Monday 8-8-16 and
Tuesday 9-8-16
This morning we had to
drop the van off at the Fiat dealer which meant us getting up at half
“bloody” six. Liz followed me in the car we'd hired. A vintage
VW Golf with 250,000 km on the clock.
After leaving Brian the van in the capable hands of Valentino the mechanic we drove to the south
side of Lake Balaton and got a ferry to Tihany on the North side. A little further on in the town of Balaton Fured we abandoned the car, ignoring the
parking meters, and had a wander about. It was a very tidy place and
a lot of money had been spent doing it up. It felt like money lived
here and the presence of a marina with nice yachts moored up
confirmed this.
I bought myself a hat
and Liz paid to use the public loo's. We'd given the town enough of
our cash so drove on around the lake. At lunch we found a German
cafe where we shared a plate of Gyros and chips.
Then back on the road
and by four we were back at the garage. They'd changed the radiator
and replaced a turbo hose but the wheel bearing would have to be done
tomorrow. So our back-up plan sprung into action. Tranquil Pines
camping also had an en-suite B&B room. We declined the breakfast
and paid for a bed for the night. That evening we treated Andrew and
Sharon, the site owners, to a meal at a restaurant they recommended.
It was run by a Swiss woman and served great steaks and great beer.
On Tuesday we hurtled
south in the mighty Golf to a town called Pecs. Just outside the
town was a TV tower that had a viewing deck at the top.
At the top we got a
good view of the town and supposedly on a clear day you could see as
far as Serbia. What it did show was how flat the country is south of
there. I needed hills.
In Pecs we parked up
and explored. We found fine old buildings, monuments, pedestrianised
areas and street cafes. Altogether a very nice place. We dined out
for the third time on the trot and had great pizzas while sat outside
a restaurant called The Elephant.
After doing the
touristy thing in Pecs we headed back to see how the van was doing.
And it was done. For 528 quid we had a new radiator, radiator
mounts, turbo hose, track rod end and wheel bearing. Driving back to
the camping was like driving a new van.
Tranquil Pines Camping,
Hungary. N46.59027 E018.10344
Wednesday 10-8-16
We said goodbye to
Andrew and Sharon and headed for Slovenia. After crawling around the
Lake in seriously slow traffic we eventually hit open road and by
lunch were at the Hungarian – Slovenian border. If we'd of blinked
we'd of missed it, just a sign, no guards or passport checks like the
last three borders we'd crossed. Slovenia struck me as nice, very
Germanic in the tidiness and building styles. We needed to recoup
some of the expenses of the last six days, campsite fees, B&B
costs, car hire, eating out and van repairs. So our 2013 edition of
the Camperstop Europe book was dug out, the first time since Italy in
March. It showed a few places in Slovenia and we picked one on our
route north to Austria. As ever a couple of kilometres down a gravel
path led us to it. It was a grassy field next to some fishing ponds
and a pretty restaurant. The fine mustachioed owner of the
restaurant confirmed it was free to stop and so we were sorted for
the night.
We then decided to eat
at the restaurant, which wasn't really part of the money saving plan.
It was good food and they served good Slovenian beer called Union
Pevo.
After the meal we took
our drinks outside and sat chatting with the owner, who spoke good
English. The motorhome stopover was his idea and he said it brought
him trade during the week when he wasn't as busy with weekend
fisherman at the ponds. He ran the bar and served the food and his
wife did all the cooking, the salad and veggies came out of his
garden. There was what I thought was a wood fired pizza oven outside
but he said they used it to slow cook “small piggies and baby cows”
I took this to mean suckling pig and veal.
Camperstop Grostilna
Tmek, Slovenia. N46.55516 E016.21929
Thursday 11-8-16
There was mist on the
fishing ponds when we woke up and a few workmen having an early
coffee in the restaurant.
There were very few
camperstops in Slovenia so instead of heading west through the
country we headed north to Austria. We got to the border in an hour
and found Austrian soldiers there. They searched inside the van and
checked our passports. Perhaps worries about illegal immigrants had
instigated this as we didn't expect anything at this border. Again
we'd looked in the big book of camperstops and found three likely
places all within 100km of our Slovenian fishing ponds. After a bit
of shopping we realised that our days of cheap food were over, but it
was nice to be using Euros again. We found the first of our stops
and decided that it was good enough for us. A grassy area the local
town had provided for motorhomes to stop at, and it was free.
The town was close and
we nosied about looking at the immaculate houses, gardens and the
tidy shops. It was the Austria I remembered from previous trips in
our old VW camper.
Stelplatz at
Schwanberg, Austria. N46.76342 E015.20632
Friday 12-8-16
We woke to sun and 20
degrees but the temp had dropped to 10 degrees in the night, we were
glad we'd pulled the big duvet out of storage. Our next destination
was a waterfall 100km west and the road ran along the Slovenian
border. At one junction I took the wrong exit off a traffic island
and next thing we knew we were back in Slovenia. Taking advantage of
the mistake we found a supermarket and bought a slab of Union Pevo at
89 cents a can and 300 cigarettes, again cheaper than Austria.
A bit further on, the
road entered Austria and we climbed through alpine meadows to a
parking at the bottom of a trail to the waterfall. Boots got put on
and we climbed up the very steep path to the falls. At the falls I
did the thing where you take a photo of them so they look they're
falling on your wife's head, then you wonder what else to do and then you decide
going back down is the only option. I'm not very good at being a
tourist.
Back down at the bottom
of the hill a far more satisfying thing was on offer, Goulash soup in
a cafe. Splendid stuff for lunch after a bit of a ramble.
The cafe allowed
campervans to stop in the parking overnight and as it was quiet and
they had a public loo where we could dump the contents of the bog
cassette. We struck camp in a corner.
Stelplatz Wildenstien, Austria. N46.53908 E014.50938
Saturday 13-8-16
It was quiet overnight
and when I got up at seven there was one early bird marching up the
hill to the waterfall. I made use of the immaculately kept toilets
before wrenching Liz out of bed, the big duvet slips her into a coma
every night.
We hit the road and headed for the Alps. We'd sorted
out a spot at a privately owned motorhome parking with four places
that seemed more like a campsite. On the way we had quick visit to
an Austrian Aldi, but they're called Hofer here. It probably had the
best views out of the front windows of any Aldi in Europe.
By lunch we reached the
camper parking. Yet again we found a Dutch couple running it. They
showed us where to park, where to plug in for mains hook up and where
the toilet and shower was. There was a washing machine and iron we
could use. We got given a wifi code and I asked the price,
expecting it to be at least 20 euro a night. It was 10 euro for
everything.
We had lunch and then
went back to the owner and asked for two nights. It seemed a shame
to just spend one night here with views like this from the van.
So, thee countries this
week. We're loving Austria and are in no rush to leave just yet.
I've got a fridge full of beer and Liz is cooking me a potato and
cheese omelette tonight. Happy days in Van Brian.
Stelplatz Gabby & Hank Struik, Obervellach, Austria. N46.91941 E013.23507
Below are the numbers
so far for 158 days away.
Cheers, the Van Brian
Crew.
