Who knew Calais had such a nice beach?

A couple of hours north of Trento we waved goodbye to Sudtirol (probably to return in future), crossed the border into Switzerland and soon joined up with routes we’ve driven on previous trips. We were happy to break a long driving day with a short walk up a small peak with big views at the top of the Fuorn / Ofenpass, then got stuck behind a series of motorhomes, cyclists, a coach and what felt like all the roadworks in Switzerland as we continued over the Fluelapass.

We then spent two nights at Landquart in definitely the best (if most expensive) campsite yet. We cycled around some of the hillside villages and along the Rhine.

Short walk from the Ofenpass /Fuorn Pass – Ortler is the snowy mountain in the distance

Swiss paths!

Good limestone pinnacles (and Ortler again)

View north from the top of Il Jalet

A more meadowy return route

Back to the van in less than an hour

The campsite at Landquart won our hearts by providing not only grass, shade and amazing facilities, but also high chairs to borrow (five weeks of eating on the ground starts to get tiresome!)

Look, Mummy’s finished making my bed!

Late night one hand walkies

Rhine valley, looking towards Chur

Cycling in the towns above the Rhine

Where the Landquart sneaks through to meet the Rhine

Then we headed to Zurich for a fun weekend with Emily, Bernhard and Quentin. It’s been a strange novelty to be back in a house – Jess found the smooth, horizontal floors quite a change from her usual cruising ground and wanted to go outside at every possible opportunity, and we have enjoyed such luxuries as sofas, dishwashers and more than half a metre of bed each! Activities included a linear walk from Rotenthurm to Biberbrugg through some Swiss “moors” (aka bogs), floating down the River Limmat on a selection of inflatables, and having fun / causing chaos on trains.

They were hardly ever this still

Snack time waving

I’m just trying to eat an apricot in peace.

Tall trees

Varied walk to Biberbrugg

Classic Swiss view

Inflating the inflatables

Unimpressed floating down the Limmat

Swimming and floating in the afternoon heating

Youngest paddler on the river

Happy floaters

We’re leaving Zurich this morning after a final nappy wash and feel like we’re really on our way home now. Three (hopefully fairly leisurely) days to get to Calais via France and Belgium…

A couple of days based in the Trentino region of Italy. One catching up on stuff and chilling out – see last post. A little cooler (especially at night) and less busy than recent stops, at least around our campsite in Roncegno. We then made a day trip to Lake Garda, which was (predictably) both hot and packed with people…oh well!

Deciding that parking at the lake was likely to be disastrous, we cycled in from around 12km out, which was thoroughly pleasant. The route was along the Sarca river, through the town of Arco and watersports hub Torbole before ending up in Riva del Garda at the north end of the lake. With blue water stretching beyond the horizon and steep cliffs on either side, it was very picturesque. After completing our checklist for the day (pizza, coffee and gelato), we cycled out again and back to the sanctuary of our campsite, where we enjoyed a spectacular evening lightning show over the mountains to the south.

The Sarca river just south of Ceniga, with the Arco castle on the hill down the valley

Just coming into Arco

Lake Garda (we’re at the northern tip)

Getting excited about pizza (or maybe pigeons)

Going walkabouts

One if the waterfront piazzas in Riva del Garda

One of many cruisers (not to mention pedalos, windsurfers, yachts, stand-up paddle boards and swimmers) coming and going

Back on the lake shore (admiring views and eating gelato)

Cycling back to Ceniga along another great cycle path, this one lined with rhododendrons

Vineyards, cliffs and castles in Arco

Orchard, mountain and electricity pylon view from our pitch

Why yes, I can climb out of my chair…

We left Piran and drove briefly through Italy then picked up the Soca River back in Slovenia near the largest stone arch bridge in the world (we only got a glimpse of this). A driving tour of the lower Soca valley followed before arriving at Kobarid where we followed a historical walking trail over lunch. This started in the town, led us up to a war memorial, then up further to an old settlement on a craggy outcrop. We then descended through some Italian ww1 and ww2 paths and defenses before walking back along some of the more impressive parts of the Soca River as it travels through a gorge.

