Peelies travels

We are getting used to border crossings and were ready for a smooth transit out of Montenegro and into Bosnia. The right hand drive vehicle helped this time, as the border officer took one look at Dawn sitting there without a steering wheel to lean on (or it might have been the distinctive EU standard issue passports) and he waved us straight-on through. Unlike other crossings, we then drove through an extended no-man's land which included a planked bridge over a river with white water rafters on the water below. Then we were at the BiH border and the officials there (at least three), said "British" and waved us on. However we weren't ready to go without a fight as we needed insurance. The usual "Green card" was this time met with arm waving, head shaking (or is it nodding, I can't get it right in the Balkans) and they pointed back through NML and said "Insurance Montenegro". So we turned around, drove back over the planked br...

We chose to drive through the centre of Crna Gora, known to us as Montenegro ((Black Mountain), so that we could visit the Durmitor National Park. A first visit would usually include the coast south of Dubrovnik, which we have already visited (Kotor etc.). A guy at a filling station was overjoyed to hear that this wasn't our first visit to his country. He even knew that GB on the plates meant Great Britain! At the border all was fine until the Montenegro barrier side, where we asked for the "green card". This is a universal phrase at the borders, even though there is no such physical thing as a green card anymore (not in these parts anyway). I was directed to the fourth window around the corner and there I met the border lounge lizard. He was a little surprised to see me, so the TV screen he was watching with his feet up on the desk was clearly not the cctv of the border office. "Can I have a green card please?". "Green card?". "Ye...

We got our fix of beach life, Albanian Riviera style, for three nights and it was a very relaxing time. The beach taverna served simple dishes and we had grilled fish twice. Another taverna 300m along the dusty track was a little more up market and we had a nice meal there. It is very cheap to eat out and there's no reason why we should cook our own and anyway, finding a suitable shop is a challenge in these small places. So we left Dennis and the other beachside campsites, who were all gearing up for the busier few weeks ahead and drove north along the coast a few kms and then inland to the old town of Berat. The climb away from the coastline was another set of spectacular hairpins. That's the road on the hillside. The campsite at Berat was very small but with great shade and very good toilet and shower facilities This makes camping a great experience. There was a typical seasonal sight behind the site: This is straw, baled mechanically but with the ba...