Scottish Winter road trip and beyond to Europe! (Title edit Feb 24)

[mcdonaldneal.]

I think our Bialetti woes are behind us now but as we are plugged in at a site we have the luxury of the Bialetti Elettrica which is a must for every coffee loving Cali owner (although our handle has broken for the second time - design flaw, you can get replacements but I’m gluing the next one in!)
Flask coffee required the big Bialetti but at least we can preboil the water in the electric kettle.
I know the Cali owner/coffee lover demographic is large!

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

Getting the pop top cover folded up was cold work on the hands. Particularly getting it into the bag as the material had frozen quite stiff! Should have taken the advice of just stuffing it in the back!
Gorgeous morning though and eggs for breakfast. Happy days!

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

Another spectacular day. We drove to the Swiss National Park to see if they had some winter walks. Met a border control force training exercise in the car park with their Belgian Shepherds.
The park was closed. Here’s some glamour shots of Moana instead!

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

We did find a good area for walking a little bit further along. A tiny, very local ski area which had groomed walking trails and we had a fabulous couple of hours walking, having our packed lunch and taking pictures with my 70yr old Agfa

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

Medo, as ever decided to skip the walk…
The scenery remained amazing as we dropped down out of Switzerland, into Italy and on to Bolzano and Trento, where we finished the day with a meal in a Tyrolean brewery (celebrating the return of ‘normal’ prices!)

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

Last photos for now!
We spent the night in a car park in a small Italian town called Levico Terme. Really just a stop-off but it was quite nice to see it before breakfast. The day was then spent descending through fog from the Dolomites to Trieste, Slovenia and then Croatia, with a couple of massive road diversions. We are settling in to the apartment on the Adriatic coast in Croatia but there are sure to be more trips and adventures soon!

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

It rained very heavily the first few days after we arrived in Croatia but it stopped just in time to give us a dry day for the annual pre-Lenten Karneval in the port city of Rijeka and today the sun really came out to allow us to dry the pop top cover and the front screen. (On the balcony!)

 

[Celia Vanchez]

Love the number plate and idea of the travelling cat companion. It's surprising how well some cats adapt to van life. At least you won't have to worry about overheating.....or midges.
Looking forward to reading and seeing your Scottish Highlands adventure.

Not sure our two tortoises would adapt to van life