After lunch and shopping in a dairy (best cheese yet), we continued up to find a campsite. Thankfully Jess slept as we toured every campsite in the valley looking for a space, eventually finding ourselves near the source of the Soca with no campsite space and no more campsites within range. Fortunately there was a layby. We felt slightly awkward initially, but were soon joined by many other campers. Without mobile signal, we couldn’t plan the next day or next campsite, which was slightly stressful, but the enforced book reading was very pleasant. A nice walk up the final parts of the Soca and some stargazing made it a good night. (The portaloo and running out of water the next day was not so good).

The next day we drove to the top of Slovenia’s most famous pass (and the most hectically busy pass we’ve ever seen). From the Vrisic pass we started up a walking path the top of a nearby hill. The ‘easy marked path’ turned into a lovely unmarked rock ridge, pushing the capabilities of baby carrying. We had great views of the Julian Alps and watched an impressive helicopter rescue from very close by.

Back in signal we tried to book a campsite. Our plans had us staying in the area at least another day, but the lack of camping in the Soca valley meant we had to leave. A lack of campsites along our route in Italy (I still wonder what is in this part of Italy that means there are no campsites) meant we detoured to Austria.

In Austria we found a campsite that had toilets, water and grass. The next day we found a cafe serving schnitzel and cake. Having filled up on typical Austrian delights, we wound or way back through to Italy, through the Dolomites to a camp on the very southern edge of the Dolomites.

The campsite is a farm/restaurant/accommodation/camping. With only 15 pitches it is one of our favourite campsites, especially after the most cheap, tasty and authentic local lunch on our day of planning, washing and hiding from thunderstorms.

View of the Soca from South of Kobarid

Kobarid town

WW2 memorial (Italian) surrounding a church

Lunch in a very old settlement (buildings remains from 5th century, but occupied since forever)

Old Chapel and view of Soca

Italian WW1 path

Soca gorge.

Gorge ous view the other way

All enjoying the after dinner walk near the source of the Soca

Camp (layby) breakfast

View of the Julian Alps from the Vrisic pass

Climbing a hill

View of the packed pass

This hill is getting serious

Happy to be at the col – onto the summit ridge

Back seat driver keeping a tight hold of the reins

Definitely more mountain than hill (great slabby ridge though)

View of the pass and the higher mountains (including Triglav)

HAPPY!

Err, are you sure this is the way off? Mummy is over there…

Close up of a helicopter (climber with injured arm being bundled in while it hovers)

Huts and churches in an Austrian field

Southern edge of the Dolomites (the classic views didn’t get captured on the camera)

After Plitvice we headed west. Still avoiding toll roads, so ended up on the wiggliest 25km I think I’ve ever driven, through some lovely countryside – rolling woods, meadows and sleepy villages (apart from the huge psychedelic music festival we accidentally found). Then on slightly straighter roads through more mountainous, forested terrain and a couple of pleasant towns, briefly back towards Rijeka and then back into Slovenia. We spent the night at a strong contender for best campsite yet – a huge grassy riverside field surrounded by tall shady trees (it did lack a washing machine and wifi but if we’ve discovered one thing this trip it’s that you can’t have everything).

Having previously decided not to risk a cave tour with Jess, we reconsidered, took a bet that she’d be fine and went to visit the impressive sounding Skocjan cave. She was fine, and unlike Plitvice, the cave exceeded the hype and was really spectacular. The highlight was a huge (120m high) underground river canyon on a totally different scale to anything else we’ve ever seen underground. Pictures not allowed, so no direct evidence of the awesomeness. Also, it was a welcome novelty to experience 12 degree temperatures again!

Back on the surface, we climbed out of a large sinkhole and headed for the Slovenian coast, arriving early enough to cycle up a hill to a headland viewpoint before dinner.

The next day we decided to repeat our Zadar experience and cycle into the town of Piran for an explore. Unfortunately, the roads aren’t as straightforward so after a great cycle track on a disused railway (including tunnel) we zoomed down a hill to find that we had to cycle up it again slightly further along the headland. To avoid a main road we then plunged down to sea level and again climbed the hill. Eventually, we were close enough to Piran to zoom downhill straight into the town.

The town is mostly pedestrianised, so we pushed the bikes around small picturesque lanes and the seafront, ate a seafood lunch and had an ice-cream before heading home.

We took a more direct route home, which turned out to include only 2 ascents of the headland, both cobbled, the first very steep, and the second steeper still. The whiz (tempered by the trailer) down the hairpin bends back to the camp made up for the pain.

