Avoiding the War Zone.

SLANO.

We are due to pay at 9am so rise at 8 and take breakfast of cereal and toast. The bill for the accommodation, meal and washing and ironing comes to 630 Luna, approximately £73.

We're on the road by 9:45 and at the port by 10:15. Rosie checks with the ticket office and learns that the ferry does run from Ploce. We're in the queue behind a larger truck with a trailer attached and two cars. A minibus arrives with several passengers. It drives on ahead of us, which begins to annoy me until he drives off again empty. He's just delivered a number of passengers, lazy b*gg*rs. Amends are made when I'm waved on first.

Arrive on time at Makarska. Rosie, desperate for an ice cream, leaves the boat as a foot passenger. I have to drive around until she reappears.

We arrive at Ploce with an hour to spare. Rosie asks a man if he speaks English, paraphrased his response is, I hope so, love, I'm from Blackpool. However, he doesn't know where the ticket office is!

It seems chaotic and last minute but we're all aboard in the space of ten minutes and sail on time.

Dubrovnik is 50 miles from Trpanj so we decide to stop earlier. The guy from Blackpool mentioned that he lives in Slano so we stop there. There are lots of signs to campsites but they are either non existent or closed. A hairy moment as the road runs into the sea and we have to turn around but the expert bankswoman uses all her guile to help me manoeuvre the van. We park up next to 2 vans who are trying to wild camp. We set off for a drink in the village.

A German couple are at the next table, ordering food. They must have overheard us because the stopped us later to recommend a campsite. A good job because we pass the wild campers who have been moved on. A little gem of a site on the harbour front with brand new facilities.