0745 On the road after cold night. Great views of mountains when we woke. Snow on the tops. As we drank our coffee in the brisk air, a British car stopped. Guy comes from Blackpool. We sympathised and told him somebody had to. The old ones are the best!! He was on his way to visit his girl friend in Slovenia. That's true love!
0851 At Austrian border. Camper goes through quickly as a car. Lorries have to clear customs. 30 minutes to pass out of Austria, then 2 hours to get into Slovenia. Talk about red tape! The drill is to take T forms (customs declaration forms) plus passports plus white forms received just before into the freight agents (in our case InterEuropa). They make out new T forms. Pay transit bond DM1000 which will be repaid on exit to Croatia. Take both new and old T forms plus receipt for transit bond plus all other papers to Slovenian customs, who stamp new T forms. Back to agents who hand back any papers they retained before plus exit form for each lorry. Take lorries to customs for checks on passports, green cards, seals etc. All this work by agent cost DM173.
1125 Cleared by customs.
1130 Stopped at toll booth for the Karawanken tunnel which we came through just before customs. They want to retain copy of letter confirming aid status. Katy dashes back to agents on border to get photocopies.
1405 Pivka. Passed through several toll stations with no trouble - they all accept the camper as part of the deal, so no cost. We have passed round Ljubljana and are heading for the coast at Rijeka, but road closed and diversion signed. Doesn't look too good.
1440 Ilirska Bistrica. It wasn't. Tortuous narrow lane with villages crowding the road. Very tight blind bends in the villages. Katy said the she and Roy were enjoying it because they were having to do some real driving. Now there is a sign indicating that lorries are not allowed to use road to Rijeka. Press on regardless!
1455 Out of Slovenia at Jelsane, into Croatia at Rupa. Lengthy delay for lorries. It's interesting what you can see happening at the back of some of the lorries when the customs man comes to check. Customs post closes for an hour at the shift change. Guess what, we caught the shift change.
1817 Lorries move forward for customs clearance.
1826 Cleared customs and on the way.
2005 Crikvenica. Passed through outskirts of Rijeka - glad it wasn't the rush hour. Fairly extensive docks with some medium-sized ships. Have been looking for a suitable 1 night stop for some time and have just spotted sufficient space to get all three vehicles off the road, right opposite a bistro.
Daddy Bear, Mummy Bear and Baby Bear beside the Adriatic - and opposite the pub with no beer. Later. Quel dommage. The bistro had no food, not even a loaf of bread, but we decided against driving any further as it was then nearly 9.15 local time and goodness knows when we might find somewhere else. Of course it is possible that there are language difficulties as only Katy has any words of German and they are not particularly extensive. We buy a round of drinks. Every bottle a month past its "best before" date. Two more half-rounds (all still out of date) and there is no more beer. We've drunk the place dry. Back in the camper we eat cake for dinner while singing "A Pub With No Beer".
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