Croatia Trip September 2015 Post 5

Hi all, I was not very happy with the look of my previous posts which I prepared off-line then emailed to the blog when I got an internet connection and had to go back in when I could get properly online to add photos not very successfully like last time. So as we have good Wi-Fi connection where we are now I have searched to find what others do and found some new Blogging Software which allows me to work offline just the same but insert pictures and format the post properly. It also uses the Microsoft spell checker so hopefully I won’t get the typos so much. But it does have to be done on the laptop rather than the iPod so not quite so convenient.Hopefully it will post this blog properly, let me know if it seems better.
Day 17 Friday 25/09/2015 – 93,519 on Speedo 
Well, what a night! Thunder lightening and rain by the bucket load. It really sounded like a thousand seagulls doing a tap dance on the roof. We really felt for the couple in a little pop-up VW van next to us and even more four the youngsters in tents at the other end of the site.
After a fitful nights sleep, at least for Judy (Steve could sleep through a battle!) we awoke to a fine morning. The site owner had suggested we catch the bus to visit Kotor but we decided to drive and take a chance on being able to park so that we could move along in the country. Montenegro uses the Euro and luckily we just had enough left after paying for our boat trip in Euros at the last site, as he needed cash to pay the boat man for us rather than a credit card which we used for the camping charge because we were getting low on Croatian Kuna.
Well we arrived in Kotor and parking looked a nightmare on the approach road. Then suddenly we saw the enormous streamlined bow of a cruise liner which appeared to be right across the road. In fact the road bent round to the left leaving the liner parallel to the road but very very close. We carried on through the town with the Old City walls on our left then found a large parking area outside the cemetery which was ideal and a lot less likely to get the van bumped and free so time wasn’t an issue ok about three quarters of a mile walk but good exercise for us.

While walking back to the town we could plainly see a mini Wall of China snaking up the very nearly vertical mountain. I wouldn’t have thought that they had any fear of attack from that side but there was a fort at the top so perhaps it was needed in medieval times. There was also on the other side a walkway along the wall, right up to the fort, perhaps with a wonderful view but we left that to the people from the cruse. The Old Fortified Town was nice but very many people and tours. But we had a walk around and found a cash machine to get some more Euros and a mini market for some shopping..

