna to the pound, or 7K to the euro. It’s bad enough needing my glasses to recognise Euro coins in my purse, never mind now Kuna/Lipa.

Today one moved as lots of people vacated their much more suitable pitches. And the SUP board and new oar came out. SUCCESS. Tried to post real video evidence taken at great risk to my phone, altho I was in kayak mode, not standing. Video playback seems too slow, so have removed for now.

Posted by admin in Croatia, Places
02
Sep
2022

Mreznicki Brig & Zagreb

Based on recommendations, I decided to stay for two nights at a campsite on this lovely river in the north of Croatia near the tourist town of Duga Resa, and the larger town of Karlovac.

The water is so clear and although there are reeds in certain areas, the rest of it isn’t dark and murky. People were swimming, paddle-boarding and generally enjoying the river, with the campsite on its bank beyond this restaurant.

I was still determined to take the train from the local middle-of nowhere station, ‘Bellavici’ to the capital, and spend 5 hours there until I could catch the first return train which stopped at the same. I have really felt very exposed re having zero knowledge of the language, particularly given my tremendous difficulty in storing to memory and then recalling commonplace Ukrainian words. This linguist is not as good as she thought she was, if she ever was! At least I have a better understanding for others attempting to travel even in France, Spain and the like.

The pictures below show that the train did duly arrive, I enjoyed traipsing all round the city and felt it to be a ‘friendly place with a Germanic ‘look’. Determining which return train I should get, giving myself plenty of time in advance, was less than straightforward, as Bellavici did not appear on any timetables, and one station guard I asked didn’t ‘know’ of it. I obviously got back ok not without planning various contingencies, given the train journey was approx 1.25 hours, so it was a good way from the capital.

A quick conversation with 2 german women brought a recommendation for Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia which I might visit on the way back, and then we unexpectedly came upon some characters from the 1920s, who were in the midst of filming season two of Hotel Portofino. I thought I fit in very well with their outfits, having my ‘city visiting in the heat’ uniform on.

Day 3 of Croatia, and I forgot to record the lovely high hill countryside the A1 direction Split went through despite the drizzle then heavy rain taking the temperature down to 14deg. Again going across impressive viaducts, gorges and straight through mountain tunnels. And then we popped out of a very high, long tunnel into what seemed like a different climate zone – more now like Almeria in Spain – scrub and those mediterranean forest-type trees. Very little evidence of significant towns, or commerce/industry. I decided to make an attempt to get LPG (only one of my nemeses, and the subject of previous posts) given that at one service station I had observed that self-service wasn’t allowed. Result. All I now had to do was engage an attendant with enough patience and English to find which of my adaptors would do the job. I did find one such young man, and hurrah – the French adaptor works in Croatia – so full gas was restored. In conversation with him, he said that Croatia was not a good place to live, as salaries were too low and prices too high. From my limited checking, it would seem that prices are very similar to in the UK, so if their salaries are well down, then they must find things very difficult. I recollect reading an article recently about rising nostalgia for the former communist rule in Eastern European countries, due to similar perceptions.

Posted by admin in Croatia, Places