Manchester

Flew in late last night and stay ever so briefly in a b&b @ Bishop Stropton near the airport. National rail journey for most of the day to Manchester.

British rail has been sold off and the resultant mess is woeful. Prices are through the roof but also all over the place eg today on line we could get,for the same trip, 380£ economy, 128£ economy or 68£ first class what a joke. So no prizes for guessing which we went for. Madness.

Only got one nights accomodation in Manchester as its summer and there are concerts on so no rooms thur thru the week end. Have some shopping for walking guides new shoots food fuel etc but can't stay here. Booking a couple of nights at a pub in Lancaster and will have to come back to manchester during the week if cant get stuff tomorrow.

One of the gear shops had a multistory ice climbing wall in a large glass walled multistory freezer (see photo) way cool.

Note the welcoming committee. These two locals expressed their delight at my arrival by sporting commemorative T shirts (MCR = my initials)

First class the legacy of an appalling British asset sell off

Fans

ice climbing wall in shop

Farewell Zadar hello UK

We leave croatia on a late flight tonight.

I think Croatia has earned the friendliest country in the world title.

I had no expectations beyond what i had read about sailing but it has been and absolute delight to travel here. The people are supper friendly, super trusting and trust worthy. I felt safe even in the dodgiest bits.

Even though some of their customer service processes need some work the individuals are truly interested in helping you not just pretending because their incentives tell them they should.

You do need to like pizza and beer though. No problem here on that account.

Next stop Manchester

Zadar

Traveled to Zadar by bus to join a ship to italy. Only problem was there was no room left on the ship which was a little strange as you could not book online so not sure how all the cabins sold. Any way had to ditch Italy for now as all other options were way to pricy. Booked a cheap flight to London and book a room in Zadar for two nights. This was lucky as Zadar is really great it's not too touristy and has an interesting old town area with a cool sea side promenade that you can swim off.

Apparently Zadar was destroyed in ww2 and when rebuilt lost a bit of its charm. To try and address this the foreshore has had quite a bit of investment to brighten the otherwise concrete walkway. The best thing is a 35 pipe sea organ built into the stone promenade. The waves cause these 35 Organ pipes to pay a haunting music all wave powered and all you can see are little sound holes in the stone pavement. I sat watching the sunset listening to this for about an hour.

Plitvic National Park - Croatia

Staying in the Plitvic lakes national park for a couple of nights. The park is a UNESCO heritage site and is beautiful with cascading blue lakes connected by waterfalls. The blue is betrayed by the photos but they might give you an idea. This is of course Europe so the park whilst beautiful is packed with people all dawdling along the walking trails smoking, not giving a shit if someone is trying to pass etc.

Apparently there are bears hear but the only ones I saw were the gummy bears in my pack.

The accommodation is a bit alpine meets communist resort so lots of ski chalet type dwellings with peeling paint and wonky shutters etc. it's very cute in a run down way.

Finished the day lying on a sun bed enjoying a cigar watching the sun set and the little bats swooping around the trees as the night landed. The lakes are formed on top of a cave system hence the water clarity and the bats.

Zagreb

Spending a couple of nights in Zagreb.

After arriving late last night from Dubrovnik checked into hotel and slept until 11am before walking the town of Zagreb.

It was a public holiday (of course) so everything was closed and streets were empty but it was very peaceful walking around this town. It has a grungy, arty feel to it amongst the very Austro Hungarian architecture. It has many grand buildings but also lashings of museums, art galleries, designer shops, cafes bars etc. Also it feels very safe and welcoming and about its also half the cost of living compared with Dubrovnik.

One museum that was open was the "museum of broken relationships" Very interesting project where people donate articles representing broken relationships and a little story. It started as a street installation but now has a home in zagreb upper town and travels the world. Well worth a visit.

Favorite bar in the world

Spent most afternoons swimming and drinking here whilst in Dubrovnik old town.

This could never happen in Australia with our nanny state liability limitations here you are still responsible for your own actions.

Farewell Dubrovnick and WTF

I know the Croatians love their football but this is ridiculous. I snapped this in the Dubrovnik airport toilet. Please excuse the lack of alignment of the photo but I didn't have much time to take it for fear of being arrested as a pervert.

Montenegro

Zipped down to Montenegro today and visited Kotor, a small walled town (yep ant hither bloody beautifully walled town) situated on a fiord.

Next it was off to Budva for a sea food lunch on the foreshore and explored the old town. This place is a tourist and nightlife destination and is suitably tack. It's looks a bit shabby as Russian money has been welcomed and development therefore seems in regulated. The financial downturn means there are many unfinished eyesores. The area is converted by Croatians due to its low prices and it's "sandy beaches" however if your from Aus these are a bitter disappointment in the true European sense.

Bosnia

Still staying in the apartment but went into Bosnia today mainly to see the Mostar bridge.

