Week 39: Nelly joins the travelling circus…and is here to stay!

May 30, 2022
5 min read

Steve was very pleased with himself to find these from his snorkelling trips!

Our stops this week:

2 nights at Belvedere Camping

1 night at Stobrec Camping

1 night at Sirena Camping

3 nights at Riveria Makarska Camping

We’ve stayed at quite a few different campsites this week. The reason for this is that it has allowed us to ‘dip’ into a city, break up a journey or to try and avoid the heat. Although, I hear on the radio that there has been rain in the UK and those of you from the UK who read this, probably are shaking your heads when I say this… but it can be too hot, especially when in a Mo-Ho (I really miss the rain and cool evenings!). I also know we have mentioned the heat in the last few blogs, but it has really become the dominant factor in our decision making and plans. Does the campsite have shade? Do we need to stay hidden away during the heat of the day? Is it too hot to leave Bear in the van for a bit and for us to head out? Which parts of the day can we walk Bear? When will it be cool enough to try and sleep? What time in the morning do we get up for it to be cooler? What shall we eat because it is just too bloody hot to turn the hob on!

We stopped at Prinosten and Rogoznica on the way to Trogir.

We headed to Belvedere, so that we could visit the town of Trogir. It was recommended to us by my Mum’s cousin and her husband, who had lived in Sarajevo for a number of years, thank you for the tip Rohan! The campsite was really nice, with a swimming pool, which was much appreciated for cooling off-especially when we were still nursing our itchy bites-mentioned in Steve’s blog last week. (I would just like to add that the bites were crazy, we reckon we had over 80 between us, I don’t even normally get bitten!). We cycled into Trogir in the evening as it was a little cooler (about 26 degrees), and we could leave Bear, with lots of windows open and fans on. A very pretty and old town that we enjoyed looking around.

Pictures from Trogir

Car that belongs to the campsite-I presume it takes people to their bungalows?

The campsite had a dog play park/agility course that Bear tested out!

This was my least bitten leg and a more suitable blog picture than my very bitten bum!

We then headed to Stobrec campsite, so that we could visit Split. When we visited Zadar we struggled to find a campsite near the city but this site was reasonably priced, about 8km away from the city and with large pitches. As it was going to be a 30+ degree day, we had planned to go into Split in the evening and take Bear with us, we also planned to get a taxi in and out. One positive about the heat, is that it calms down a very bouncy dog! Bear was amazing in Split and managed to not cause chaos whilst we ate out and walked around the city in a fairly normal manner. Split was also a very pretty and old city, with lots of nice restaurants and views of the sea. We also found excellent ice cream-which always makes Steve very happy.

Camp site near Split

Split

Dinner in Split and Bear pretending to be a normal dog!

Bear highly motivated to walk nicely in Split by the allure of a chip!

Im sure they mean Dalmatians and Cockerpoos! (These were the stolen trainers worn in Split!)

The oddest thing happened though. We got back to the campsite about 9pm and it was very quiet, with no one around. Even our neighbour who had stood with her hands on her hips, whilst trying to hide behind a tree but staring at us for a sustained period when we arrived (maybe never seen UK travellers before??) was nowhere to be seen! We sat in the van, with all the doors and windows open but with the fly screens across. (This is now a part time job…trying to keep the van cool but the midges out, we have an array of sprays and I’ve read that they hate the smell of lavender, so have lavender pouches hanging by windows and doors.) At about 10.30/11pm, Steve took Bear out for his evening ‘wee’. Steve moaned at me for moving his trainers…I hadn’t. Steve used another pair but came back in outlining that his trainers weren’t there? We both looked around the van, but it’s not exactly massive, where would they be? How odd, at some point his trainers had been taken from right outside the door, which was open and we, nor Bear (our fierce guard dog) had noticed. Odd too…my beautiful gold trainers had been left. Also, people leave bikes, paddle boards, chairs etc. outside overnight but the thief left these. Anyway, the next morning we looked around and checked people’s feet, but they were gone. Disgruntled and bemused we moved on.

With the temperature reaching 33 degrees outside, I decreed I couldn’t take the constant heat anymore-nor can my dog. It is always hotter in the van than the outside temperature and it only drops outside to about 26/27 degrees overnight. After thinking about different options; heading north again to see if it is cooler, renting a bungalow for a week…we decided to ‘bite the bullet’ and buy a portable air-con unit. In some ways, completely impractical in terms of space and needing some ‘jiggling’ of things in the van to make it work, it has however been worth every penny and as many say ‘happy wife (and dog) happy life’. Even Steve, who was reluctant to admit it was hot, was very appreciative of the air-con, as our next campsite had absolutely no shade. We parked on the side of a sea cliff and spent the afternoon sat in the van in cool bliss. The dog moved his face and visibly smiled as he sat in front of the cool air-having his Marilyn Monroe moment! In the evening we all went for a dip in the sea and have a walk along the coast.

Nelly- I always say we are like a travelling circus, with everything you can imagine in one small space!

We used cloths to cover the gap-and keep out the midges-before using my best Blue Peter skills to create and alternative.

The air-con unit is a little cumbersome to use and have in the van and from the pictures you can see why the name Nelly has stuck!

It doesn't look that hot in the picture but it was and no shade.

It had pretty views but was a bit of a 'higgedly' car park campsite.

We then headed to Riveria camping and was thrilled to find shade! A very nice small campsite which was only a few minute’s walk into a town-quite rare for us. Also, we had a few cooler days here (not that Steve grumbled that the weather was cooler, now we’ve bought Nelly) which meant we could get out on our bikes, walk a little more and actually move around. The town had huge mountains right behind and the sea in front, with a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, definitely a great place to visit. Steve also enjoyed snorkelling each day, photographing lots of fish, which also gave me some time to study.