Dubrovnik, North Harbour, South end, at night

Up at sparrow fart and off down the road to Dubrovnik. Or at least one would have been forgiven in thinking that South would be “down”. Oh, no it wasn't. It was east, towards Zagreb, then west away from Zagreb, and eventually, southish towards Dubby Town. This was all planned on Google Earth / Garmin SatNav, and we made a concious decision to get the first hour or so under our belts by going “Toll”, much against my nature you will understand.
Well, after an hour or two we realised the effect of the Zagreb diversion, but having bit the bullet, we carried on. I had expected a run of some 300 ++ miles, but the Satnav started telling us otherwise: 400 miles to go!!!
Tried various settings: Shortest, fastest, tolls, no tolls, and it soon became obvious that we were in cloud cukoo land as far as timing our arrival was concerned. Suffice it to say we decided to carry on across the central area of Croatia, by Payeage, then leave the motorway when we reached Split. SNAFU No. 2. Followed the SatNav instructions for some 20 miles and 10 farmyards, then decided to have another go at the bullet trick and trundled back to the motorway. In all, the cost was reasonable, about £25 for 400 miles, so if you are ever driving this way, take the highway that's the best, the A1, and pay the price, otherwise you will pay a different price.

Central Croatia is a barren land, with nothing to commend it unless you have a penchant for short sharp mountain ranges and forlorn scrubland. Once you hit the coast, it all changes, although the lack of sandy beaches soon becomes apparent.

Our “apartment” overlooks the northern harbour of Dubrovnik View from balcony as above), where the cruise ships dump their “Crimpaline” clad cargoes for a day of shopping. Although not as much spending these days as the locals would like. Not that it's easy to tell what the locals like, so far. Don't let me hear any comments about dour scotsmen ever again.

C U ramorra, G & S