Picturesque bridge at Ostarije with a nice looking mountain behind

Viewpoint near Delnice (not sure what of, but it was worth a stop and a photo)

A van and a view

One-handed walking during lunch in a park at Delnice

Another picture of a smiley Jess, just because

In a hole (an impressively large sinkhole that swallows a large river)

Limestone canyon

One side of the hole (the cave exit is at the bottom)

Cliff at Strunjan, which claims to be the highest on the Adriatic

Entrance to Piran harbour, with the lighthouse at the point beyond

Yachts at Piran, with St George’s church and belfry on the skyline

Narrow old town streets

Wheeled our bikes up several steep cobbled streets before admitting defeat at some steps and parking them under a strange owl mosaic

Piran at rooftops from the church on the hill

Jess sampling some ‘Black Hawaii’ ice cream (dark chocolate and coconut). We think they must have put black food colouring in it!

Our exit route. All the steep cobbles

We cycled up them once out of the pedestrianised zone

We have a book at home, Wild Wonders of Europe, that showcases stunning pictures of amazing places in Europe alongside a conservation message. The waterfalls and lakes of Plitvice features in this book, which makes it sound like a beautiful, undiscovered wilderness. So we decided to pay it a visit on our way back through inland Croatia. In fact this was our furthest point East, close to the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On reading the guidebook we realised that lots of other people probably had the same idea, so we prepared ourselves for a few crowds. What we didn’t expect were hour-long queues to buy tickets at 8am (at one entrance; the other having already sold out), more queues once in to get on a bus to the start of a strictly prescribed route (and more queues to get on a boat halfway round) and essentially a procession around the trails, with queues at all the viewpoints. In fact it bordered on unsafe at times as people pushed past each other on narrow boardwalks in search of the perfect picture.

The scenery was really stunning, and our pictures make it look reasonably empty and like we had a good day out. But in fact it felt like a theme park (or Scottish ski centre), with prices and queues to match, and was not a wholly enjoyable experience. It seems to be a bit of a victim of its own success, and we felt it could be managed much better. At least we’ll never regret not going, and Jess had a great day as she finds people (and dogs) much more interesting than waterfalls…

Impressive amounts of travertine (and boardwalk)

One of the waterfalls on the upper lakes

Many waterfalls and pools

Some of the waterfalls were underneath the boardwalk

Wishing my camera can do long exposures

Reeds adding foreground interest

Limestone encrusted trees – and incredibly clear water

Waterfalls across the lake

There were some great trees and reflections too

Countless smaller cascades all around the trails

And tree roots

Out and back to another viewpoint (Jess got waterfall fatigue before we did)

More cascades

The sun was annoyingly in the wrong place for some of the more impressive falls

I think this might have been the view described as “just a lot of drainpipes”

Varied vegetation

Snacking on the boat across one of the bigger lakes

Lower Lakes (significantly busier)

The imaginatively named Velika Slap (Big Waterfall), the classic Plitvice view

Our “premium” pitch at Plitvice Holiday Village. It had a nice view but some of the standard pitches were bigger and had more grass and shade. We wonder if we have different priorities to most people…

Waving goodbye to the friendly home comforts and animals of Camping Dvor, we left Istria and headed south on the Adriatic Highway for a taste of classic coastal Croatia.

The route officially begins at Rijeka, where we got off to a poor start by struggling to find anywhere to park, finally making our way down to a narrow and not particularly nice piece of shoreline which was full of people sunbathing, and having lunch on some concrete steps in the only available patch of shade. A further couple of hours’ drive brought us to a quite amazing campsite sandwiched on steep ground between the road and the sea. The tiny gravel pitches, hottest afternoon yet and exotic insects were made up for by a swim in a sheltered cove with the evening sun lighting up limestone islands across a shimmering sea.

In the morning we were back on the road early, but soon detoured off to walk over some scree to Zavratnica Cove, which was well worth it and relatively deserted. We then took a car ferry to the semi-island of Pag, stopped to buy some famous cheese, had lunch next to a salt flat and continued on to Bibinje, just south of the city of Zadar. Here there was a bewildering array of tiny campsites essentially in people’s gardens, backing onto the sea. Picking one at random, we ended up in an olive grove, which was lovely initially but less appreciated during the evening’s spectacular thunderstorm with olive branches battering on the roof.