From Kotor we worked our way along the beautiful coast road clinging to the edge of the cliff the same as in Croatia. We were heading for Podgorica where our database showed there was camping of some kind, sites in Montenegro did seem few and far between. We had the choice of the new toll tunnel under the mountains or the the old road over the mountains. Steve decided on the old road which was spectacular, quite a climb and hundreds of wiggles but beautiful scenery. We were very glad of our special magnetic braking system on the very steep descents, without it the brakes would have been very hot indeed. As we drove over the top of the mountain the view of the enormous Skadar Lake half of which is in Albania and the Skadar national park .was breath-taking. The road was quite bumpy so well  done to Judy for getting pictures as good  as she did at the same time as hanging on for dear life. At the bottom we actually drove across a long bridge across the lake. then onwards to Podgorica and our stop for the night. Which was outside a truckers hotel, Fairly basic but it had electric and showers and toilets although we didn’t check those as we don’t need them.
Stopped at 17;30 - 93643 – 124 km today – Hostel Izvor - 42.48373N, 1819.30634E
Day 18 Saturday 26/09/2015 – 93643 on Speedo
We left Hostel Izvor at 09:00 a quiet night once the nearby railway had stopped for the night at about 10pm. The temperature was a bit lower that we had become used to. We decided to head back towards Dubrovnik by heading north west via Niksic so we could see a bit more of the Montenegro countryside which also would mean a good stretch of Bosnia rather than the few kilometre corridor we had passed through heading south to Dubrovnik. That little corridor is a bit strange, most Brits going through it have to take a chance driving without insurance as the UK insurers will not cover Bosnia, we hear that occasionally the Bosnian Police will pull a tourist over but most of the time turn a blind eye.
Passing through Podgorica we saw an amazing shopping centre with all the top names including M&S but it didn’t open till 10:00 so we drove on, shame because it would have been interesting to see but we had quite a bit of driving including four customs stops. The road we took was fairly ordinary but with quite a few small factories indicating quite a bit of employment, probably the most we had seen. After we passed Niksic the road climbed with great views across a valley to a large lake, there was a panoramic view point so we pulled over to take a photo and were greeted by four very inquisitive goats, with a magnificent leader with a large bell. Steve shook his keys and they all rushed to see what we had for them. Once we got past the goats the view was again breath-taking. The road descended for a while then climbed again towards the Bosnian boarder. We got our exit stamp in our passports after waiting for a coach driver to clear about 50 passports for his passengers then  the Bosnian one and only one gate open and a another coach in front of us. Steve couldn’t raise a smile from this one but again we had to hand over our green card to be checked through the computer. We gained a lot of patience for boarder crossings from our trips to Morocco  so just waited our turn patiently. There was again a very twisty decent then levelled out to pass through a fairly large town not even shown on our map then TomTom took us out into the country again to avoid going through Dubrovnik but got a good view of the suspension bridge which cuts off a large detour round the estuary.
Moving north we soon turned left off the trusty No8 road towards Stom on the Peljesac peninsular, heading the 58 km to Loviste at the very end. just before Orebic the road climbed up and down the cliffs and became distinctly narrower at some points too  narrow for us and the occasional coach heading towards us. At one point we past through an area where there had recently been a very intense forest fire on both sides of the road engulfing most of the mountain. quite poignant  for us after the recent forest fires near us. We stopped at a magnificent memorial structure with a view point. It was in memory of those inhabitants lost in the second world war not the recent conflict. We reached Loviste at about 5:45 but couldn’t find the restaurant our friends said they stayed at but there was a very nice looking ACSI recommended site 16Eurper night, so we booked in perhaps to stay for a few days.
Stopped at 17:45 - 93928 – 285 km today – Camp Lupis – 43.02827, 17.02978

Croatia Trip 2015

Sorry the pictures in the last post didn't imbed how I would have liked them to have done in the email, but if you click on the link it will shaw the picture. And if you go to the blog online www.TheOldAgeTravellers.blogspot.com you can click on the picture in the right column and it will take you to our online album where we will upload our pictures as we get time to do so.
Steve

Croatia Trip September 2015 Post 4

First off I must apologise for the missed words and typos in post 3, check as I may it is never till the next day that I see my errors. I will correct them in the main blog page.

Day 13 Monday 21/09/2015 - Still 93,438 on Speedo

We woke early to get to the bus stop which was just outside the camp site. A very friendly lady who could speak a little English explained to the driver where we wanted to go, pointed out a few things on the way, like the enormous yacht in the bay which was owned by Mr Abramovich. She then told us and all the other tourists on the bus where to get of and the direction down the hill to walk to the Old Town'. We intended to take the morning walking tour so had about an hour to wait so had a coffee and stroll while waiting for our guide. The walking tour was very good, quite heavy on history and the war which was interesting because we knew very little about it so it was good to get the personal perspective of our young guide who was only two at the time, she got quite emotional while telling us. The tour finished at the port so a beer and sandwich seemed appropriate before we tackled the "Wall" a completely intact perimeter walkway high up round the city, a mile long with very many steps, but our guide had advised us to start at the port end so all the steps up were done at the

beginning which was good advice. Looking across the rooftops you could see all the new tiles on the roofs which showed the very many houses which were bombed.
It was a nice thing to do and an interesting view of the old city but a bit strenuous. After we finished the walk an even bigger beer was called for.

Yesterday Steve's brother had sent an email advising us to stay for the evening because the streets glistened. So we walked around a bit more then found a restaurant for a meal which took us till it got dark. He was right the marble streets polished by millions of feet over the years just shone like polished silver.

