27 July – We walked down to the little harbour and caught the ferry to Dubrovnik. On the way we passed more signs of the war with bombed out buildings and a no go area which has not been cleared of mines yet. The Serbs came to within one hill of capturing Dubrovnik but were repulsed. Some of the old town has been rebuilt because of the war damage. Approaching Dubrovnik from the sea is great, as you can appreciate the beauty of the old city and the area. The water is a beautiful blue contrasting the stone work and the tile roofs. Our ferry arrived at 10:30am and we had a return ferry at 2:30pm which gave us plenty of time to explore this great city as the old part is quite small. There were lots of tourists from two huge cruise boats anchored outside the harbour. We wandered the streets and alleys enjoying the great buildings and churches before climbing onto the city wall and following it right around the city giving spectacular views. After a nice sandwich and a beer we caught the ferry back to our village and spent the afternoon on the beach. In the evening we managed to skype Canada and caught up with Lynne, Paul and our Canadian friends.

28 July – A nice quiet morning catching up on washing and cleaning the dirt of Albania off “Lefty”. We changed some more euros for kuna (local currency). 7.3 kuna to 1 euro so everything looks hugely expensive until you do the sums. As we can not use our euro card to get money out of an ATM in this part of the world we have stashed cash in various hiding places around the camper. In the afternoon we went back to the beach and enjoyed 3 hours of sun and swimming.

29 July – Woken with the wind and I hopped out of bed to save the awning, then the heavy rain started followed by thunder and lightning. It all lasted about an hour. We drove north up the 210 km coast road between Dubrovnik and Split. This has been described as the best coastal drive anywhere and it’s pretty spectacular. Just north of Dubrovnik we crossed the border into Bosnia. There is a bizarre 10km stretch of Bosnian coast before crossing back into Croatia. Fortunately we were waved thru both border crossings. On the right there are the mountains and on the left is the coast. There are many islands just off the coast so the sea is very sheltered. At times it looks more like a lake than the sea. We wound thru many coves with villages and beaches in each one. Unfortunately it rained off and on so the colours were not as good as they could have been but it was still great. We are now in a large camp 6 kms from Split. It has a nice beach so we will stay at least 2 nights here. We went for a walk and found the information centre where they told us we can ride our bikes into Split.

30 July – We set off around the coastline on mainly cycle paths to Split about 8 kms away. A great ride passing some nice beaches and bays. Split is where the cruise ships can moor at a wharf so the place was packed. It has a great water front where the old city is. We followed a map and navigated the lanes thru squares and lovely old buildings including the cathedral. After a gelato we hopped on our bikes and returned to our camp and beach.

31 July – We drove north again following the coast. The mountains are now further away and the land is flatter and drier. We hoped to find a nice quiet camp in a cove but after several attempts (camps full) ended up in a very busy holiday camp but right on the sea front. We can only stay one night here but that will be enough. The beach is very crowded but we found a spot and enjoyed a swim. A pro beach volley ball tournament was in progress so we watched the women’s final. The local girls won much to the delight of the crowd. After dinner we walked down to the village (Filip Jakov) which had been transformed into a lively outdoor market. Many families wandering around enjoying the atmosphere.

1 August – Back on the road north again along the coast. We drove until we found a nice quiet family camp with a great beach. We will spend a couple of nights here. The swimming is great. The water is a little cooler as we are now in northern Croatia.

2 August – We spent the morning with domestic duties including washing the bedding and giving Val a hair cut. (much to the amusement of the Slovenian family next door) The beach is great here and very quiet. This is the height of the holiday season so we are lucky that this camp is small. There are a lot younger children. There are no villages close so it probably does not suit families with teenagers. This area has a peninsular opposite so the sea is very flat again, more like a lake.