More Vikos

Bob says: Rather than walk the 12 km through the gorge we drove around to the other end. Well it was 35-40 degrees, probably 50. Any way it wasn't raining like in England!

Greece - The Vikos Gorge

Bob says: Another beautiful gorge, we love em! We walked the 1000 metres decent into the gorge for a swim in the natural spring at the bottom. The temperature of the water was a steady 10 degrees about as cold as a pint of carling extra cold. Unfortunately the wife failed to capture my perfect swallow dive in flight, a shame for all diving afficionardos.
As you can see, the walk back up took its toll on the wife even though I carried her half the way, running!

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.