We had enquired earlier as to where to catch our bus back to the camp site and were told we had to go to the bus station and read that it was a just a ten minute walk, well, 45 minutes later we just caught the bus as it had a few passengers to load it then drove right back where we had come from, doh.... So a very good 14 hour day, Judy was fine after all the walking, we just need to get her appetite up.

Day 14 Tuesday 22/09/2015 - Still 93,438 on Speedo

Had a lazy day today just resting with a short walk to the local shop then we booked a boat trip to the three islands for Wednesday. At about 4 pm a GB van pulled in and we got talking and it turned out we both belonged to the same very friendly Funsters club MotorHomeFun.co.uk we drank their bottle of wine then drank our bottle of wine and had a good evening chatting over our different travels. 

Day 15 Wednesday 23/09/2015 - Still 93,438 on Speedo

The boat was to pick us up at 10:30 from the little harbour which was down a very steep hill from the campsite. It actually arrived at 10:45 as soon as we boarded and were underway the Captain broke out the drinks and tried very hard to get us to try the local brandy at 11am we declined and had a soft drink. The boat visited the three islands with quite a bit of free time to explore each. Lunch of delicious grilled fish or chicken was served with copious amounts of very good local wine or brandy if you dared. Arriving back at our little harbour at about 7pm. Their was a little Pizza restaurant there so we shared a pizza and salad before the walk up the very steep hill to then just collapse into bed. What a great day.

Day 16 Thursday 24/09/2015 - Still 93,438 on Speedo

After looking at the maps and reading the Meteo which predicted storms today we decided to move on and head for Montenegro which because we have French insurance we are covered for which the English vans were not and talking to Rory the Brit we had met the night before, they weren't covered for the 30k trip through Bosnia either. Shows how narrow minded the UK insurers are. We are covered for all countries bordering the Med just to be sure we raked out our Green card and sure enough a very long list af countries where we have full cover including breakdown and recovery.

We slowly packed up paid at the office and left about 12noon. Just as we were emptying our waste tank the heavens opened and it got harder and harder. Driving along our wipers just couldn't cope with the amount of rain, then because we had got wet just before we left the screen started to steam up and the demister couldn't cope. We were driving trying to wipe the screen which is three feet in front of us with a long handled squeegee. The road was hugging the cliff as usual so there was just nowhere to stop. Not knowing what the cost of fuel was in Montenegro we stopped at the last station in Croatia, who also had an air line which could cope with our rear tires at 80psi

Because the air temperature had gone down significantly since we left home our new Tyre Pressure alarm on the dash was screaming at us that the rear tire pressures were too low.

That all done we soon arrived at the boarder and were just nodded out of Croatia then joined the queue for entry to Montenegro. Steve greeted the grumpy customs man with a cheery "Hello" and actually got a reluctant "hello" back. Then he asked for our vehicle documents which luckily Judy had retrieved from our safe while in the queue. He checked our green card very carefully then stamped our passports and we were on our way.

We found a nice camper spot by about 4:30 with a very friendly man at reception who lent us a map and guide book of Montenegro so we could spend the ev Ning planning what we were going to do here then after a short walk to the local shop settled down for dinner and planning our stay to the accompaniment of thunder and lightning and continious rain on the roof. But the meteo says sunshine tomorrow, we hope.

Stopped at 16;30 - 93519 - only 81km today - Autokamp Naluka - 42.48703N, 18.65153E

Croatia Trip September 2015 Post 3

Sorry over a week between posts, Steve has been a bit preoccupied by Judy being ill again and not very good wifi when he has the chance to do the blog. Hope to get a few days and add some pictures in to the online blog page.

Day 6 Monday 14/09/2015 - 92,658 on Speedo

We left our camper stop but there was nobody in the office to pay and the barriers were up so presumably there is no charge out of season, so no complications with not having any Croatian money.

