The 'something' spring - albania

Bob says: Apologies for not knowing the name of this spring that we visited on the way to the Greek border, it was in some indeciferable foreign anyway. From this beatiful turquoise spring emerged a full river of water that filled a dam further down the valley. Visiting this place also gave us the last chance to dine out cheap in Albania. For the second time we enjoyed the national dish of spit roast lamb. You've got to love a spit roast!

Dhermi - Albania

Ruth says: After our freebie night camping we stayed in the brightly coloured hotel in the top picture. Albania was so beautiful and so cheap. We ate out twice a day and still managed to stay within our budget. All my concerns about the country were insubstantiated. We passed hundreds of traffic police on our journey and not one of them stopped us to extort money. Everyone we met was incredibly friendly and helpful and we had a fanatstic time.

Bob says: Albania appears to be at the beginning of a resurgence. Albania emerged from its isolation in the early nineties following demontrations from its people and entered the world stage when it accepted thousands of Kosovan refugees during the bosnian war. This kick started a flow of international aid that is starting to make a difference to the infrastructure in Albania. Although, judging by the amount of BMWs Audis and Mercs that came to the resorts from Tirane (the capital) much of this aid is sadly going into the hands of the few instead of the many. However, there are new roads popping up all over the place, although albania still has some of the finest potholes I have ever seen! Visit albania before it loses its commercial innocence, you are sure to get a warm welcome from its people.

Also, following a request from mother dando this blog will now feature more photos of the lovely Ruth..... And who could argue with that!

Albania

Bob says : We drove through Albania down to where we had been told the best beaches in Europe were, they were not wrong. Deserted sandy beaches where you can camp, and we did. You may have noticed the concrete bunkers on picture 4, these are a relic from Albania's past isolation from the world. They are literally hundreds of these on the coast and around border that used to form albania's first line of defence. Their main use now is for Albanians to make sweet love - alot nicer than shooting invaders!
Ruth says: We did a big of four wheel drive off roading to get down to this beautiful deserted beach. WE arrived in the dark and had to put up the tent in the light from the car's headlights. It was unbeleivably windy however and after trying in vain to sleep for over an hour we both decided that the only way to get to sleep with the tent rocking so badly was to get very drunk. We then proceeded to drink the rest of a bottle of Armangnac that we had in the car. It worked but Bob's sips were a bit bigger than mine hence the photo of him above the next day.
Bob says: Incidentally, never fall asleep with only factor 10 on your white ass. Sitting was a problem in the days that followed. Also, the wife was sick after the brandy!

Montenegro - Kotor

Bob says: Kotor is on the banks of the largest Fjord outside Norway in Europe. The town is one of many walled citadels along this coast line. If you can tell the difference between a Fjord, a harbour and a estuary then write in and let us know! This place is also part of the setting for the latest james bond, that in my opinion is not quinticential bond ( bond should never fall in love and women should largely play damsels in distress or sex objects - thats just the way it should be) .

Ruth says: Ignore the idiot .

Dubrovnik

Ruth says: the beautiful Dubrovnik. This gorgeous town has white buildings and marble floors so when the sun shines everything sparkles. We were lucky enough to be there for the first day of the Dubrovnik festival. There was a big opening ceremony with music and dancing and all the streets were lit up with flaming torches. The town was heaving with people and the atmosphere was amazing. After the opening ceremony everybody thronged to the docks where there was a huge firework display, and then everyone spilled back into the town and the party kept on going. As you can see from the pictures of the street we spent hours in the same cafe where all the drinks, including gin and brandy tasted of cream soda.

More Slappers

Bob says: There were about 16 lakes of various sizes decending in elevation all interconnected by waterfalls of various height. The lakes and waterfalls are constantly changing, albeit slowly, due to the deposits of the calcium based sediment in the water - Thats the technical stuff if you're interested. This is a unique occurance. Check out the hungry fish!

