Sunday 11^th September 2022

At 0535 we were rudely woken by the mother of all thunder storms. As well as a great sound and light show there was also heavy rain hammering on the van roof. Wendy suggested that it would be a good idea if I went out and rescued the dog trailer that was lying outside of the awning. By the time I got to it, it was soaked. The storm blew itself out in an hour so again I was able to take Bryn for a walk without wearing my new waterproof.

This waterproof is becoming a bit of a good luck charm. I bought in a rush on the day we left Derby as my old waterproof as decided to transition and now wants to be known as a sponge! The new coat is one of Go Outdoors’ finest, and if its colour was a Farrow and Ball paint it would probably be called ‘Potter’s Clay’! Anyway I like it, and it is doing a very good job hanging in the wardrobe as we have had clear skies for the last three weeks.

By the time we began to pack up, everywhere was pretty dry in the warm, morning sunshine, and the only real dampener was that Wendy was unable to negotiate a reduction on our site fees because we were sharing a pitch. The campsite know they are on to a winner. It’s funny that they also claimed their internet was down so wanted payment in cash only, despite us having good Wi-Fi all the time we were there. Was this a late season ‘bonus’ for them?

Today’s journey was just a quick 50 minutes, plus a supermarket stop for beer and wine, to Autocamp Krka, only 15km inland from Sibenik and on the edge of the Krka National Park. I just knew this was going to be a good campsite by the way the husband and wife team, that own the site, came out to meet us, rather than expecting us to go into the reception office. Mr Campsite Owner (no names as I’m not getting too matey again!) then showed us to our site and made sure that we were happy with it. Not only that they arranged for a taxi to take us into Sibenik after lunch (Sunday – no buses) and we signed up for a tour of the National Park they run  for tomorrow. Oh, and they have a delightful little restaurant on site too! Whats not to like?

We missed Sibenik in 2018 as we ran out of time and had to pass it by as we headed for Split and the ferry. This time, the taxi dropped us off right by the side of the old, mediaeval town. We ducked down an alley way and it was as if we had travelled back three centuries in time, apart from the candy shops and high end tourist tat on sale. Sibenik is an ancient port that has been rebuilt many times, especially in the civil war in the early 1990s. Since then the damaged has been completely repaired. We followed a trail that took us from the town quay, to a park with a  pond full of terrapins and then past ancient churches and palaces, until we reached the citadel at the top of the hill. This has now been restored and converted into a swish performance venue, however, a Dutch lady coming out told us it wasn’t worth the €7.50 entry fee, so we took in the view from the graveyard next door instead. We completed the trail by descending flight after flight of stone steps which brought us to the Cathedral. Wikipedia reckons that the Cathedral of St James is the most important Renaissance building in the whole of Croatia. I liked the fact that the North door is flanked by statues of Adam and Eve and Eve is depicted with a belly button! There are also the sculptured portraits of 74 heads of local worthies or friends of the stone masons!

Now we had worked up a thirst, it was time to find a bar. The first bar was selling drinks at Les Gets prices (posh France!). so we made our excuses and left and instead found a tiny square that was the home of café bar Bagatin where the beer was closer to €2 a pint. The owner was a great chap too, as our taxi driver had let us down (he wouldn’t come and pick us up as he was having ‘family time’!) and so Mr Bagatin rang around all the taxis he knew until he found someone who would take us and the two dogs back to the campsite. The next time you are in Sibenik, please tell Mr Bagatin I sent you?