We had a very nice drive basically round the coast which went from flat to very hilly, but really nice views. From just south of Trieste at Umag  to Senj about 50 miles south of Rijeka. We stopped at a Camper Stop again from our database of places to stop. This was an organised business with marked out pitches which only left about 4ft between vehicles, a bit tight for our liking. The cost was 120 kuna a night about 16 euros with all facilities including good WiFi. Please excuse all the prices I am mentioning, it is for our Motorhome friends who will be reading this to take note if they come this way. The site only takes cash but the reception directed us to a nearby cash machine so the problem of not having any local currency is now solved. The only places we had seen cash machines, we were in traffic and unable to stop and didn't know the exchange rate to know how much to withdraw. Basically 7.5 kuna to the euro or roughly 10 to the pound. September 2015. As Croatia was in Europe I had naively thought they were in the Euro. ( note to self, check currency).  We had a nice stroll around the town which had a few resteraunt's and quite a nice feel about it.

Stopped at 18:00 - 92934 - 276km today - Autokamp Skver - 44.99376N, 14.90006E

Day 7 Tuesday 15/09/2015 - 92,934 on Speedo

Judy hadn't been feeling too good since brunch yesterday of a bacon sarnie she thinks that perhaps the home made brought from home may have started to go mouldy and perhaps after the Moroccan illness which we think was caused from nuts that may have started to get mildew, she may be a bit susceptible to mold. So we had a slow start, emptied down and filled up and left about ten straight to a petrol station across the road as the fuel light had come on just before we stopped last night. The fuel was slightly dearer than France but cheaper than the UK and definitely cheaper than Italy. Steve checked first that they took credit cards as there was no sign up.

It was a really nice drive today up and down the cliff edge road still basically following the coast. We found a Lidl at about 16:30 so stopped to get milk etc and bought a selection of their beer to see which we liked. They had the usual one we buy in France but also a few we didn't know. Their prices were similar to France perhaps a little cheaper.

Half an hour later we saw a camper stop so pulled in, the price was similar to last night right on the water's edge. But, park where you like. No electricity but everything else including free wifi at the office.

After setting up and sitting with a beer to get the last rays of sun we took a stroll and found a GB van, (Pete&lyn from MotorhomeFun) the first we had seen since Venice, had a good chat then back to the van for supper. Judy was feeling worse so had no supper.

Stopped at 18:00 - 93138 - 204km today - Kamp Kalebic - 43.84375N, 15.62022E

Day 8 Wednesday 16/09/2015

Judy was bad in the night, hopefully not a repeat of Marocco last year! So we decided to stay put to see if she can shake it off with sleep today. 

We couldn't pick up the wifi from the office with our special ariel so moved the van a bit closer so as not to have to stand outside the office to send or receive emails.

Day 9 Thursday 17/09/2015

Judy was slowly recovering so just stayed put. It was a nice spot but the Solar Panels which Steve wants to replace are obviously failing as they are only supplying about three amps in full sun. By the evening Judy felt like a stroll so we had a walk to a nearby resteraunt but Judy certainly didn't fancy the grilled fish which is the local speciality but a definite improvement. 

Day 10 Friday 18/09/2015 - Still 93138 on Speedo.

Judy felt well enough to move on today, so Steve filled and emptied and we got on our way just a short hop along the coast to just beyond Split and a site Pete had told us about but when we got to where we thought it was it all seemed a bit too industrial so we moved on to another he said was good about 30km further on in Omis this one was massive but reasonable sized pitches and ACSI price €16 per night. Certainly not whaIt we usually like but we have been advised that the Police here do not like any WildCamping and fine offenders on the spot so until we get clarification on that then sites it has to be. This site is close to the town so we can stop for a few days for Judy to get her strength back. She actually managed to cook  dinner tonight but not eat too much but a definite improvement again.

Stopped at 16:00 - 93264 - 126 km today - Camping Galeb, Omis - 43.44067N 16.68028E

Day 11 Saturday 19/09/2015 - Still 93264 on Speedo.

