Move/Prebold

NORMAL SERVICE IS RESUMED DUE TO THE TEAM NOW BEING BACK TOGETHER IN THE SAME COUNTRY.

 

Monday 13^th Aug: All change. After much discussion and communication with UK yesterday it was decided to change the itinerary to allow us to be near an international airport as well as moving south east. Out goes Croatia and in comes Slovenia, an unknown country to us but ‘hey ho’ it cannot be that bad so after a quick pack up we said goodbye to Mr Happy and hit the motorway (we had obtained an e-vignette for the Hungary part of the journey and Slovenia is closed/open type toll roads – pay at the booths). A real pleasure driving on the motorways, even if it costs ‘an arm and leg’ in Slovenia, and made really good time arriving at our  chosen site at 2pm – a bit of a surprise for both as it is a nice, quiet and small site which whilst realising ‘we are big’ they willingly accommodated us on a really nice pitch. Checked the situation in Belfast and did some more thinking during the nice sunny day with 28C temperature.

 

Slovenian Border

Slovenian Countryside

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slovenian Countryside

View of Slovenia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 14^th Aug: Settled into the site, orientated ourselves to the area, introduced ourselves to staff and fellow campers (all very friendly and from all sorts of countries) and re-assessed the situation. After much heart searching it was decided that for Linda’s peace of mind that she should go and visit her Mum. First impressions of Slovenia this site and its owners are very good and it will be an ideal place for Neil and Daisy to await her return. The weather forecast for this place is good and if today (Sunny/27C) is anything to go by should be very nice.  

 

Kamp Park Prebold

De-stressed Daisy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 15^th Aug: Spent most of the day ‘bashing’ the laptop to get some flights organised and speaking to the family in UK to arrange accommodation and transport etc. Managed to get flights sorted and Linda is to fly out tomorrow at 1650hrs and gets to Belfast at 2100hrs via Stansted. Planned the route to Ljubljana airport and planned to ‘non-toll’ road it, going over the mountain range – might as well see some of the country side at the same time. Looks like Linda may be escaping a heat wave as today was sunny and 30C.

Thursday 16^th Aug:  Last bit of shopping and pre trip admin before heading to the airport. Lovely drive there, very scenic and somewhat breathtaking in places – the roads were good as well, so Linda was not too stressed by the time we got to the airport (?). Whilst being the main Slovenian international airport, it is like the country a bit small but totally effective, so Linda got off on time with no problems. Neil had a very nervous return journey through the mountains in a major thunder storm with lightening all around – at least it cleared the air but no sooner had the rain fell than it was dry again. Needless to say Daisy freaked with the thunder, the rest of the day had been mainly sunny and 28C.

Friday 17^th Aug: A sunny start to the day and the first of a forecasted hot weather period with 31C. Linda arrived safe and sound and was really pleased that she had decided to go back to UK as her Mum is not doing too well at the moment – fingers crossed for a return to good health! Neil started the thumb twiddling wait and as the rest of the site campers are non-English/German speakers it looks like Neil will have to talk to the trees for a while, and watch all the comings and goings for entertainment.  At least this site is a nice location and the WiFi here is fairly good so Skype, email, phone & texts are possible to maintain sanity whilst Linda spends some quality time with her Mum.

Saturday/Sunday 18/19^th Aug:  Linda managed to spend both days with her Mum and the rest of the family at the rest home – some good news in that her Mum was starting to rally round a bit and is enjoying seeing everybody again but still has a way to go yet. Not much happening in Slovenia – very quiet and Neil caught up on emails, phone calls and family/general communications with both days hot and sunny 29/30C.

Monday/Tuesday 20th/21st Aug: Linda continued to visit her Mum with her sister Maureen and the news is very good as her Mum is getting much stronger, responding to the treatment and is eating much better now – hopefully the crisis is over and she will begin to return to good health YIPPEEEEE. Neil and Daisy did not allow the hot (32/33C) sunny weather to prevent them from exploring the local area on foot and found some really good walks, and Daisy’s new favourite place – the river. On our return from our walks we stroll down the pathway besides the river and we have to physically check out the water, Daisy loves a quick swim and cool down time in the river and then just loves to cover Neil in water when she shakes herself dry. Some UK communications, Terry rang to tell us that he had been appointed as the manager of the company’s flagship store, Neil gave Linda a shopping list to bring back and late on Tuesday Linda decided that she could come back on Friday 25^th.

