Well we have been very busy since our last blog! We had free internet for a whole couple of days on a campsite whilst in Slovenia but unfortunately I had raging toothache and was in no mood for blogging! Was worried for a minute I had an absess, but think it was just down to my damn lower wisdom tooth. After 3 days of pain and sleepless nights I managed to see it off by throwing what ever I could find in the van at it. After downing copious amounts of Codeine, Ibuprofen, Alcohol and finally some old Antibiotics I had stashed away, I seem to have cured myself (fingers crossed) :) With all that swimming round my system any blog I did may not have made any sense anyway!!

Toothache aside, we had a fantastic time in Slovenia. We spent a whole week based at Kamp Koren in Kobarid in the Triglav National Park. The campsite is on the banks of the River Soca in the Soca Valley near the Italian border. For any one interested this was the site of intense fighting during WW1 between the Italians and the Austro-Hungarian army. Over 1.2 million were killed here and the old trenches and fortresses have been preserved so you can visit. It is a really interesting area to visit and we did plenty of hiking during the week through the lovely gorges, forests and mountains.

One morning we set off for a hike up Mount Matajur which was a four hour hike from our campsite to the summit where on a clear day you have views down to Venice and the Adriatic sea. No problem I was thinking, its only 1642 metres high, but this was a first for us, we didn't make it to the top! It was a brutal, relentlessly steep trek up through a forested mountain of narrow rocky paths covered in wet fallen leaves. John was in his element, I was straggling behind cursing! I perservered and we finally emerged from the forest but from here to the summit there was no clear path so we had to follow the map carefully. Unfortunately after a 1250 metre climb, only 200 metres from the top the weather turned and such thick cloud rolled in we decided we had to turn back to ge down before dark. Gutted, so near but yet so far! But we will be back to try again before too long!

It always seems to rain in the Soca valley, and when it rains, it really rains! Thankfully it was warm when we were there though and everything dries up really quickly. And we were really lucky, when we were hiking we didn't get caught in any bad weather at all. Despite the dodgy weather we love it here, although Rudy had a couple of personal low points. We have discovered he is petrified of suspension bridges , which is unfortunate as there are so many criss-crossing the Soca River. Also he managed to get himself tangled up in an electric fence, and the more John tried to help him out the more he panicked and got wrapped up. That was a bit of a worry for a minute but in hindsight it made him so quiet afterwards we are thinking a cattleprod could be the way forward to make him behave :)

We headed out of Kobarid up through the Kranjska Gora pass which we knew nothing about and were surprised to find we had to negotiate 48 hairpin bends. We then drove East across Slovenia to see a bit more of the country. We passed through the capital city Ljubljana, and spent a couple of days at a site in Ptuj, a small medieval town in the East of the country. The following day we headed into Croatia via the capital city Zagreb. Our mission was to find the Joe Strummer statue that had been erected outside the Beertija nightclub in the city centre. This was made very easy due to our uncanny ability to arrive in a City on a public holiday! This was the 1st of November (All Saints Day) a Roman Catholic holiday for remembering deceased loved ones. This explained why everywhere we had been the markets were stacked with floral displays and red candles and everyone was buying in bulk. As we drove through Slovenia and into Croatia it was a really lovely sight to see the cemetaries full of visitors and all the candles burning.

Anyway it meant the city centre was quiet so we managed to find the statue easily, raise a beer in Joe's memory, take Rudy for a walk around the park and then head off.

We left Zagreb and kept off the motorway as we headed south to see a bit of the countryside. As we had expected this area of the country is a stark contrast to the gorgeous coastline around Dubrovnik that we had visited earlier this year. As we passed through village, after village we started to feel we were in the 'Borat' movie, with all the little old peasant ladies in there headscarfs and dilapidated houses. It was pretty bleak, and sobering to see old houses still standing riddled in shell holes. As it started to get dark and we got closer to the National Park we decided we had better find a campsite for the night as we didn't fancy camping in a layby in that area. There was nothing in our guide books so we took potluck and ended up in a fairly decent site at Grabovac (apart from the only setting on the shower swinging from luke warm to freezing cold).

The following day we set off for the Plitvice Lakes National Park. This was a really lovely day out. We paid the £8 entrance fee each (Rudy was free) which allowed us access to the series of walkways and trails that traverse the lakes and waterfalls and onto the boats and buses that ferry you around the park. Rudy loved it and had loads of people taking his photo again. The only challenge for me was stopping him launching off the walkways into the water! This is a really stunning place and the photos just don't do it justice.

Our original plan had been to retrace the route down the Croatian coast that we did previously and then into Montenegro and head home via Serbia & Hungary. As an oversight on my behalf I had not realised that Rudy's pet passport did not cover him for Montenegro (he will need a blood test and additional certificate from our vet) so we have had to knock that idea on the head for this trip.

The lure of Dubrovnik was still there so we headed across to the coast to Starigrad intending to work our way there and drive back the same way. When we arrived everything was pretty desolate, most things closed for the season and although it was a pleasant 20 degrees we had a change of heart. We decided that it wasn't worth spending the next couple of weeks driving down and back up the same stretch of coast we had done last time and we would have more options and a better time if we headed back North. So Dubrovnik will have to wait and we turned around from the sunshine and drove all day back to Austria. We must be mad but we were actually smiling when we had to get our hat and gloves back on!

So now we will see where the road takes us. And yes I am sure it will involve more mountains....

Til next time

Sarah, John & Rudy xxx