Judy woke up feeling much stronger so we walked into the town which was about a half hour stroll. A nice clean town fairly touristy with loads of restaurants, shame Judy is still not up to eating out. after a bit of shopping we just had a lazy day in the sun reading, with the odd stroll round the site, then as we were preparing to go in for the evening it started raining. We had heard cars driving round the town all afternoon honking their horns so probably a wedding or weddings, then at about six all the churches in the town started ringing their bells one after the other till about 8 o'clock then a disco or band started probably for one of the weddings. Judy woke at 4am and it had just stopped about then. It didn't keep us awake but I bet it did many light sleepers.

Day 12 Sunday/09/2015 - Still 93264 on Speedo.

We woke to the sound of rain still on the roof which stopped about nine so we decided that it would be best to move on if it was to be showers all day which the Meteo said.

Steve chatted to an English couple who told him about a good site near Dubrovnik with a bus outside for a visit to the city where they said they did a really good walking tour.  So we finished packing up and paid and moved off the site at 11:15 to a nearby garage to fill up with gas and check the tyres. The gas only took just over 5ltr which was very good  since we had retuned from the UK in late June and filled up we had four days in Spain then the eleven days this time with only three nights on electric and the fridge on maximum to beat the hot weather. Plus cooking and using the heating for hot water for showers. Very pleased and surprised with that considering the amount we usually use in Morocco. The price was just 39pence Sterling probably the lowest price we have ever paid.

The drive along the coast was exhilarating with massive mountains dominating the left while we clung to the edge of the cliffs with just a tiny strip of habited land before the sea,  Suddenly though the land changed to a wetland plain dominated by a large river which came straight from the mountains which had now receded to about fifteen miles from the sea. The road turned inland to run beside the river with very many stalls selling oranges, honey, many different bottled  fruits and vegetables and strings of various colours of chillies. We stopped and bought some honey from one of the stalls.

We were soon backinto the mountains and then  the boarder between Croatia and Bosnia was there.  Croatia is split in two by a small strip if Bosnia which reaches to the sea. The boarder was no problem, just a cursory glance at one of our passports and waved through. We soon fount our campsite which was amongst trees with a very nice friendly man at reception who showed us various pitches to take our pick from, where we could catch the bus to Dubrovnik and gave us a timetable and map of the city.

Stopped at 16:30 - 93438 - 174 km today - Auto-Camp Pod Maslinom, Orasac - 42.69859N 18.00559E

Croatia Trip September 2015 Post 2

Day 3 Friday 11/09/2015 - 92206

Oh dear, yesterday evening Steve stood up possibly awkwardly and put his back out! After an uncomfortable night he took som Ibroprufen which usually works and was able to walk into town. Judy was royally spoilt and bought her three favourite perfumes  at about 60% discount to normal duty free prices enough we hope for another couple of years. 

We had. A good look round San Marino and found many places we had missed on our last visit. At the visitors information we connected with WiFi and managed to send our first couple of days blogs. Hope you found them ok. Unfortunately somebody has got "TheOld ageTraveller" which Google has indexed more than ours so hope you didn't get confused.

We got back to the van about three , packed up and left towards Rimini but remembered to fill up with fuel at the garage next to the Camper Stop, what a shock 1.28 euros a litre but that was actually the cheapest we saw later with some at 1.45 a litre for diesel.

On our way we stopped at a huge shopping centre on the boarder with Italy and had a look around. We actually bought a "Selfie Stick" so feel quite modern ready to take many pictures of us against any old background out of focus.

We had a very slow drive through the beach area of Rimini which is an upper class "Southend" but with probably ten thousand loungers and beach umbrellas. We didn't stop but motored on towards Venice.  It began to get dark so we stopped for a few minutes to consult Autoroute and found  a Motorhome Sosta about 3km away which is a free area set aside by the village for Motorhome Parking without any facilities.