Sempeter Area Slovenia

Savinjske Alps - Slovenia

 

 

 

Daisy - chilling

River Savinja - Kamp Park 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Wednesday/Thursday 22^nd/23^rd Aug: Linda and Maureen had a firsthand taste of NI public transport and had a return journey from the rest home to her brother’s house that took 3 hours and all for £12.00 each –not impressed but a bit of an adventure. The improvement in Linda’s Mum continues and both days visits were heartening as she showed some signs of her old self. The laptop took another bashing and flights were arranged/booked for Friday, Neil realised he had better get a move on and tidy up the RV before she returns – all those parties you know, not. Neil did find out that there is supposed to be a local golf course (?) a few kms away so decided to check it out on the Thursday – whoops, not golf course but a farmer’s field with 6 flags/holes in it. It was an experience having to play around the crops, putt on a dirt surface with a few tufts of grass and cope with the longest hole of 130m and shortest one of 45m but at least it got him swinging (no not the way!). True to form whilst playing it RAINED! It was a quick thunder storm with some ‘stair rod’ rain but with a 28C temperature – a bit different from Wednesday’s sunny 35C.

Zalec Golf Club (?)

 

Friday 24^th Aug: Early starts to the day, Neil to panic housework the RV and Linda to get to the airport for her flight – not so rushed this time with leaving Belfast at 0940hrs, in to Stansted at 1055hrs, leave Stansted 1315hrs and get to Ljubljana at 1625 hrs. Due to Neil’s shopping list an extra case was needed so one was borrowed from her brother; guess he can always collect it from us in Tuscany? Linda had a quick visit to the Duty Free, which was a bit of a waste of time as the prices were the same as here but at least we have some more essential supplies for the tour. Neil & Daisy got to the airport safely in time to pick up Linda (almost literally due to the sudden return to brilliant sun and 34C) and then returned to the site to have a pizza for the evening meal – please note one between us NOT one each. With the team back together again we can now start to plan our future adventures/travels, after of course Linda has a rest/acclimatisation period (translated means washing, ironing and housework).



Mmmm Pizza

    

Nove Mesto nad Vahom/Move/Budapest

Wednesday 8^th Aug: Definitely a rest and unwind day with some admin, first job was to of course comply with our Toll Police observations and get a sticker for the trailer – another 10 Euros to the Slovakian economy. A quick tour round the site confirmed that we are at a Leisure Site with some water sports facilities and it must have been very busy and nice in its day – a bit tired now though but suitable for our quick stop over. Local area look see included the town which was surprisingly large and Trencin. Touched base with family to confirm we are OK and our spirits are somewhat lifted – onwards and upwards with a stiff upper lip! Nice sunny 27C day.

Zelena Voda Site Slovakia

Zelena Voda Site Slovakia

Thursday 9^th Aug: Took the opportunity to visit Bratislava (had to get our value out of these tolls vignettes) and really was grateful we had decided to include it in our itinerary. Safe trip into the city and successfully found a safe parking garage near the areas we wanted to see (the list had been reduced a bit as it was a HOT day and we did not want to tax ourselves too much). Bratislava is a really nice city with an incredible history and is uniquely placed for one to see 3 different countries over the Danube from a window in the castle. We had a good look round which included lunch at cafe established in 1878 in the old market square and then headed back to the campsite – once again in awe of more new visual experiences. As mentioned a bright and sunny day with 30C.

