Countries - Salter's travels

Speikboden

The Speikboden is a mountain in the Zillertal Alps in South Tyrol, top right-hand corner of Italy. Hosts a couple of very nice ski areas.

Crossing the Col du Lautaret
Dirty water out, clean water in
Snowy
Cold

Its the start of the ski season and the start of a small tour of the Alps for Baloo. Alpe d’Huez, at 1800m, is perched high above the Romanche valley which is frequently filled with cloud (at least, it was while we were there). We had to share a motor home park with many other vehicles. Fantastic views and very convenient for the slopes.

Snow in Austria

Austria is a very pretty place. In the snow it looks really fabulous. We learned that Baloo is impeccably behaved in fresh snow – breezing over the Obertauern pass we were the only truck that did not need snow chains. But being truck sized in Austria appears to be a bit of a problem. For a start you need a ‘GoBox’ tracking unit to pay the rather expensive road tolls but the real kicker was all the weight restrictions. We found it really difficult to get anywhere without encountering a restricted road. Eventually we rolled into a town where, from the center, every exit had a weight restriction. Including the road we had come in on. At this point we gave up and took the most direct route out of Austria.

We woke to discover it had been snowing overnight
We found an interesting stairway up a gorge
Cent gets very excited in the snow

Slovenia

Overcast and snowy. Remarkably green rivers.

Wet dog in the cab

Snow in Bosnia

Trekking North through Bosnia we found some wonderful lakes, mountains forests and roads

We also came across minefields. I once had a close encounter with a land mine and have been a bit nervous of them ever since. Inevitably we wondered if the unmarked areas were really safe, so we tended not to linger anywhere or wander too far off the road.

No walking in these woods
Biggest bulldozer ever
Lovely valley but full of warnings about land mines

Then one morning we woke up in the snow. We had moved from summer to winter in just a few days.

Dedicated dog swimming place. This dog was not interested though.
Outdoor museum. The huts have a little water wheel used for spinning cotton.
First snow of the year caught a few people by surprise
First snowy morning

Serbia – bear country

In the East of Serbia we came across the Tara National Park and the magnificent Zaovine Lake. Also there were bears. Spent a couple of happy days driving around the lake but we didn’t see any bears.

North through Montenegro

We skirted Podgorica at a distance and then headed North to the hills.

Winding mountain roads, no traffic, irresistible

Crno Jezero (Black Lake) in the Durmitor National Park

SH21 to Thethit

The SH21 looks likes a good road on the map. Some of it is. To the top of the pass is a steep tarmac road with violently exposed hairpin bends. Down the other side is a dirt track with vertiginous unprotected drops even tighter corners and spectacular views. This was a job for the bike.

Albanian Alps

I was never very aware of Albania having Alps. But it does. Really good ones. Steep, remote and spectacular.

NW from Shkodër we wandered up a terrific valley and finally settled for a couple of days at a lovely little spot nestled in the curls of the road. Six cars a day. None at night. Felt like we had the place to ourselves.

As the sun set there was not a light visible anywhere. Not even the glimmer of a farmhouse light in the valley. Clear skies and a new moon made for stellar panoramas. We spent quite a few hours huddled under blankets watching for meteorites.

Albania – Lake Skadar

South from Montenegro into Albania and we came across a wonderful campsite by the side of the immense Lake Skadar. The lake is one of Southern Europe’s major bird reserves. We did see many birds but they all looked a bit like seagulls to me.

Shortly after we arrived another truck turned up with another travelling couple. The remarkable Fred & Alice with their two lovely children Estaban & Ruben. Their story is here http://www.lespetitsvoyageurs.fr/

Fred built this truck with its magnificent raising roof by himself.

Montenegro coast road

South from Croatia we continued to follow the beautiful coast road. We drove through a tiny bit of Bosnia to get into Montenegro. A couple of days later we found a perfect little beach spot with a bar just 30 minutes walk away.

A little bit of beach all to ourselves for a couple of days

Sun-downers on the beach – a great tradition

Distant Budva is popular with tourists but everything is closed at this time of year

Dubrovnik

Beautiful and ancient Croatian city. Still a popular tourist destination despite being heavily shelled in the ‘homeland war’ of 1991. More recently used as a set for Game of Thrones and Star Wars. Baloo is way to big for the streets and car parks of Dubrovnik so we parked several kilometers away and bobbed in on the bike.

Croatia Coast Road

Terrific driving. Blue sea, great views, winding road and at this time of year, not very crowded.

We tried to climb a hill. 700m up we got here and gave up. Still ended up walking off in the dark.

They would not let us in the castle with the dog.

Venice

This was supposed to be a bit of a cultural day. What we actually found, Venice at high tide, was damp, decaying and smelt of sewage.

The day after we visited the water was 0.5m higher. This caused lots of problems.

The ferry from Punta Sabbioni was a great way to arrive

Steel shutters at the bottom of each door to try and keep the water out

Piazza San Marco. Diane is modelling her new wellies with the leopard print tops.

South through the Alps

Setting off for a slightly longer trip.

Getting round corners like this can sometimes take a few shunts and the occasional deep breath

Rhine Camping

For our first venture out we found a few places to stay on the Rhine and the areas around it.

We don’t fit in very well at this sort of campsite

Industrial camping

Industrial Camping is the term used by Unicat owners to describe camping at the Unicat factory. We did several weeks of Industrial Camping as part of the process of moving into our new home. Packing was a big part of this. Packing everything into lockers, drawers and cupboards. Clothes, tools, equipment, food, supplies. Everything apparently needed packing at least four times, unpacking, rearranging and packing again. Eventually things started to fit into place but it was all remarkably time-consuming and difficult. The essential question of what to take, when examined in detail, is almost impossibly hard to answer. We spent an awful lot of time packing things, thinking carefully about it, changing our mind and then unpacking them again. Ultimately some order emerged. We were pleased with some of the packing and when boredom set in we stuffed everything else into boxes marked ‘misc’.