So a quick supper with Sussex Bangers, beans and a glass of wine or two, heaven.

Stopped 19:45 Lat: 44.92338N  Lon: 12.23440E Free sosta, Motorhome Parking San Mesola.      Only 147km today

Day 4 Saturday 12/09/2015 - 92353

After a nice quiet night we set off for Venice, a slow difficult journey as the speed limits in Italy have been set very low. We have come across wide dual carriage ways away from houses with a 50kph limit. This journey went from 50 to 70 to 90 to 50 to 30 then back to 70 and repeated continuously. Any way we arrived onto the Venice causeway which we thought was a toll but wasn't then to the Motorhome parking which luckily had plenty of spaces arriving at 11:45 92436km. The cost was €21 for the first 12 hours then €16 per 12hours or part. Which made it €37 for the. First 24 hrs then €32 a day after that with electric hook-up included. We Paid €30 a day two years ago and had to pay to get to Venice on the water busses as well and it is an expensive city.

It was about a half hour walk to the main part of the city then we walked and walked all day exploring, we are both very happy to be back in Venice again, it is so romantic and has such a lovely feel about it. We had a very good glass of beer at an English type pub we found but €11 for just over a pint! We actually arrived back to the van having done 25,000 steps nearly 16km. A very nice day ending with a very nice romantic meal at one of the fish resteraunt's by candle light by the side of a canal, the one we intended to go to last time.  Then on the way back to the van we managed to buy some nice Morano ear rings to match the necklace Steve bought Judy for our Ruby wedding Anniversary two years ago. While at the pub we managed to connect to WiFi and book a free walking tour, which we did last time and really enjoyed so are looking forward to doing that again because we are sure we missed many things.

Day 5 Sunday 12/09/2015- 92436km same

A slow start then on to meet our guide for the morning at 10:45. Francesca the guide we had last time arrived with a young chap Ricardo who was to be our guide today. The tour started the same in the three Jewish Getto's then the Gondola ride across the Grand Canal then into the depths of the tiny streets one of which was less than half a meter wide. We had a great free tour and he deserved all the tips he received which was from everyone we could see. The tour finished at 2:30 and we arrived back at the van with time to refill the water and set off by about 4:30. We found a Camper Stop just short of Trieste in our database and headed for it via the Autostrada, couldn't bear another 100km up and down the speed limits. About 130 km turned out to be just over €11 so worth it to reduce the strain of driving. We also found a Motorhome Dump on a services to dump our loo and grey water so ok for another five days wild camping if necessary. The parking place was nice just beside the sea but we realised that we would have to negotiate Trieste during the morning rush hour so after a cuppa and a stroll we set off for  another camper stop in our database in Slovenia. Which again was very nice but required fifteen Euros in coins in a machine which we didn't have, must remember to get a stash of coins just in case, so set off again. To another camper stop just inside Croatia. We drove into Slovenia with no trouble but met passport control on the boarder going out. We found our camper spot which was quite luxurious but no payment machine probably pay at the office in the morning. We then realised that Croatia does not use the Euro so possibly more complications in the morning. Any way we are stopped a little later than we would have liked at about 22:00 - 92658km on the. Speedo - Umag - 45.44954N, 13.52080E

Croatia Trip September 2015

Day 1 Wednesday 09/09/2015 - 91,102km

Hi, if you are subscribed to this blog or have stumbled upon it, we are the OldAgeTravellers, Steve & Judy. We started writing it as our own diary to remember our travels then many friends said "email us to let us know where you are" and we realised we would be spending our whole time sending emails so TheOldAgeTravellers.blogspot.com blog was born

We finally left home at 10:00, 91,102km. After a stop for some wine at Pepieux Cave we were on our way. A couple of days late leaving because of jobs on the van running over a bit and quite a bit of paperwork to finish off for the business. But hey-ho there was a bonus, Steve had ordered a new GPS dongle for our moving map on the dashboard as the old one would not work on the new Windows-10. It arrived in the post early afternoon on Tuesday so good time to set it up and finish off the last few letters before bed. We would have really missed our moving Autoroute map which we run on an old eeePC with solid state drives so no damage with the bumps. The computer sits on our massive front shelf against the windscreen and the map records a trace of our route and also gives an idea of our general route and position saving Judy having to have her head in the map and missing the scenery and gives her a chance to take photo's as we go albeit many of her knees as we hit the bumps!  It also has a very accurate speedo so she can say if Steve misses a speed limit sign.