Primatial Palace Bratislava

Old Market Square Bratislava

On top of the world Bratislava

Over the Danube from
Bratislava castle

Batislava Castle

Friday 10^th Aug: A quick pack up for the move to Hungary and ‘on the road again’. When we pulled in for our normal ‘anything hanging off’ check we had another Slovakian Toll Police check (they certainly earn their money) which resulted in another long discussion and head scratching and would you believe it, Neil won! So once again we set off for Hungary who have a wonderful toll system, you just go online, fill in your details/dates, pay by card (a lot less than Slovakia I might add) and they send you an email back with your vignette for the journey – easy peasy. Things going too well so back to earth with a bump and the site who had agreed to take us were much smaller than our back garden! “Whoops you are big, sorry”. They did however redirect us to a site on the outskirts of Budapest but did not mention the owners doom and gloom demeanour and strict business manner (big RV so must have money so charge for 2 pitches) – hence our decisions to only stay 3 nights. The site probably used to be very nice but is definitely in its twilight years with very little attempt/enthusiasm to recapture its previous standards, but it is a secure ‘port’. Guess what? We had our first face to face contact with fellow Brits since we left; a nice couple with a black lab (Andy, Kate & Eva) – they even came from Halifax in God’s county. Good excuse (if needed) to open a bottle of wine and have a natter after an up and down day with sunny and cloudy 26C weather.

Saturday 11^th Aug: Wow, last night we had to put a blanket on the bed it was freezing at 16C. During last night’s social activities we had agreed to dog sit Eva whilst Andy and Kate visited Budapest so this enabled us to rest up, think through and organise our trip to Budapest and eventually Slovenia (more different toll systems to find about and sort out). A quiet, sunny with a bit of cloud and 24C day was concluded with a chat and wine with our fellow Brits before their departure the next day.

Dog sitting, Daisy & Eva.

Sunday 12^th Aug: The Glorious 12^th! Happy Anniversary Sandra & Jon who have swapped English rain for Spanish rain. Drove into Budapest on the A road (prevented yet another toll) and Mr Tom Tom successfully got us to a safe parking garage just at the foot of the Buda mountain table area (we have taken to using this more expensive form of parking to ensure car safety and no wheel clamping). Neil did not win anymore popularity with Linda and it was up 191 steps to the castle area – well worth it for the spectacular view over the Danube into Pest. Lots of recently renovated historical buildings and much more work being completed on the old castle ruined foundations. Of course we were put back in our place with everybody fussing over the DOG! She must have had her photo taken 10 to 20 times and everybody wanted to pet her, she did look the part with her cold water soaked red neckerchief round her neck. Had a pleasant snack outside the Hungarian National Gallery before heading down the steps to the car, we had seen most of Pest’s sights from the viewpoints on top of the mountain table so decided to cut short and get some pre move packing done. On the way back to the site we popped into the local B&Q equivalent to get a replacement fire extinguisher – used the other one on the trailer debacle  A bit changeable weather wise with sun, cloud, 27C and some light rain in the evening. We had to make some more home phone calls as Linda’s mum is not too well at the moment, so we are a bit worried but at the moment hopefully and with fingers crossed she will rally around and improve a bit.

St Matthias Church Budapest

River Danube Budapest

The Chain Bridge
Budapest

Houses of Parliament
Budapest

The Fishermen's Bastion
Budapest



Hunting Statue
National Gallery
Budapest

Makow Podhalanski/Move

Thursday 2^nd Aug: Happy Birthday Neil! No crisis’s or work planned for today as Neil’s blood pressure needs to be reduced somewhat, so we ‘took stock of our situation’, contemplated what to do and then hid all matches and sharp implements. Linda who managed to keep Neil going somehow throughout the ‘Hell’ deserved a treat so it was off to the hairdresser for her (easily pleased), after much sign language she came out looking her normal ravishing self – all for 30zloty (about £6.00). Did a bit of repairs required assessment and made a list of requirements, nothing too major needed, mainly time consuming work required. Decided to double up tasks and go shopping for bits in Krakow and also see the sights tomorrow. Spent the afternoon sitting beside the stream at the back of the camp ‘sipping’ and looking at the scenery/mountains then in the evening we had a pleasant social interlude with 2 Dutch campers who spoke perfect English and concurred with our opinions of Polish roads and drivers. Nice sunny day with 32C.

