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Since I last posted we had another day on Lake Balaton. In the morning we decided to walk round more of the lake. Instead of leaving by the railway station in Kesthely we found another path very near the lake. As it was Sunday loads of families were out walking and cycling. Cycling is very popular here as it was in Germany and Austria. You're as much in danger from cycles as cars. There was a little promenade with swans swimming around and a boatyard. We then wandered into the centre of Kesthely and had a cup of coffee and cake, mine was Sachertorte and Simon had cherry Streusel. then we walked round the square, looked in on the church and walked up the main street. Umbrellas were hanging across the street looking very festive, they obviously don't need them for the rain.
At the end of the street Simon was looking at a motorbike in a museum and was sold tickets for Kesthely Castle. So we wandered up there into some lovely formal gardens and walked round the house. It had been built by the Festetics family in 1745 and a member of the family lived there until 1944.
the first owner was very forward thinking and built an agricultural college, the first in Hungary and did a lot of good for the town. Later members bred racehorses. The house was filled with lovely furniture and had a stunning library all wood panelled with an upstairs gallery. Then we looked round the Coach Museum. I never realised there was so much to coaches but there were certainly a lot of them from 1700's on. Some were even sledge coaches indicating the sort of winters they have here.
Then we wandered back to the site, had a lie down and went for a swim. We had a noisy night previously as there had been a wedding on just up the road and they had loud music going until very late. We hoped for a quieter night particularly as a lot of people left on Sunday afternoon. But no, the frogs started up and I've never heard such a racket. They didn't seem to have stopped for long before the dawn chorus followed by a cuckoo who stuttered and kept up cuck, cuck, oo for a long time so we gave up and got up.We had to get some fuel
and then set out for Croatia. Before we left the willow flowers started blowing around and the car was full of it.
When we left Hungary on the motorway we were stopped to show passports, although we didn't for going in, and a policeman searched the caravan. Then we had to show our passports again to the Croatian police. Soon on our way again and headed toward Zagreb. I took over driving after lunch. After Zagreb we were slowed by two lots of roadworks which held us up for sometime. We passed through tunnels rather than climb mountains. We then looked out for a campsite after Karlovac. We ended up in a little village, inevitably near a train track as we usually find, called Duga Resa. The campsite was by a river, camping Slaptic. This is where all the Brits are. It was strange being able to understand others. We met a couple from Winchester who advised the site we were aiming for the next day is closed but that there are plenty of others near Plitvice lakes. They agreed they are worth a visit. The site is very friendly and the best facilities yet. After setting up we
had a wander round, decided we would not swim in the river, and then had a meal in the campsite restaurant. Good meal had by both of us and then back to the van for bed. It had got very hot and sticky but we managed a good night's sleep at last.
This morning started off dull but the sun soon came out and we drove down through lovely scenery towards the Plitvice National Park. we were not on the motorway for a change and it was more interesting going through villages and seeing more of what is going on. We stopped for coffee at a roadside restaurant up in the mountains. We passed the National Park and climbed up to 750 metres above sea level. We found a campsite near the park but it is very much on a slope. It is one of the sites we would have been on if we had gone on the organised trip so thought we would try it out. Apart from sloped pitches it is in a lovely part with mountains all around. We were allowed to choose where we wanted so started driving round the site looking for the most
level. Simon drove onto the grass, hit something and said he had to keep going as he thought we had stuck in the mud. We pulled back onto the road. I got out to conduct direction and realised something was wrong from the rather nasty noise. It sounded as if the brakes were stuck on. I got Simon to stop and he realised the motormover on the van had shifted and was rubbing on the tyres. He then had to jack up the van, loosen it and put it back in place. apart from losing a mud flap all seems to be well again thank goodness.
We then found a spot and set up. The van needed to be on the ramps and the back legs are at full extension but seems to be not too bad. Thunder was rumbling all the time we were setting up and while we had a late lunch we had a loud thunder storm, being up in the mountains is not good for weather for us. The forecast for tomorrow when we want to walk round the lakes is for more thunderstorms, so we shall see!
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Daph
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Sledge Coach
Loved this sled coach...the design is beautiful! Hope you managed to avoid the thunder storms...we had a brilliant week end of warm sunny weather but today it’s like a March day with a very cold wind and fine mist drizzle.....xxx