Becky is affectionately known as my oldest friend. But far from being old in years she hopped on a plane and came to see us for a few days!

Was bloody lovely to hang out for a little while. We had a chilled few days in Dubrovnik where we had our pants pulled down for a pint (€10 for a beer anyone?!), we spent time on the beach and having a mooch around the Cavtat peninsula gauping at the superyachts.

We also spent a lot of time drinking, talking, and generally catching up and being our usual silly selves.

Was much fun and I was very sad to see her go! Although, lucky for me I get to see her again in a few weeks when we are home 😊

Yesterday morning I was feeling rather emotional after hearing about the Amazon wildfires and couldn’t get my head around the fact that our planet is dying. I felt totally and utterly helpless to stop it.

So, I took some time to reconnect. We were lucky enough to have the beach to ourselves at sunrise, thanks to an uncomfortably hot night in the van, so I faced the sun and focused on my breathing and did a few stretches to wake my body up. When I was in child’s pose with my forehead connected to the earth the first words that came into my head were I’m sorry.

I felt small and insignificant at that moment and it took a little while to readjust my mindset.

I will be of use. I will help. I will fight for the future of our planet. I’m not sure how yet, but I will. I can and I will.

After a total of 31 days we have visited five national parks, climbed two epic mountains, walked many kilometres of walking trails, dipped our toes into Albania, paddled on a lake and the sea, sunbathed, walked through old towns, visited new towns, learnt new star constellations, wild camped, seen many snakes, and had three lots of visitors, and probably eaten too many cheeseless pizzas…it is finally time to leave!

Today we crossed the border back into Croatia and drove 140 miles to a free camping spot on a peninsula. And it’s right on the water’s edge and lovely.

The in-laws came to visit! Somehow Alan persuaded Sharon to get on a plane and they did a little trip out to see us.

A few days of exploring, drinking and eating ensued. We had a lot to catch up on!

We spent some time wandering around the super fancy Porto Montenegro in Tivat, which is a yachtie’s dreamland. Some of the yachts were insanely huge! We could fit our house into them several times over I reckon.

The whole place is sparkling and oozes wealth. A stark contrast to the rest of the country! It was an old naval base which was bought by a business consortium, led by a Canadian businessman and then they finally sold it to Dubai. It had lots of lovely restaurants and bars, nestled in between the designed shops, and I can’t say we didn’t enjoy the atmosphere! (And maybe one or two drinks)

We returned to the mountains to Lovcen national park, driving up the ‘serpentine’ road which has 27 hairpin bends in it. It has amazing views of the Bay of Kotor, but isn’t much fun when you get stuck behind a coach! Then we had a nice stroll around the national park taking in some of the best views of the region.

Next, we tackled the walls of Kotor. Kotor old town is UNESCO protected and there is an amazing fortress at the top of about 1350 steps.

We sneakily went up a different way and climbed up a rickety wooden ladder (which Sharon was thrilled about!) through a window of the fortress and saved ourselves the €8 entrance fee.

Me and Ike had already had a little explore around Kotor with my parents but after the walls walk and descent we needed to have a cold drink, a cool down and a little bimble about the old town at sea level. It’s quite a small old town but it’s easy to get lost roaming around the small streets amongst the terracotta roofs and with the cats; there are so many strays in the town. The strays are seen as good luck symbols and they are all well fed and cared for, especially as they hang around the restaurants and tourists feed them scraps!

It wasn’t long before it was their home time, so we went to a craft beer pub to sample some local brews for the last night. One of the waitresses took a shine to Ike, his hair especially, and got very excited when she asked to touch it and he said yes 😂 – not many people in Montenegro have dreadlocks! Pity it didn’t get us any discount at the bar though!

The Salisbury folk are now safely back in the UK and we have once again headed to the mountains for cooler temperatures and a few chilled days. We are staying at lovely free place we stayed at the other day, it’s currently about 22 degrees, I’m about to gather some wood for a fire later and I think it’s full moon this evening. Happy times!

There is a reason we have been drinking beer every day and this is it…

To find shadow from the lunchtime sunshine, generally we go and have a cold drink. It also means that, as we have been staying in free places, we can use the toilets of the bar as well. Win win!

It got to a point where we realised we shouldn’t really be drinking beer every day, even though it’s generally pretty cheap at about €2 for a large local brew, so we stopped. However, we realised we still needed that shade and cold drink so we opted for soft drinks instead. Fantas, Cola, Cockta (anyone heard of Cockta? Kinda like a Dr. Pepper I guess).

But after reading the back of the cans and realising how much sugar we were voluntarily devouring we have decided to go back to the old ways and have a good old beer, or a pivo as they call it here.

