5 July 2012: Yesterday we headed for the romantic Rhine road that runs between Mainz and Koblenz, our first stop was at the town of Bacharach with its classic timber framed houses. A typical view in the town:

Paul at our lunch stop by the side of the Rhine:

The day’s sights continued from there with castles in the sky, castles in the trees and castles in the road, along with barges boats and trains, from Koblenz we then headed along the bank of the Mosel River and made a camping stop at Burgen on the river bank for the night. A barge passing our camping spot on the Mosel:

We drove on the next day, still following the Mosel and stopping occasionally to check out the pretty towns. Some views of Cochen on the Mosel:

We travelled on to Luxembourg where we stopped at Steinfort for the night ready for our journey to the ferry port and home, possibly tomorrow.

3 July 2012: Yesterday we headed north as there was no point in hanging about waiting for the weather to change as it was forecast to rain for 5 days. We camped overnight near Strasbourg and then drove through the heart of the Black Forest villages, sampling the famous cake in the prettiest village of Schiltach and visiting the brewery at Alpirsbacher where the beer is brewed with Black Forest spring water. We have experienced rain for the past 3 days after nearly 3 months of almost cloudless skies! The village of Schiltach:

Paul transporting cake in Schiltach:

Linda displaying the cake in Schiltach:

Paul with a keg of beer from the brewery in Alpirsbacher:

View Locarno to Interlaken in a larger map 2 July 2012: Locarno didn’t hold our interest and we drove on to Interlaken where we planned to take some trips on trains to see the Eiger and Jungfrau at closer quarters and also to visit Zermatt. We went through the Gottard Tunnel again and turned off west and up to the Sustenpass, (2224m elevation). Poor Braveheart thought she had seen her last mountain pass but she soldiered on in her normal fashion. A glimpse of mountains on our ascent:

We stopped on the way up at one of a string of biker café’s along the route.

This is a favourite road for bikers with its hairpin bends and spectacular vistas. Once at the top, visibility changed dramatically and we slowed to between 10 and 15mph which was about the same numbers for visibility in meters, all of the long way down the other side. Our campsite was right on the edge of the fast flowing river that joins the 2 lakes, Thun and Brienze and also the port for one of the paddle steamers:

We were 7 minutes walk away from the train station and the ferry port. We walked around the town in the rain along with other visitors then returned to the camp to watch the UEFA football final between Italy and Spain. The best team won! (Spain) After several dramatic thunder storms in the night, we woke to cool and very wet weather and the mountains were completely hidden so sadly there was no point in taking the expensive train trips into the mountains. This is the second time we have come to Interlaken to take these trips so it looks like third time lucky!

View Pula to Locarno in a larger map 28 June 2012: Well, what a day yesterday turned out to be. With a good plan of driving a few miles up the coast we set off and arrived at Rovinj for coffee and a walk-about. This proved to be a beautiful town in a scenic setting.

We wandered around in the heat, admiring the now familiar marble cobbled streets and network of small alleyways. Then off to Porec, much of the same but not quite so pretty. We had high expectations but were disappointed with the west coast of Istria since leaving Pula, it seemed much more commercialised and we saw Go Karting, Aquariums, Paintball, Dinosaur Parks and Water Parks advertised on roadside placards here and there. Not enough that it spoiled the area but the first time we came across anything like it in Croatia. The first campsite we tried had a place about 2.5m by 4m along side a huge grey monolith of a motorhome. We passed on this and headed for the next choice. Anywhere in the 2 ‘B’ areas we were told. Well, they turned out to be fairly full of permanent residents (aka trailer trash) and the best shady spot was between the rubbish bins and an okay looking family with a dog on a leash. Our hearts sank at the thought of this being our last memory of Croatia so we moved on in search of something better. 1km down the road we found a family run site and bagged one of a few spots right next to the sea! (€20 per night including wi-fi) The only other price to pay was that we were just in hearing distance of a local bar that played electronic thumping music from 0800 to 0100. We decided that this was a price worth paying for a couple of nights and spent the next 2 days swimming, chilling and planning our escape and the following night in the bar sipping cocktails and watching the Italy/Germany football match. If you can’t beat them, join them! 30 June 2012: Yesterday we had another very hot, long drive from Novigrad, Croatia to revisit Peschiera del Garda, Italy. Oh, for air-conditioning! We chose a huge camping spot complete with its own water supply and drainage, in sight of the lake and only €16 per night (but an additional €3 for a measly 1 hour wi-fi). We walked into the attractive town for dinner and checked out ferry trips on the lake for the following day. The lake in full swing:

Well, the following day came with even higher temperatures and ridiculous humidity so we decided to forget the all day ferry trip and to continue our search for a more civilised climate. This brought us back to Lake Maggiore but just outside Locarno this time, which is at the top of the lake and in the Swiss section. It was still hot but less humid and more bearable, objective achieved! Also, there was a very nice swimming pool and good free wi-fi but as luck would have it, Virgin Media were doing some maintenance and the email was not accessible (even though they said it was so sorry if you were waiting to hear from us).

26 June 2012: The days are passing too swiftly now as we head towards a channel crossing around 14 July. Today we took the bus into town and walked around the city which is best known for its many surviving ancient Roman buildings, the most famous of which is its 1st century amphitheatre, which is among the six largest surviving Roman arenas in the world: The Temple of Rome and Augustus is another notable ancient Roman structure next to the Town Hall in the square or ‘Forum’: Here is Braveheart having a well earned rest while the blog gets updated:

View Krkto Pula, Croatia in a larger map 25 June 2012: We drove to the ferry port and crossed to the neighbouring island of Cres. From there we decided to go directly to the mainland, the peninsular of Istria and we followed the signs to the ferry up and up another never ending mountain road until we started the steep descent which seemed to take forever. It is amazing what a straight line on a map can mean. However the ferries were very efficient and easy to use, run by Jadrolinja and cost us €34 per crossing. We arrived in Pula, a charming town on the southern tip of Istria and found a campsite surrounded by sea on a peninsular just outside the town on a good bus route.

View Jelsa to Krk, Croatia in a larger map 24 June 2012: The heat finally got the best of us and we headed north in search of cooler climes. By pure luck we ended up in a peaceful shady campsite on the beautiful island of Krk, in it’s capital town of Krk. We arrived on the island by a toll bridge but would most likely leave by ferry via Cres, another island. We were in walking distance of the pretty town which had a charming old centre and good amenities. We hired a motor scooter to tour some of the island’s other towns which was great fun: Krk remained by far our favourite town but we found Vrbnik on the east coast very hospitable as when we arrived there were copious amounts of local wine on offer for tasting, drunk directly from the jug and accompanied by as much Panetone as one could consume! Naturally it would have been impolite to decline! There were crowds of locals drinking it too and a group of men going from bar to bar singing together. It was altogether a very happy atmosphere and we enjoyed lunch in their midst. Vrbnik approach: