Piran, Slovenia

Hi, we're in Piran in Slovenia at the moment, staying at a hostel enjoying yet more free wifi.

We left Bled (photo to the left) on Wednesday night, to arrive in a beautiful town with a water at that perfect temperature so that it provides relief from the heat but doesn't make your toes cramp from the cold. However we also arrived with a flat tire and a leak that looked concerningly like it might be break fluid.

We did a massive tour of almost every garage in the area, and were told such conflicting information like we could just drive (about 4000km) as long as we replaced the breakfluid or being forbidden to drive because we will probably kill ourselves, and finding out that almost every mechanic is on holiday/ about to go on holiday/ doesn't want to touch our van with a ten foot barge pool. All with a very reluctent tow truckman who really just wanted to leave us on the side of the road (he was really excited about the 'carry on driving advice' despite the flat tire).

We finally found a someone who did something not one mechanic had done all day, he actually looked at the van! It turns out that it's probably a warn bearing which needs to be replace, which can be shipped over from the UK. Which means the van is stuck in a garage in Slovenia. Thankfully we learnt our lesson from last time and had organised a good insurance company who organised straight away hire car, gave us accomodation AND is locating and shipping the parts. If you're ever looking to do a van tour through Europe, and we haven't put you off with tales of sitting outside mechanics/ tow trucks offices pulling out hair, then The AA is our pick, they are so efficent compared to the three other companies we've had the displeasure of dealing with.

So we've decided to take that free hire car and accomodation drive on over to Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia. Wahoo, more time on the Adriatic!!

By the way, if anyone's looking for a cool weekend away, I'd rate Bled (photo to the left), it's a beautiful lake complete with an monestary on an island within swimming distance, a castle on a hill with a view that you won't kill yourself trying to see, cheap and lovely food, and cheap and cheerful wine.








Which means Laurnce and Lillie if you are reading this, that we probably won't meet up in Budapest, but can try for Prague on weekend of the 12 or Krakow on the 19. Also we left your addresses in the van, so you'll need to contact us if you want to meet up.