Jazy (real name) Campsite

Our own Stream

Start of the Carpathian Mts

Friday 3^rd Aug: Nice slow start and off to Krakow which was only one hour away, got all the bits from the equivalent to B&Q over here and were parked up in the city centre for 1130hrs. Yet again, a nice beautiful old city with lots of history and very interesting buildings; which we thoroughly enjoyed albeit that we could not go in to the Wawell Castle/Krakow Cathedral due to no dogs allowed. Due to the fast rising temperature we decided to limit our ‘walkabout’ to 4 hours as it is not fair on Daisy. From the castle we headed down to the Jewish quarter which was very eye opening, then up to St Peter and St Paul’s church, the Market Square, the Cloth Hall and numerous other places on the way. Whilst in the market square some youngsters worked the water pump for Daisy and she just laid there in the very cold jet of water before of course wanting to chase the pigeons. Needless to say Daisy took all the attention, AGAIN! and we ended up speaking to a couple from Vancouver who thought she was just great. We got back to the car just under the 4 hours and cranked the AC up to full to compensate for very humid 34C. We got back to the site to find a French couple in a camper in need of a pullout from some soft ground so obviously obliged with super Jazz.

Wawell Castle & Krakow Cathedral

Main Market Square Krakow

These 2 turn up everywhere

The Cloth Hall Krakow

St Mary's Church Krakow

Saturday 4^th Aug: Great a cooler day, just right for the RV work – fortunately not many people around to get annoyed from the noise, but just enough to come and watch/offer advice/help. Got a good start and after lots of skinned knuckles, swear words and sweat the trailer was completed and the RV nearly complete – then the owner came over to help. He spoke no English or German but was a great help with tools (he had bigger hammers) and assistance so the RV is back in roadworthy and presentable ish state. Just need to titivate tomorrow. Had an impromptu visit/social with the French couple who were joined by a Dutch couple – the beast certainly creates interest. Slightly dull day with 26C. 

Sunday 5th Aug: Finished off the RV in between rain showers and 27C and if I do say so myself it looks good as new ISH! For those asking - no photographs were taken or allowed to protect the innocent. Back on the road again so a heavy weight has been lifted off our shoulders, mind you we are both now 2ft 6inch tall.

Monday 6th Aug: Pre trip shopping and packing, a quick look round the local area and a recce of the route out and for a filling station. All tasks achieved satisfactory so had an easy evening with some final route planning and toll estimating, eventually spent over an hour on the toll problem (including using our hosts personal computer to access the Internet). I even phoned the Helpline to confirm that toll applicability for us and they confirmed it as being correct so was finally confident that we had it right despite some very unhelpful Slovakian Toll websites! Very sunny, humid and 33C day.

Tuesday 7th Aug: Final packing and loading went well and it was off to Slovakia at 0915hrs after topping up our LPG at just over 50p a litre. Just for Poland to say farewell to us the roads to the the border were of normal Polish standards - sorry substandard! First bit of the route in Slovakia was a bit better and after getting our vignette (toll stickers) at the border we then hit the toll motorway - heaven. The further we went into Slovakia the more of the Carpathian mountains we saw and climbed (the 'Beast' did us proud and hardly noticed the hills), all going well until just short of our motorway exit and we were flagged down by the local constabulary (evening all) for a documents etc check. I was fairly confident that all was well until he mentioned that  we should have another separate vignette sticker for the trailer - seems like this toll business is a method of increasing national income, with each country being different and more complicated. When questioned about the website and helpline he mentioned that it is very confusing and they have problems understanding it - fancy that! Anyway he was very understanding and allowed us to proceed AFTER a 20 Euro penalty (the minimum penalty) was paid and we agreed to get a sticker at the next filling station. Arrived at Campsite Zelena Voda without any other occurrences and set up with no problems, the site is large, basic and secure and will do us for a few days - especially at 10.80 Euros (about £8.78 a night) with free WiFi. Weather still Hot Hot Hot and the day was sunny and 32C.


Carpathians everywhere

Look no Yorkie bar!

Jelenia Gora/Move

DELAY IN POSTS DUE TO A PERIOD OF NO INTERNET.

