The Plitvice Lakes

Wednesday 25 September

Started the morning with a heart-starter (sic) with THE DREADED "LOSS" OF THE CAR KEYS scenario. Now, let's be clear: this happens on a regular basis at home, but here! No spares, where could they be?, are they really lost?, what will we do?, where do we start looking? etc.

Half an hour later, they were found. In his backpack ...

Anyway, we were finally on our way. Filled up with petrol. A peloton of riders just like our Wednesday riders swept past. Stopped at a Plodine supermarket to get groceries for dinner tonight. It was an amazingly HUGE shopping complex - with no shoppers. Anyway, I had plenty of choice and swept on out of there.

More driving today. We are working our way around the Bay of Kvarner to Dalmatia - but via the inland to the national park of Plitvice.

It is here that the first shots were fired in the Croatian Conflict in 1991 when the Serbs gained control of a large swathe of Croatia and embarked on a campaign of what became known as "ethnic cleansing": it was a land-grab by driving Bosnian Muslims from the homes through violence and terror in order to obtain an ethnically-pure Croat state. It is hard to believe: we tend to think or refer mostly to the World Wars I & II, but THIS really IS recent history: the 1990s!

Our route took us along the coast until turning inland at Senj. The scenery was lovely; a bit like the Great Ocean Road - there were lots of road works so we had plenty of time to look at the views.

We stopped at Novi Vinodolski by the water for a coffee - hands down the best so far in Croatia. My Friend said to make sure he didn't back into the Ferrari:):):)

Going inland we zig-zagged up high and a George C. look-alike roared past - pity he can't spell! Lots of what they call serpentinas - or hairpins back home.

The trees are starting to turn, reminding us that autumn is not far away. Once the small towns became fewer and fewer, we were able to start making up some time as I was keen to reach Plitvice Lakes while we had good light.

We passed many, many stalls selling honey and large rounds of cheeses as we climbed through the hills. Finally - and only after putting latitude and longitude co-ordinates into the GPS to get a fix on our B&B - we arrived just after 3 p.m.

We set off immediately (we were staying close to the far side of the lakes) and enjoyed a few hours getting a million shots along the boardwalks that meander between lakes, woods and falls. Again, the autumn tonings contributed to the loveliness. The lakes are a stunning turquoise blue.

As the light started to fade, we returned to have our meal of cold lasagna and salads on a table outside our B&B. No wi-fi tonight so just the TV (which we have hardly looked at since leaving home).