14. Apr, 2016

14. Apr, 2016

14. Apr, 2016

WEDNESDAY 13-5-15

We awoke to another very warm morning, still mustn't grumble, it's a treat to experience more than two sunny days in a row.

We have re-jigged our schedule a bit now, and have decided to leave on Friday and go back down the coast road to the Mostar junction, a distance of about 50 miles. This will give us the opportunity for better views of the coastline and a chance to get some pictures. We'll then turn around and come back up again, just a day out really. We will then either stop here again for one night or just keep moving on up the road.

After a shower and breakfast we set off for a nice walk along the coast enjoying the views, and on our return in to Omis before it got too hot enjoyed an ice cream each. A big dollop of whatever flavour you want for seventy pence. All the way back past the shops we were popping in to see if any of them sold bags of ice cubes. Yesterday we had bought a small net of lemons with the idea of squeezing them and adding the juice to a pitcher of ice cubes. Nice idea, but no ice cubes. Then it was back in to the local supermarket to buy some fresh bits including some milk. For the second time on this trip we've inadvertently bought a pint of runny yoghurt, the bottle looks just like the milk but certainly tastes different. I thought I might try and knock up a dessert using some of the yoghurty milk whipped in to an 'Angel Delight' and see if that can be thrown over some fruit, anything really as long as it doesn't go in the tea or over the cereal.

Tonight we had a nice BBQ and sat out under our porch awning, the first time we have wound it out and used it. There is a reason for that. It's wound out using an adjustable pole you put in to the winding mechanism on the side of the awning. Out it will come, though it needs lots of support as it’s quite heavy. Drop the legs, jobs a good'n. However after you finish winding it all back in there's a real chance you can't get the winding handle back out again, which means as a touring vehicle you aren't going anywhere until you somehow manage to release it.

Back home I had gone online and found the company which supplies the spares for the mechanism, sent them an email - nothing. You can tell the recession is now over because businesses have slipped back in to that attitude of indifference again. Eventually I phoned up and spoke to the guy who said 'Oh yeah, they often do that, no point in buying new parts for it, you won't gain anything' which didn't fill me with confidence, and as a consequence we now carry a telescopic folding ladder so that, should it happen again, I can get up there and somehow sort it and retrieve the handle. So that's more space and weight we have to drag round. Typically of course it's not played up once since I bought the ladder. Maybe there was always an art in how to use the winding handle, but I can't take that chance.

It wasn't until this afternoon when somebody's ball of yelping fluff started to show off its noise-making ability that I realised we'd seen very few dogs on campsites during this trip. This is probably because the Brits are by far the worst offenders for dragging the poor things along with them, and we've been too far away from home to bump in to them. Since leaving home we've met one Brit couple at Dubrovnik who arrived the same time as us and that's it, in fact we've only really started seeing other motorhomes from any nation, in any number, since arriving in Dubrovnik.

When we were down in Spain for the winter one particular campground had a real dog barking problem, but that's another story. As a consequence I have purchased one of those electronic horns you can put on a bike. This evening I have inserted the batteries and tested it ....... wow it's loud! I now have a way of paying those dogs back each time they kick off. Be warned 'Henry the Horn' is armed and ready for business.

14. Apr, 2016

14. Apr, 2016