Na zdravje! We made the very easy journey (63 miles) across the border from Austria into Slovenia – it is a lovely route through the Alps and the Karawanken Tunnel, but we needed a Slovenian vignette to use the motorway, the only practical way to cross the border when towing.








We took the decision not to stop at a service station in Austria but to buy one at the border....... which turned out to be in the middle of the tunnel, and with no stopping. I had read that the Slovene police were very vigilant checking for vignettes (€15 for a week, but with an on-the-spot-fine of €300) so I was very stressed & made us leave the autobahn at the first junction on entering Slovenia. We somehow missed the town turning and looped back towards the tunnel.


To avoid going back the 8km through the tunnel and having to pay €10.50 again, we pulled off into a work yard to the bemusement of the men sitting having a break. It is no mean feat to turn round an outfit of over 12m without unhitching, but R managed it while I went in search of someone who could speak English – fortunately the manager in his little Portakabin could speak a little, and told us we could buy a vignette at the next service station 5km further down the A11. We retraced our path past those workmen, whose faces showed their puzzlement while mine was extremely red, and got our vignette with no further mishaps. Phew.


Police scare over, we are now on the campsite on the shores of Lake Bled. Its beautiful here (although very touristy) and Camping Bled is lovely - its a long thin site which goes uphill from the lake shore, and we're up near the top so its nice and peaceful. There are actually a few other English outfits on here which makes a change, although we are very much in the minority still - many Italians, Dutch & Germans plus a sprinkling of others. We have a large pitch close to the very nice top toilet block with Dutch neighbours on all sides, a snip at €19 a night with free wifi.


We've had a busy few days so it was nice just to sit still in the sunshine, although we did do a short bike ride down to Reception (its a long way!) to have a look round, plus a brief one on the lake path to look at beautiful Lake Bled with its island church and medieval castle towering high above. The new e-bikes performed perfectly and were VERY helpful in getting us back to the top of the hill with only a small effort from us.

One of the other English outfits on site just happened to be another member of a caravan forum I belong to & his wife, and they popped in to say hello. They are from Hull and are doing a similar tour to us, but the other way round - they've been before so were able to tell us a bit about the area. We’re looking forward to exploring tomorrow.