Today is a motoring day to get us on or way towards Croatia, however we want to make a stop at Venice as there were some places we missed last time especially a resteraunt pointed out to us on a free walking tour we did which was mentioned again on a recent Rick Stein program. Also Judy is nearly out of her favourite perfumes which we bought at a very cheap price in San Marino so a stop there even though about a hundred miles out of our way is essential!!!

We did pass through some beautiful scenery today, we skirted the Comargue which is beautiful and well worth another visit, and the Grand Motte which is an enormous lake and we drive along a very narrow spit of land with water each side which we first see on our moving map. 

After Avignon which we have visited before but would be worth another visit, perhaps on the way back. We start to see the Rhone Alps in the distance then spend half the journey driving on good roads with incredible scenery all around us with magnificent mountain views, especially in the late afternoon when the sunlight is highlighting them beautifully.

After Gap where our TomTom tried to take us down a narrow shopping street which we just noticed in time but got shouted at by an impatient French man because we sort of cut in front of him, we found a nice picnic spot to stay the night.

We spent a bit of time on Autoroute and see we are not too far from Italy and it looks worth taking the Motorway to San Marino tomorrow as it will save about 100 miles travelling so probably cost effective on fuel.

Stopped 19:30 Lat: 44.52976  Lon: 6.333236 Near Lake Serre-Poncon.  466km

Day 2 Thursday 10/09/2015 - 91,568

We left our nice parking place at 08:15 as workmen had just arrived with a lorry full of tar to fix the potholes. As we drove round the lake we saw there were many more picnic spots most of the others with a beautiful view of the lake. Never mind we had a good night but worth remembering not to pick the first one if we come again. The Alps around us were getting bigger and the buildings more alpine looking. There were many signs for walking, biking, canoeing and skiing so obviously an all year resort.

The road got very twisty as we climbed over the mountains to the Italian border with spectacular views. Then after a very long tunnel we were in Italy and on to the Autostrada where we would stay for the next 560km. For the first hour we had to stop and pay a set toll many times then we were presented with a ticket which turned out to be the only one till we exited at Rimini. The first four tolls for the tunnels I presume was 16.60 euros then the next 500 km cost 33.90 for about 500km of driving, not bad compared to France considering the driving time saved and probably fuel saved.

Arriving at San Marino we drove right through the narrow streets of the tiny city, looking for the Camper Spot we had found last time. We found a pay one but couldn' figure out what the charge was but it was on a slope so wouldn' be very comfortable but just about a kilometre away we found where we were looking for exactly as before, still free for 48hours but no facilities which we don't need. We had obviously taken a different turning and come the other way round the town. Unfortunately while manoeuvring into the best level spot between the trees Steve caught the front of the van on a low wall, no real damage except scraping the gell coat off but the same wing as we hit on a rock in Morocco last visit. So another job for our great garage in Taffraoute next time we go to Marocco.

After a quick drink to get over the annoyance we walked fifteen minutes up the hill to the town and manages to buy a special San Marino postage stamp to post our Granddaughters Birthday card. Apart from a pizza resteraunt and an English Pub little was open so we headed back for a light supper then bed. Steve had a problem with our moving map refusing to save so spent an hour and found a way to get round it so happy that this great gadget would carry on working for us.

Stopped 19:30 Lat: 43.92177N  Lon: 12.45209E Free Aire de Camping Car, San Marino

 638km today