Tirrilstrip12
 Day 119 I’m sorry, but, aside from road signs, I’m going to have to bracket Croatia with Italy in relation to their poor use of signs. Have already struggled with their footpath markings, but have been giving the benefit of the doubt. Today though, we went to the National Park and both the signs and the maps were atrocious. We lost our route fairly early on, but came across a Park Rangers hut. We asked there to show us on the map where we were and he couldn’t! We asked which direction we should go, and he could only advise to go back the way we came. Later on we passed the same hut and realised we had been going in the right direction after all and had ended up wasting about an hour’s walking time after having turned back as advised by the Ranger!!! For the rest of the day we ran into similar problems of paths appearing that weren’t on the map or not being where they were shown and direction signs pointing the wrong way, so we weren’t too impressed – particularly given the high entrance charge they make to come into the park. Yes, so today has been somewhat mixed. The Park was really heaving with people and it was back to hot sunny weather again today. Having said all that, it is a really beautiful place. The colour and absolute clarity of the water are incredible and the level changes with waterfalls and cascades of water just add to the unreal scenery. It’s so difficult not to just jump in the lakes, it’s so inviting. And the fish – so many, and so easy to see – even I would stand a chance of catching some. So – moving further north tomorrow, generally heading for Zagreb. Bit worried about the weather forecast though – it’s showing grey clouds for the next couple of days. We’ve (I’ve) also decided to splash out and treat us to a hotel stay in Zagreb. It’s Philippa’s birthday on Wednesday and it does mean we’ll be able to have a good look around the city irrespective of the weather as we’ll be able to take Tirril with us, or leave him at the hotel, depending. The hotel has a car park that will accommodate the van too, so should work in well – and gets me out of having to rack my brains any more for a birthday present too! I’ve also decided to have one last go at getting the scooter sorted. There is a Yamaha dealer in Zagreb (despite the Yamaha website showing they have no dealers in Croatia) and I’ve arranged to drop the scooter off with them when we get there. One more big bill is a certainty, but will it get the scooter working? (I only budgeted for van repairs, relying on the Japanese reputation for reliability when it came to the scooter. Still – we’re still under budget on the accommodation costs so far, so keep fingers crossed that the campsite fees don’t rocket from here on home).
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Diary Photos
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Boat ferry in the National Park |
 Plitvice |
 Blue water with fish |
 Lake view |
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 True colours |
 Sunken tree |
 Plitvice |
 Plitvice |
 Biggest waterfall in Croatia (apparently) |
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