Croatia

October 14th Arriving in Cavtat

CAVTAT

evening view from balcony bar

Mike relaxing with a beer

After a very early start on Sunday morning (1.30am) we caught a flight to Dubrovnik airport from Birmingham. The flight lasted 2.5 hours and then after a very short transfer of 15 minutes we found ourselves in Paradise in the beautiful small town of Cavtat.  Our hotel was right on the waterfront and gave us wonderful views across the warm and tranquil Adriatic sea to the walled city of Dubrovnik. It didn't take us too long to relax! Every morning and evening we walked the kilometre into the centre of this picturesque small  town along the coastal path where we were able to watch fish swimming in the clear water and admire the various different boats.

Coastal walk to Cavtat

We went 'all inclusive' which worked well, definitely tempted to take advantage of the free drinks due to the last few weeks of van pressure, but we kept our heads. On the second evening we discovered that a guitar recital was being held in the cloisters of an old monstery in Cavtat.  It was lovely listening to the music in this ancient building which was open to the stars.  The one bizarre moment was when the last plane for the night flew over low as it prepared to land at the airport which was only a few miles away.
Day three we woke to heavy showers.  It obviously wasn't going to be a beach day so we caught the local bus so that we could visit the beautiful and very historic city of Dubrovnik. We spent most of the morning walking the wall, looking down on the old Churches, buildings, ports and harbours and talking to fellow tourists. Fortunately there were no showers whilst we walked the wall but the weather deteriorated as the day went on and so by 3pm we decided to head home.
The rest of the week we had glorious weather, we continued to explore the local area by foot, swimmimg in the sea when we got hot and then lazing by the beach with our books. Jacqui loved swimming in the clear waters but was a bit perturbed when standing at the water's edge she found her ankles were being nibbled by small fish.  Forever the scientist she withstood the pain to find out what was going on and it appeared that the fish were focusing on an area where she had received a mosquito bite.  Anyone know a reason for this? The other amusing episode was when a child caught an octopus in his fishing net.  The octopus must have been at least 2-3 feet long.  It caused quite a stir as this very alien looking creature was put onto the promenade.  After much squealing and photo- taking the poor creature was allowed to return to the waters where it swam off very quickly.
Not only was it approaching our last night at the hotel but it was also the last night of the season for the hotel.  This was all it needed for the local army reserve forces to hit the hotel for a free meal and drinks. We found out later that they then went on a tour of all of the local hotels that were closing down, for yet more drinks. 
Our holiday acheived what we needed a complete break from all the hassle we had been experiencing at home but then on the Friady before we returned we had an e mail from the electrician to say that the part that we had been waiting to be delivered from Italy had arrived but had turned out to be the wrong part.  Immediately all our previous frustrations returned as we realised that there was going to be another significant delay to getting the van fixed.

Not going to plan (1)

We set up this Blog to allow all our good friends and family members to keep track of where we are and see what a wonderful time we were having. We promised to post pictures, give commentary and details of our expected pleasurable experiences. And only three weeks ago we purchased, with the kind help of Jacqui's work mates and an advance on an early Birthday present, a digital camera that would not only take 3D photos, video, panoramic shots and map locations to show our readers the precise position where our pictures were taken (how cool is that). Well things have not gone to plan!

Let me take you, our blog readers, back a few months.

After six months of searching Jacqui and I found our " ideal Motorhome" at Brownhills in Newark back in March 2012. We originally tried to avoid Brownhills as they did not enjoy the greatest of press. They seemed to have very poor after sales service. But they had the vehicle we wanted.
Armed with this knowledge and our desire to have the right van for the trip we agreed the purchase with a warranty that should cover us if anything went wrong. Well it wasn't long before we put this warranty to the test.

In April we decided to take Millie and ourselves down to Cornwall to see Louise plus try out our new van. The journey down seemed trouble free however the following morning a light appeared on the dashboard showing we had a problem with our gearbox.
The owners manual advised that we should contact a Fiat dealer at the earliest opportunity so they could locate and rectify the faulty. I dually phoned Brownhills who asked if we could return the van so they could investigate. This we did once we returned.
Rather than draw out the story all I need to say is. It's now October 10th. We tried out our van six times. Brownhills have had the van returned to them, by us, six times over the last six months before finally passing on the reoccurring problem to a specialist gearbox company to investigate. Within a week they found the problem but now, even more frustrated, I am now waiting for Brownhills to obtain and give the approval for the repair to be made.
To date we have now cancelled two pre-booked ferry crossings and likely to miss a third. With no home between the two of us we have found ourselves living with neighbours and family. Can I thank my mum, but particularly Jane & Chris and Jacqui's mum for putting us up and looking after us so well for, so far, almost two months.
So to all our Followers - we have not gone yet but will, hopefully do so soon.
11th October. Thankfully the Auto electrician has really pulled some favours and found a replacement part in Italy and managed to gain approval from Fiat to fix our van. However, there always seems to be one these days, it will not be delivered until Friday week and once installed we may have only resolved the problem but maybe not the cause.

We have decided to leave the van in the UK until fixed. Jacqui and I have booked a late deal to Dubrovnik to get away from all the  frustration we have been experiencing recently.