Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
The final slog!
This time after yesterdays fiasco we decided to head straight for the motorway and get most of the mileage under our belts! A couple of hours later pratising biscuit exchanges and enjoying yet more gorgeou raini we were at the border. Everyone was a little nervous about this but I have no idea why as we flew through! I think we may have been ahead of the pack though because after that we started recieving info that some had not been so lucky. Quite a few had tried to drive through without getting the local tax and were getting fined up to 200 euros for not doing so when the tax was only £25 in the first place, ouch!! By far the worst though was the swat team, they looked pretty much like the real thing, paint was good outfits were awesome but like doughnuts they had a fake M16 gun in the boot. As soon as the police pulled them over and saw this they went mad, pulling their guns out and getting them all to stand back with their hands up until the gun had been checked. They shat themselves is what I was told and the coppers really weren't amused. Don't think I will ever go in police dress somehow!
Well back to us, shortly after the border we were stopping at the services for a quick coffee and as we pulled in there was a cop car sat there at which point I thought.... oooh photo oportunity and parked right next to it along with 9 other shacklers! It was at this point that the guys driving the poperino decided to pope the police car, basicslly they had little stickers made up saying 'You've been Pope'd' that they were sticking on anything that moved. It wasn't until we went in for coffee a realised how grumpy the coppers were that we started worrying!! They wouldn't even get a photo taken with the hulk!! shame on them!! Luckily the one bloke that saw the sticker must have had some sense of humour cause he just looked at it and said nothing... phew!!
Zadar was the lunch stop that day, after going through the 5 km tunnel that actually changes the weather. Before we went it it was 6 degrees and raining, by the time we came out the other end it was 16 degrees and sunny, I kid you not, was one of the wierdest things I have ever seen!! Zadar was lovely, found a nice little restaurant in the marina and sat down for a cheeky beer and something to eat, thats when it all turned nasty and the 5 metre umbrella decided to take off in the wind and try to wipe us out! It actually took off and it was a big piece of wood to be flying through the air!! Luckily one of the quick thinking blokes we were with Daggers sort of helped it on it's way! quick push!
After our near miss we headed off down the coast road to split, what a gorgeous road with some awesome views, well worth hiring a car if your ever out there, being there while the sun was setting just made it all the betterand the 2 hour drive flew by amazingly quickly although the bumper car antics starting did speed things up a lot lol...
We didn't actually get to our hotel till about half 8 so by the time we were eating it was 11... Starving was not the word and drinking before we got te food meant that we were pretty much hammered by the time we were being awarded the 'Spirit of the Ramshackle' award!!. To say we were stunned is an understantement but we were over the moon to recieve it. The trophy is basically for the team the best encompasses what the ramshackle is about and somehow....... WE WON IT!!! What an end too an awesome trip!!
Well back to us, shortly after the border we were stopping at the services for a quick coffee and as we pulled in there was a cop car sat there at which point I thought.... oooh photo oportunity and parked right next to it along with 9 other shacklers! It was at this point that the guys driving the poperino decided to pope the police car, basicslly they had little stickers made up saying 'You've been Pope'd' that they were sticking on anything that moved. It wasn't until we went in for coffee a realised how grumpy the coppers were that we started worrying!! They wouldn't even get a photo taken with the hulk!! shame on them!! Luckily the one bloke that saw the sticker must have had some sense of humour cause he just looked at it and said nothing... phew!!
Zadar was the lunch stop that day, after going through the 5 km tunnel that actually changes the weather. Before we went it it was 6 degrees and raining, by the time we came out the other end it was 16 degrees and sunny, I kid you not, was one of the wierdest things I have ever seen!! Zadar was lovely, found a nice little restaurant in the marina and sat down for a cheeky beer and something to eat, thats when it all turned nasty and the 5 metre umbrella decided to take off in the wind and try to wipe us out! It actually took off and it was a big piece of wood to be flying through the air!! Luckily one of the quick thinking blokes we were with Daggers sort of helped it on it's way! quick push!
After our near miss we headed off down the coast road to split, what a gorgeous road with some awesome views, well worth hiring a car if your ever out there, being there while the sun was setting just made it all the betterand the 2 hour drive flew by amazingly quickly although the bumper car antics starting did speed things up a lot lol...
We didn't actually get to our hotel till about half 8 so by the time we were eating it was 11... Starving was not the word and drinking before we got te food meant that we were pretty much hammered by the time we were being awarded the 'Spirit of the Ramshackle' award!!. To say we were stunned is an understantement but we were over the moon to recieve it. The trophy is basically for the team the best encompasses what the ramshackle is about and somehow....... WE WON IT!!! What an end too an awesome trip!!
The road to Slovenia
Woke up on the third day with very sore heads, luckily after blagging a 4 star bed for the night we were fairly well rested, still I weren't going to drive so Mel had a go :-)
Unfortunatley everyone else was feeling a little tender so one of the new joiners to our convoy took the lead. He liked his sat nav a little too much though and before we knew it we were quite going the right way and 4 hours later along twisty mountain roads we had covered only 50 kms out of the 350 that were needed!! Doh!!
This however did entice some of the more delicate members of the team to say goodbye to their breakfasts which was of course highly amusing for the rest of us lol.
The challenge of the day was to find one of each of the different euro coins from different countires. They don't seem to much like using the lower denomonations and after completly confusing a woman in a shop I ended up with 4 euros worth aof 5 cent pieces lol, grrrreat!
Another 6 hours driving as quickly as possible down the motorway, once we found it and we were in Lubjiana. By this time it was gone 9 and there was no way we were going to find somewhere to kip in the car so a hotel room was booked, very comfy it was too and what a baeutful city too! Not sure about the crazy mirrored toilet at the venue though, walked past them about 3 times before I realised where they were!
Unfortunatley everyone else was feeling a little tender so one of the new joiners to our convoy took the lead. He liked his sat nav a little too much though and before we knew it we were quite going the right way and 4 hours later along twisty mountain roads we had covered only 50 kms out of the 350 that were needed!! Doh!!
This however did entice some of the more delicate members of the team to say goodbye to their breakfasts which was of course highly amusing for the rest of us lol.
The challenge of the day was to find one of each of the different euro coins from different countires. They don't seem to much like using the lower denomonations and after completly confusing a woman in a shop I ended up with 4 euros worth aof 5 cent pieces lol, grrrreat!
Another 6 hours driving as quickly as possible down the motorway, once we found it and we were in Lubjiana. By this time it was gone 9 and there was no way we were going to find somewhere to kip in the car so a hotel room was booked, very comfy it was too and what a baeutful city too! Not sure about the crazy mirrored toilet at the venue though, walked past them about 3 times before I realised where they were!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
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