Proscht!

It’s not often we have a lazy morning. Mostly due to the fact it’s frickin hot, like high twenties, by about 8am so the van is like an oven! And if we have stayed in a free place and need to get a shimmy on and leave before anyone else arrives, or if we want to go and do something before the heat of the day we usually get up at about 6am (juuuust after the sun comes up).

But today we are in a free place that we’ve been to before. Apparently it’s an old nautical base, not far from the capital city, but there is loads of flat ground space in a little valley and the owner has even installed water points throughout the land. A load of sheep regulary wander through, and last time we were here there was also a cow and a big dog. There is access to the river so I’m currently listening to some fisherman getting back from an early morning fish. There’s even space for the slackline so Ike is busy practising his skills on there.

The stars are also pretty amazing here, and I’ve learnt several new constellations which I’m keen to hang onto the knowledge!

Meanwhile, me? I’m lazing in bed after a yummy breakfast and I have absolutely no plans to move anytime soon 🙂

Happy Sunday y’all…

What a beauty! Lake Skadar is in Southern Montenegro and the border with Albania runs through it.

We left Croatia super early in the morning to avoid the queues at the border crossing. It was all rather stressful as we had to pay way more for the green card this time and after a 5am start I was getting cranky and was missing my home comforts. As we stayed in a free place the night before I was in dire need of a proper shower and proper toilet. But anyways…

We ventured to one of the towns on the lake as we read it had a tourist information office, and in true Montenegrin style it didn’t disappoint.

To get there we drove down an awesome winding mountain road and parked just outside the town. To get to it we had to cross a crazy busy road and a train track, which apparently the barriers don’t work and the train just blares it’s horn and slows down. The guy half way across the tracks was certainly surprised as he hastily retreated back to the relative safety of the road.

Entering the town we were hit from all sides with people trying to sell boat trips and kayak hire. It was relentless all the way down the road. No, thanks! We were hoping to take the boards out ourselves. I think the area is relatively poor so anyone with a boat offers to take you out to make a bit of money.

The tourist information office was just a desk and a map, hardly informative but then that’s we have come to expect here!

After a cold drink we left to find a beach on the lake further down the coast.

As usual the road was super skinny and winding, constantly making us slow down and drive right in the edge to let other cars pass. One on occasion we got a branch stuck under the van, so we had to properly stop to get it out. We were treated to the view above, it was so incredible. Albania is just on the other side of the lake. But not only that – as we had the engine off we could hear the call to prayer resounding off the surrounding mountains from the mosque below.

Sound quality not the best on the video but you get the idea…

The beach we found was lovely, and the quietest piece of water we have found in the country!

We spent a good few hours paddling around soaking up the sun.

Today we have travelled down to the coast for a day on the beach. This is the furthest we will be from home in the van, so as of today we are starting to work our way back up towards the UK!

Dubrovnik has to be on your list of places to visit! It was incredible. Not just for the Games of Thrones scenes (which was obviously amazing!) but the old town walls and the history was incredible.So many terracotta roofs it was unbelievable, and so many people actually live in the old town, you can tell by all the washing hanging in the alleys; must be a crazy place to grow up.

We managed to beat most of the crowds and timed our visit when there was only a small cruise ship docked up but it was still so many people walking the town walls, doing Games of Thrones tours and buying ice cream.We had the best day.I think I’ll let the photos do the talking…

We have spent 68 days on the road. We have slept in 37 places. We have 41 days until we get the ferry home. And I couldn’t be happier.

I feel extremely lucky to be doing what I’m doing. There’s always a bit of time to reflect whilst on the road, and especially having a birthday always makes me feel a bit more thoughtful on the year gone by and what I’ve learnt. Getting older has never really phased me, I don’t dread the years going by and I certainly don’t care about grey hairs (strands of wisdom don’t you know!).

This year in particular I have felt more full of energy, rather than less so. Yes, I make more noises getting up out my chair and yes, my knees are giving me hassle but I couldn’t feel more alive and more thankful.

I’ve started thinking about the future and where I want to direct my energy to. I have no idea what opportunities are around the corner, or even where I will be tomorrow, the next day, or the next.

But the ideas and dreams are becoming clearer. Let’s hope one day I can make them happen 🙂

‘It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to…’

But there’s no party and I don’t want to cry. In fact today, my 33rd birthday, there wasn’t a great deal that did happen in my world. Exactly the way I wanted it.

I fully took advantage of having a holiday within our ‘holiday’, and chilled by the pool alllll day. I finished my book. I started a new one. I researched some places to go when we move on again. I drank some wine, played some cards. Then we went for pizza. Perfect.