The next day we cycled into Zadar along a highly varied route: beachfront Bibinje, an oil storage plant/industrial estate, and Zadar suburbs. We explored the old town by bike and on foot, including an ice cream parlour, climbing up the bell tower of the Cathedral of St Anastasia, and Dave got really excited by the sea organ (Jo thought it was pretty cool too). We liked Zadar.

Zadar marks the southernmost point of our trip. Although Dubrovnik was very tempting, we’ve decided it’s too far, too hot and too busy – and we’ll perhaps come back later on an Easter sailing trip instead. And so we’re now heading north again and on our (very slow) way home…

South from Rijeka on the Adriatic Highway

I got up all by myself!

Evening swim

Out tiny pitch beneath the highway

Tunnelling out of the campsite

Village of Jablanac

“Belvedere” viewpoint on the way to the cove

View of the flatter and less scree-y way out

Entrance to Zavratnica Cove (it goes a lot further back)

Heading further in

Jess getting the best view as usual

Scrambling up the road embankment

Novalja, with Velebit mountain behind

Driving south from Pag Town

Old Town of Zadar (in a square only accessible by steps…)

Cathedral of Saint Anastasia + roman columns

Cathedral tower and some fallen columns

Cathedral and some fallen wheelie bins

Narrow tower staircase

Jess spotting someone she knows

Cathedral tower staircase

View from cathedral tower of islands

Roof tops of Zadar

Top of the tower

Zadar sea organ (nearby because I failed to take a picture of the sound)

We woke up early to leave Slovenia, only to find ourselves stuck in the van. An overnight rain storm had brought down our tarp, and was preventing the side door from opening. The next easiest exit is to climb over the drivers seat and out the door, but I had leaned the bikes against that door. It took me a while to climb into the front, move the car seat and other bags backwards and slide out the passenger door (this only had a table outside to push out the way).

Eventually we got going and had an incredibly wet drive south to Croatia. A quick stop at a lake that boils and with no known bottom (the wild lake), and a lunch stop in the limestone karst near Skocjan and we arrived to our campsite while it was still raining.

A long morning of drying and sorting and shopping meant that we got going on our cycle after 11, and almost immediately felt hungry and stopped for lunch. The ride took us through inland Istria, to a medieval town. A local cycle route described the area as the green heartlands of Istria, although we found this an optimistic view. The town (Svetvincenet) had an old castle and a couple of cafes, but in general was very quiet. Quiet roads were great for cycling, but the area was strangely empty given the number of holiday apartments.

Our second day in Istria was a mish mash of everything. We went shopping in a hypermarket, drove past Pula Amphitheatre, had lunch in a nature park, swam in the sea and ate seafood for dinner.

Our final day in Istria we splashed out and went to the Brijuni national park. This involved a boat ride to an island, a ‘train’ ride around the island, pausing to stop at a safari park to see an elephant and turtle, and a brief introduction to the history (from Roman onwards). We then split from the official tour to have lunch in a garden, hunt down a hill fort and dip our toes in various bays.

These few days also let us stay in our best campsite yet. Notable features were: grass, huge pitch, swimming pool, proper washing machine. Downsides were the animals, including 4am barking dogs and mosquitoes.

Divje Jezero (Wild Lake), a karst spring at least 160m deep (as far as the cave divers have git)

Enjoying a wet (200 m long) walk

Hugely impressive sink hole near Skocjan

Medieval town of Svetvincenet. Very very quiet (but did sell ice cream)

The green heartlands of Istria

Cycling through inland Istria – very much not touristy

Enjoying sitting the wrong way round

Tasting rocks

Jess got incredibly excited by the animals that roamed the campsite

P for Pula Amfiteater

Attempting to find the least busy parts of the Kamenjak peninsula by fighting through a low flying pine forest

Rewarded with a peaceful lunch spot

Jess enjoying the bushwhacking (Daddy not so much)

Typical Kamenjak coastline

I can see the sea, but Jess isn’t interested

Leaving Fazana for the Brijuni national park

Typical view from our train ride

Bay with a (ruined) roman villain and around it

Lunch in the “Mediterranean garden” (given the location, is this not just a garden)

Paddling in the sea. The temperature was so warm it was like standing in cold tea, not refreshing at all.

Another typical Brijuni beach and shore line

Trees!

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Boats

Cruising pen (needs high staffing levels)

Urrr, I splashed myself!