Our Eastern Europe jaunt 2018

Wednesday 25th April. The car park for Postojna Caves had a campervans area with water and mains hook up. So we were able to get into the caves for a reasonably early tour commencing at 11.00. We were in the English-speaking group which was almost exclusively Chinese although many of them were obviously American Asian and there were a few Indian Asian there as well. We boarded a narrow-gauge railway with an electric engine which took us 4km into the cave system through natural tunnels, caverns and some man-made tunnels. We then had a 30-minute tour around some vast caverns with a spectacular array of stalactites / stalagmites of every shape and size. Although much more in quantity then Cheddar there was not the same colouration due to the mineral content being mainly ferrous and aluma giving the formations a rusty or black colouration. When we left the caves, we tried to find out information about bear sighting trips. In this area the European Brown Bear has been saved from extinction ...

Tuesday 24th April. Camped by another crystal clear river with chaps fishing along the banks. Awoke to Church bells ringing at 7am [they seem to like ringing the bells in Slovenia – I hear them again now at 7pm!] Had breakfast then discovered water all over the floor which meant the pipe under the sink was leaking! Nothing could be done until jubilee clips were purchased so turned off pump and set off on bikes to discover the lake. So lovely cycling along by the beautiful river with pretty woodland flowers, little bridges and the sun shining between the trees which are every shade of green. Lake Bohinj although nice is quite ordinary compared to Bled. On the way back we cycled through lush green meadows with random stacks of wood in peoples’ yards and in the fields. More than half of Slovenia is covered by forest and saw mills are plentiful. Neil purchased jubilee clips then we drove southwards over the Julien alps which were spectacular if a bit scary in places. A fare amount ...

Monday 23rd April. Today’s challenge was a walk up to the Vintgar Gorge. We were told that the gorge was closed but we were able to walk down into the gorge and watch a helicopter using a winch to bring materials to a construction site where they were rebuilding a bridge that linked over the river. We enjoyed a coffee and watched the activity. On arrival back at the Bled Camp Site we went of to Radovljica the sweetest town in Slovenia – more superlatives. It is apparently the centre of chocolate making and honey production in the country. After a few testing routes around the town no problems for a extra blue Mercedes Sprinter we parked a found a charming small town centre no evidence of chocolatiers some shops selling a variety of honey and the evidence that we had just missed the Chocolate Festival finished yesterday dream on E.R. From Bled we went on to Lake Bohinj apparently the less well known contender to Lake Bled’s notoriety.

Saturday 21st April. Our aim today was Lake Bled in the Julian Alps. On the way we dropped in at Celjé a small Slovenian Town with a partially restored castle, and a compact historical town centre. The castle built on top of a rocky escarpment claims to have been the largest in Slovenia was constructed by a local Counts and Dukes who apparently gave the Hapsburgs a run for their money and earnt their place in Slovenian history. We failed to find the footpath up to the castle, probably just as well with temperatures nudging past the mid-twenties. In the town centre we were told that the neighbouring village of Laski was a place to go and take the waters, Slovenia’s only hot spring, it seems they seem to go for the biggest the best or the unique in their descriptions of things and places. We duly entered Laski in the GPS and ended up a few miles away up the mountain above a steel reclamation plant. We didn’t find the spring but did see an interesting apiary with multiple hives in one br...

Thursday 19th April. Onwards and upwards, we decided that today was going to be a determined day of driving so we packed and were on the road by 08.00 and avoided paying the day rate for the car park. Our good intentions were thwarted by the Germans, they are obviously making the most of our contribution to the EU and rebuilding their entire autobahn system, well that is what it seemed to us! Finally made Salzburg and found a camp site. We took the bus into the city centre but by this time the museums and Mozart’s house were all closed. We enjoyed walking around the old city and along the river and decided that we would bus back to campsite and eat in the adjacent hotel. The flaw in this plan was that we knew we had to catch bus 21 but I thought it’s route was just out from the city centre past our camp site. Wrong it runs from north of the city through the centre and then southwards. We ended up going on route 21 in the wrong direction, however the helpful bus driver didn’t just dump...

Sunday 15 th April. Finally packed and away from Taunton at 15.30. Miserable weather and heavy traffic on A303. Arrived at our overnight stay on a farm “CL” in Postling, Kent at 20.45. We then found a pub in the next village called The Drum Inn and were lucky enough to get an after hours meal. Monday 16 th April.   Add caption We go up at 06.30 as we were due to take the Euro Tunnel departing at 08.20 but our camp site as it turned out was literally only a 5 minute drive away. This was our first experience of the Chunnel and it is certainly a speedy and efficient way of crossing the channel. However bearing in mind the time it takes to get to Folkstone and the fact that it is an experience not to different from travelling from Hampstead to Leicester Square on the Northern Line the Romance of a sailing away on your holiday wins hands down. Brittany Ferries and the French have won again. Having arrived in Calais we made our way to Ypres but had a sma...

2 days ago we finally got the camper back from the body shop now thoroughly de-rusted and painted a distinctive blue. Now it actually seems we will be on our way.