On the way we also visited Medjugorje a religious pilgrimage site where some school kids sighted a vision of Mary. It is now a tacky tourist trap with many sad sights of people hoping to be healed or find some salvation. I did stop to sample some holy water (read Guinness) and consequentially I had several visions of Mary my self although they may have been pictures on tourist busses.

Mostar bridge however was pretty interesting it is a famous ottoman era bridge that the Croatian army wasted in the war. The town of Mostar has Christian part (churches etc)and a Muslim part (minarets mosques etc) and they both sit on opposite sides of the river and this bridge. The bridge has been reconstructed (thanks to a donation by Spain) and the town is slowly recovering for the devastation. There are still the odd building riddled with she'll and bullet holes whilst others are completely restored. It was al interesting but the temperature of 46degrees made it almost unbearable.

Mostar Mosque

Mostar bridge

Počitel

Mostar two sides of same building. One renovated one still showing bullet holes

Muslim monastery and sacred spring

Mostar bridge

Holy water consumption at Medjugorje

Dubrovnik part two

Staying in an old apartment in the old town had been sensational. Many stairs and you enter via the kitchen and hang your washing on a line over the little stone street etc etc. Very cute and also air conditioned which is essential as this place is bloody hot from about 11 on wards. So whilst Kathryn went to galleries David and I spent two days drinking coffee in the morning and swimming and drinking beer at the cliff bar at lunchtime and the late arvo until the sun went down. Then we'd all go for dinner.

Sailing Croatia

Croatia sailing and I finally have some wifi. Now this place is beautiful. One little bay after the next, blue blue crystal clear water, and idyllic seaside restraunts each night.

Day 1 Picked up the Yacht from Dubrovnik ACI marina at 6pm and motored out to the island of Kolocep and anchored so we didn't have to stay the night in the marina. Had a quick rum on deck then ferried all in the tender to a little restaurant overlooking the water.

Day 2 Sailed to Jakljan island and dropped anchor for lunch and a swim. In the afternoon we sailed 16Nm to Mljet and picked up a restaraunt mooring. These are cool you moor then a guy comes out in his little boat to say if you Moor it is free but you must eat in his restaurant.

Drinks, swim, shower and we were off in tender(dingy that just fits the seven crew) to the restaraunt. The restaraunt was overlooking the water and boats. As the sun set we feasted on beautiful BBQ fish, meat, pasta, beer wine, etc.

Day 3 today's weather forecast was for high winds and thunderstorms so we decided to stay in Mljet on the mooring and hire bikes to explore the islands national parks inland salty lakes. The ride to the lake tested our fitness but we were reward with scenery and a boat ride to a little island in the middle of rhe lake with an old monastery and cafe for lunch.

Another advantage of staying in port is that we could order the specialty meals that required 3 hr to prepare. So this evening was spent consuming the most delicious roast lamb dish "Lamb under the Bell" (lamb and potatoes roasted on the open fire under a bell shaped lid that has coals piled on top) and goulash. This being our second night at the restaraunt they plied us with grape, walnut, plum, cherry etc tripple distilled Croatian rocket fuel.

Day 4 David and I hopped on the tender to get 7 coffees and chocolate croissants for breakfast on the boat. This proved a little tricky as they didn't have take away so gave us a tray of coffees and said we could take them and return the cups. It was a great feat of balance and seamanship to get these coffees back to the yacht but we managed.

We tried to sail to the island of Korcula however it was only blowing 2kts so it was taking ages. As several of the crew were feeling sea sick we eventually gave up and motored the remaining 16Mn to Korcula town where we took a berth in the marina. This gave us an opportunity to tale on water and recharged the batteries but also placed us 100m from the old walled town that was the berth place of Marco Polo.

Day 5 sailed to the island of Lastovo having lunch on board. We anchored in the national park port of Pasadur which untill recently was not open as it was a cold war Yugoslav military area. We explored an old submarine bunker and some swam ashore to look at the old baracks. The afternoon was then spent swimming off the boat and eating ice cream at the taverna. We happened to be in time to order lamb under the bell again so made a reservation and headed back to the boat for drinkies and showers.

Day 6 Wind was non existent and we had 47nm to cover to get us just outside Dubrovnik for a 9am drop off tomorrow. So we relied on diesel wind and I plotted a long straight course and set the auto pilot for 8 hrs of steaming. A bit dull but we did get a lot or reading, sleeping, lazing around the pd beer in. We made a tiny cove on the same island as our first night "Kolocep" this was very small and we got the little tavern to open especially for us. The last supper was great of a bit sad knowing we'd have to say goodbye to some of the crew tomorrow for who knows how many years.

Day 7 awoke early to start motoring back to the Dubrovnik marina. them had a quiet coffee at the marina before catching cabs to our appt. in the old town of Dubrovnik. Said our god bus to Cooma sandy Anthony and Alison then headed to the Buza bar on the cliffs outside the wall for a swim and a beer.