TRAVEL WORDS

As we watched Harry drive off we took a deep breath. Now we were alone again in a country we knew absolutely nothing about¹. Importantly we needed sleep so set off to enquire about the campsite we could see. And then a bank to get some local currency. Immediately the tent was pitched we crawled inside and didn’t surface until early the next morning when we had a chance to survey our surroundings.

The campsite was very close to the water and a beach. After finding food at a local market (bread, tomatoes, cheese, fruit) we relaxed on the beach for a while. Swimming in crystal clear water. We soon drew the attention of a group of local lads. They were very insistent. Following us around, trying to talk to us in broken English and a smattering of German. It seemed to us that although they were used to German tourists, English ones were quite a novelty.

We finally shook off the lads when a couple of guys from Geneva started talking to us, they were apparently musicians in a band and certainly had the looks. We spent the rest of the day with them and ended up having dinner at their camp, which was not on the official campsite, but in the hills. Bread, cheese, honey and tomatoes followed by peaches and grapes. Then we lay and watched the stars above. I had never seen such stars. My first sighting of the Milky Way.

The next day we parted company. They were heading back to Switzerland and us to Greece. We caught a bus to Split which was about 20 miles further along the road, intending to have a look around. But it was so hot and so full of tourists that we lost enthusiasm and decided to try our luck hitching. It was slow travel, short lifts taking us in dribs and drabs towards Dubrovnik, and by the time we arrived it was late and everything except for bars was closed. No tourist information office, no clue of where to find a youth hostel or campsite.

Stumped we decided to get our sleeping bags out and lie down on a couple of benches just outside the old town. At around 1:30 am I was awoken by a flashlight in my face and someone taking to me in a foreign language. I looked up to see an armed, uniformed policeman hovering over me. After several minutes of both of us trying to understand one another I attempted my limited school girl German to see if he could help me find a campsite. Unsuccessfully. He understood what I was saying, but simply shrugged his shoulders. He then pointed at Cathy who unbelievably was still sleeping and asked “freundin?” I nodded. He then proceeded to inform me that we could stay where we were, but had to move on as soon as it got light. Relieved I went back to sleep².

We were up by 4:30 as it became light and were packing our things away when the original policeman, accompanied by a colleague arrived to see up off. We were a little nervous as they seemed a bit too interested in us, but they didn’t do or say anything, just watched and waited until we were on our way. We didn’t dare go into the old town but made our way back up to the road where we found a spot that was safe for traffic to stop.

By 7:30 am we were ready to begin hitching south again, but there was very little traffic about. It was already quite warm and after one or two lifts that only took us a few miles further on we spotted a hotel opposite and went inside to see if we could get breakfast. We were a little tired of bread and tomatoes by then. We also had a good look around the grounds of the hotel with its private sandy beach and wished we had the funds to stay in such a place. But it was time to head on back to the road and not long after an Italian couple stopped and gave us a lift all the way to Kotor, a picturesque fortified town set in the Bay of Kotor, a stunning location which resembles a fjord.

We spent some time exploring the town with its narrow streets before enquiring about a campsite. We took a bus there, pitched the tent and then went for a swim in the crystal clear water. In the evening we walked back into the town and enjoyed a glass of cheap wine whilst admiring the views.

• ¹ At that time Yugoslavia was an open socialist state ruled by Tito.
• ² Unbeknown to us armed police used to patrol the old town to stop backpackers from sleeping in the open air.

What can I say about Harry? Among all the people we met on this adventure Harry is the one person among the many we met who I shall never forget. As we enthusiastically waved our sign to Salzburg a convertible black VW with the hood down screeched to a halt. As I ran up to the car he introduced himself to me. Harry from Heidelberg, on his way to Yugoslavia to spend a few days with a girlfriend who lived there. In exchange for our ‘lively’ company he offered us a ride all the way into Yugoslavia. Little did we know what to expect.

Cathy was crammed into the back with all the luggage and I was in the front passenger seat with – I kid you not – a radio / record player balanced on my knees. And that’s how we drove. Throughout the rest of Bavaria, throughout the whole of Austria. We stopped once for a meal and to put the hood up when the air became a little too cool. We were in a typical Austrian inn with the steep roofline, the wooden shutters and balconies and pots of bright red pelargoniums. We ate salami and cheese and hunks of fresh crusty bread and drank beer with orangeade! After the meal Harry fooled around for half an hour playing an ancient out of tune piano and we all sang old tunes from a juke box before tumbling out into the evening to continue on the road.

We carried on singing to songs on the radio to keep Harry awake, though I had an idea he was popping a few pills. We looked out for the road signs as we wove our way through the mountains arriving in Llubljana by midnight which is where Cathy and I were going to leave and head inland. But Harry had other ideas and persuaded us to carry on with him down the Dalmatian coast telling us we would miss the best part of Yugoslavia. I think he just wanted the company and to keep him awake.

And so onwards towards the coast road. We were tired, our voices hoarse from singing when we pulled in at a town around 6 am for the loo and breakfast. It was already warm and the breakfast revived us so we carried on. Harry wasn’t wrong. The scenery was spectacular. The road wound in and out of inlets with sharp bends and narrow stretches where there had been rockfalls. Beautiful little hamlets, clear stretches of the bluest sea we’d ever seen and at the other side of the road, dramatic mountains.

But as time wore on and the sun became hotter, we ran out of words and were too exhausted to take in the scenery so at midday we finally said goodbye to Harry as he dropped us off at a campsite by the side of the water at Trogir, seventeen miles from Split.

He had been driving for close on 18 hours.

Luck decided to pay us a visit then. After our disastrous day of getting absolutely nowhere. Another German lorry driver offered us a lift on his way south. He was young and a little crazy, with radio Luxembourg playing at full volume he laughed and joked with us whilst flying down the autobahn at a speed we didn’t want to know. At least we didn’t fall asleep. Late on we were dropped off at a Rasthof just south of Heidelberg where we pitched our tent in the middle of a grassed island. Too exhausted to find anywhere else. Inevitably we were disturbed a few times with people tripping over the guy lines or peeping in to see who was daft enough to pitch a tent there.

After our long and exhausting day we decided that we would attempt to get to Munich. We both assumed it was doable, but we hadn’t reckoned on the traffic. We were up and ready by 7:30 am and got a lift to Karlsruhe and from there to Leonberg which is not far from Stuttgart, but that’s where our luck ran out. After two hours we were still in the same place and as there was a rather nice campsite not far from us we decided to give up for the day and have a proper night’s sleep in a proper campsite. It was very hot!

After a cool shower and changing into clean clothes we went off to explore the nearby village where we bought fresh milk, peaches and cheese to eat back at the campsite. We spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around. In the evening we went to get a couple of beers from a shop where we got chatting to a pair of German lads and a Dutch guy who decided to give up hiking and take us for a drink. We didn’t stay long as we were determined to get up early and get back on the road.

The next day we were up at dawn, but by 11 am we were still there along with several other hitchhikers. It wasn’t looking good and we were wondering whether to change direction and try another route. Finally at 11:30 am an elderly German chap stopped for us. He didn’t speak a single word to us, but took us as far as Ulm where we got out at another Rasthof. Shortly after we got a lift all the way to Munich where we had planned to camp for a few days. However after attempting to walk to the campsite we discovered that it was a long way from the road, so gave up and turned back to the road deciding to continue our journey.

Because it was so hot and because the day’s travel had been quite difficult we decided to go get a cold beer, forgetting how strong the German beer can be. So it was that an hour or so later we were back on the side of the road frantically waving our sign for Salzburg.

That’s when we met Harry.