Friday 27^th Jul: Still in the heat wave so we decided to have a mooch day and watch the world go by. Did another route check and found out that the flood damaged bridge has still not been reopened for heavy vehicles – but it is planned to close it completely this weekend and complete the repairs. Hopefully the totally repaired bridge will be open on Monday so we have decided to delay our departure as using the bridge will save us 70 miles and Neil’s ears from Linda’s ‘complementary’ comments about Poland’s B roads!  The day was a clear, sunny and hot (34C) day so it was a good job we had nothing too strenuous planned.

Saturday 28^th Jul: Had to rearrange the outline plan to accommodate the new departure date, site bookings and recalculate/organise toll charges. Lots of head scratching/splinters as the websites are as clear as mud and even our hosts could not make sense of the procedures, at least in Poland most tolls can be paid at the toll booths so we will just have to see. Still having hot, sunny weather (36C) but fortunately we had a thunder storm and rain later in the day which cleared the humidity and the air somewhat.

Sunday 29^th Jul: Awoke to a much fresher and cooler morning, terrible that we are now too hot at times but fortunately the AC is available for the really bad days. Another rest type day with a short walk around the local park area and completed ‘touch base’ with the normal (?) people in UK and Canada. Really nice that everybody is interested in our trip and wishing us the best. Cool (26C) day with more heavy rain later in the day – funny but very shortly after the rain storms the place is dry again very quickly.

Monday 30^th Jul: WAIT Day! We should have been moving by now but by waiting for the bridge we will suffer less physiological problems. With the past heat wave Neil decided to try a No 3 haircut – wow, too short. At least we know what he will look like when he is bald. Final Tesco shopping and took a trip to see if the bridge was on schedule (yes) then returned to finalise our pack up and ready for move preparations. Plan to move tomorrow so said our farewells and settled the bill, very reasonable so hopefully an early start tomorrow, a nice sunny 27C day.

Whoops! A bit too short, we can see the wood.

Tuesday 31^st Jul: Early start achieved and left at 0715hrs.

Those people with a delicate disposition should stop reading now – our first major crisis day and a half!!!

The emergency brake cable must have become snagged on one of the tow bar bolts and when we negotiated a tight turn applied the brakes. Of course ‘the beast’ did not even notice that the trailer was loaded and had its brakes on. Do not know how long we drove with the brakes on however after about an hour, whilst near Strzegom, the heat generated by the brakes burning out blew all 4 tyres - *!*!***! or better still SHIT! Managed to get off the road and onto a safe place to assess the damage – 4 tyres and a complete brake set required and we were miles from any major towns. Unloaded car and went in search of bits and after trawling Breslau returned to the mess and 5 hours later we were back on the road again to see if we could get a rest place for the night. Nice surprise (not) as one of the new tolls (Breslau to Gliwice) had just opened, so we got our ticket and was told to pay on our exit from the motorway/sector We were a bit late in stopping so all the good places were full and eventually we stopped at a big NOISY motorway service station/McDonalds some 16 hours after setting off. A bright, sunny and fairly hot day however the intensity of the days temperature was greatly exceeded by Neil’s temperament!

Wednesday 1^st Aug: Obviously we did not get a good night’s rest and had a slow start to the day – after final trailer checks we started off for our next site. Arrived at the Gliwice toll booth and paid our toll (16.20 zloty about £3.50 for 162 km). Exited the motorway onto what was shown as a major ‘A’ road – NOT! and had great fun negotiating the substandard ‘highway’. Crisis number 2 then struck!  Linda will someday explain about the road signage (or lack of it) over here and due to a road closure sign on a road that was not closed we had to do a very tight turn round, not helped by exhaustion, lack of concentration and being really p.....d off - so the R/H/R of the beast and R/H/F of the trailer was ‘dunched’! *!*!***! or better still SHIT again!  Finally got to the site at Makow Podhalanski, which did tend to raise moral a bit as whilst being a small old site it is beautifully located at the foot of the Carpathian mountain range and only has a few other occupants on it – down side though is no internet and challenge is no English speaking staff. The weather was nice, dry and sunny with about 28C. We of course was very down and needed all our inner reserves not to 'Endex' (army term for ending an event), our first real test of bad luck so cannot really complain after 66 days adventures. Nice lead up up to someones birthday! 

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