Crazy Balkans diversion and boat for sale!

We were in Graz, Austria, to pick up our yachtie cruising buddies Sue and John from their son and daughter-in-law‘s (Andrew and Lisa’s) place on the outskirts of the picturesque old town. From there we were going to drive to our boats in Montenegro over two days.

The drive from our campsite to the area where Andrew and Lisa live was very easy – due in no small part to the amazing 10 kilometre long tunnel that took us quickly and efficiently across town.

The second part of the trip was quite a challenge! We had almost reached the house when we arrived at an ancient arched gateway that guarded the road we needed to go down.

The arch was far too narrow and low for us to get through so we rerouted our GPS but it kept on taking as back to the same place.

Eventually we managed to find another route and after many twists and turns on narrow roads we arrived at our destination.

We had a great evening and Andrew and Lisa spoilt us with some Swiss style fondues for dinner which were really delicious!

We set off the next day with Sue and John aboard and guess what? We ended up at the arch again!

While turning round in a small car park nearby we experienced our next drama – an elderly lady backed her car without looking behind her and drove straight into the side of our van. Fortunately she was going very slowly and didn’t do too much damage.

Later that morning we drove out of Austria and into Slovenia and then by the evening into Bosnia Herzegovina.

We spent the night parked behind the hotel in Zenica that Sue and John stayed in. The hotel wasn’t exactly luxurious but dinner in the restaurant was good and very cheap.

On the road again the next day, our route to Montenegro looked very straightforward with a very reasonable ETA of 3.20pm.

For a while everything was fine but the main highway was only two lanes (one each way) which was a good deal smaller than we had expected.

By midday the road we were on became narrower and rougher than before and we started to climb up quite a steep mountain.

Soon we came upon a herd of cows wandering along the road unsupervised! Luckily they moved to the side and let us through.

A little further along the road – seemingly in the middle of nowhere- we came to a stop – there was a road block and signs indicating that the road was closed! There was another road to the right and we wondered if we should take it or go all the way back down the mountain to find an alternative route.

There was a small hut at the side of the road with a man inside who we asked (using sign language) whether we could rejoin the road we’d been diverted from by following the road to the right.

He was nodding quite a lot and pointing in the direction of the road so we took that as a “yes”.

Not long after, the made up road became an unmade, muddy, puddly, single lane track.

We thought it would only be for a while and that we would soon be able to join up with the original road but after crawling up and down a couple of forested mountains, and bumping along round some hair raising hairpin bends and along parts where there was a cliff on one side and a long drop on the other, we realised this was going to be a long and slow detour. And the road was very narrow!

Fortunately we didn’t meet one car coming the opposite way which is fortunate as I don’t know how we would have managed if we had!

We travelled along at snail’s pace until after about two and a half hours we eventually reached a road that was tarred. It was such a relief!

Although our bones had been thoroughly rattled for hours, the scenery was stunning – thick woodland, rocky plains and spectacular views.

It was a very lonely piece of road and we only passed through one or two small settlements – many miles apart and with very few signs of life. Otherwise there were just a handful of seemingly deserted farm houses and old cottages scattered along the way.

We couldn’t help wondering what would have happened if something had gone wrong with the van!

We finally rolled into Montenegro at around 6pm and it was so good to stop!

We thought that was the end of the adventure but no – the universe had other ideas! At 4am we woke to our van shaking violently from side to side!

Thinking that some young vandals were playing a prank, Jonathan leapt out of bed and was out of the door in a flash but there was no one around! That’s when we realised that we had just experienced an earthquake! As if we weren’t shaken up enough already!

We later found out that the epicentre was right where we had been driving that day along the rough track in Bosnia Herzegovina!

It was so great to be back on Sunday. While we were away we had paid for someone to hose the boat down every couple of weeks so she looked really clean and in great shape.

Over the next week and a half we had a huge clear out and internal cleaning session. This was more than a pre-season spring clean as sadly we have made the decision to put her up for sale.

We have had four excellent years of sailing the Med but for a variety of reasons have decided to travel by road for the foreseeable future.

We hope we will find lovely new owners who will lavish the same loving care that we have given her. If you know of anyone who might be interested please don’t hesitate to contact us or go to https://www.ydyachts.com/yacht/lagoon-420/