Bobby Gilbert Adventures

Sally and I took a two week trip to Slovenia. Got the ferry to Calais then drove down through Germany and Austria to Triglav area of Slovenia. We had a great time climbing mountains, cycling, swimming in cool (cold!) rivers, camping, cooking and even the odd little drink. Best holiday I can remember! Here are some highlights of van living:

19/20 June – Drove down through Germany, swapping driver every hour and a half. This seemed to work well as we never got tired driving, took it in turns to put on music an research camping options. We had one overnight stop in an Aire in Belgium (not as nice as the French ones), plenty of breaks for breakfast, yummy sandwiches, cups of tea, and another overnight stop in a pretty Austrian village. Mastering the bucket loo went without incident.

Our campervan home was perfect for mostly outdoor living, forming a bedroom and base camp. The permanent bed setup meant there was loads of storage space for various “toys” in the “garage” (bikes, climbing gear etc.). Cunning design meant you only needed one tree to put up the hammock (though the conventional 2 was also fine). A hammock has been added to our essential camping items list.

Whenever we were at campsites we’d move the kitchen outside. Cooking from a deckchair is so relaxed. Other good things about van camping is always having a fridge full of cold beers, ice and tonic water. Power all came from the solar panels so no need to hook up anywhere.

Here we are on the 28th of June relaxing around Bled including cycling around the incredibly touristy, but beautiful lake. Note the expedition flip-flops for cycling.

We came across a lot of beautiful fauna in Slovenia including “Colin” the iridescent rose chafer, “notable by their clumsy flying”, according to Wikipedia. Colin was quite comical in the way he kept bumping into things.