Plitvice lakes, Croatia

Bob says: This place was full of slappers. Now you maybe wondering why Barnsley has not acheived national park status and this place has. Well you'd be mistaken, because croatian for waterfall is slap. Anyway, I've never seen as many beautiful slappers, and the spit roasting was amazing. Yes, croatia does an impressive spit roast, mainly chicken and pig. Virtually all the road side cafes have a full pig spit roasting outside, stick that little chef!

Ruth says: This place was gorgeous. Thre were little wooden boardwalks along around and across the turquiose water. There were about a million fish that gathered all along the edge of the boardwalks and the water was so clear as you can see. We took loads and loads of photos...this is a highly edited sample.

You can also see here my very sensible choice of colour for the new shorts we bought in Luby Juby. They are not this colour anymore.

Croatia

Bob says: The Croatian coast is superb, crystal clear water and hot sun. Picture 2 shows the ru and bob view.
Ruth says: in our first campsite in Croatia, which was really no more than a yard full of trees ( where we managed to have our first little scrape on the car) ,there was a swallow's nest up above the loos. The little babies were all peering out of the nest, it was very cool.

Bob says: Unpronouncable Ljubijana actually pronounced Luv-li-jub-le. Simply the coolest city I have been to, relaxed, loads of cafes and bars, and cheap!! The food was superb as well, yer slovens certainly love their fish and meat. One meal I had had four different types of pork on the plate....mmm!

Ruth says: You can also see here a picture of our new shelter. We had massive thunderstorms when we were in Luby Juby and it wasn't much fun trying to cook in the little shelter that we had. Bob was very proud of his new shelter and sat out in woolly hat and socks drinking wine when everyone else was hiding in their tents. We also got our haircut so the hairy monster look has been tamed a bit, for now.

More Julian Alps

Ruth says: as you can see the Julian Alps were amazing. If you haven't learnt by now to ignore some of bob's comments then you can do so about the map. I was having my hair cut at the time so he thought he could get away with it! He has obviously been punished for his blatant sexism.

The Julian Alps

Bob says: The beautiful julian alps in northern slovenia. As you can see from the photos we got quite high up helped partly by a cable car that elevated us 1000 metres from the lake. The lovely ruth is pictured consulting a map on top of the peak we climbed with breathtaking 360 degree views. Obviously the map is a prop for the photo, as we all know a map in a womens hands is about as much use as a vegetarian steakhouse!!

Language, no problem!

Bob says: Now we have reached Eastern Europe I can no longer rely on the trusty language of European. For those of you not familiar with modern European, let me explain. This relatively new language is a combination of several languages enabling you to communicate with the majority of Jonnie Foreigner. It has its base naturally in English, then you add a smattering of French, a soupcon of Spanish and then garnish with Italian. This is obviously a very difficult language to master, but one that is truly rewarding. You should see the look of astonishment on the face of Mr Foreigner when it is conversed. One final but very important factor to take into consideration is the accent. The accent, let's call it foreign, has its base in Italian for obvious reasons (I'm sure even the Spanish and French would agree that there are many letters that they fail to pronounce correctly). Unfortunately for the wife, she has failed to master this intricate language, relying simply on the individual languages of the separate countries. This is a mistake, as European is clearly the future.
Number one tip when learning European: You will find a lot of the time that you simply have to make the English word sound foreign. Example: Cigar (English) = Cigaro (Foreign); Beer (English) = Biera(Foreign).
It is my aim now to develop the language of Eastern European . I have already discovered that adding "ski" to a lot of English words helps, and the Slovenians certainly appreciate the effort.
Obviously for future harmony in Europe, the East and West languages will have to be amalgamated. Until then I am conscious of the important work that I am doing. Au revoirski!

Vintgar Gorge

Ruth says: not as nice as Verdon but very pretty indeed. Oh and there were a million trout in the water all swimming against the current waiting to catch food. Pretty cool to watch.

Lake Bled

Bob says: I am glad we went to lake garda 1st because if garda and bled had a lake fight bled would have garda on the ropes before delivering the knock out punch!