Thursday 18 October 2007

Sunday 14th October 2007



Woke in the early hours to a number of realisations:-
1) Jane had turned over whilst clutching the quilt and I was totally exposed. This could have been considered as revenge for my spilling of the red wine, but it is actually a common occurrence and no malice was intended.
2) It was still very mild as I wasn't freezing.
3) The wind was very, very strong and Henrietta was being rocked violently. I was now wondering whether Henrietta would still be in position in the morning rather than being concerned about the dish. They certainly weren't going to be windsurfing in the morning!
In the act of repatriating the quilt, Jane also woke up (serves her right!). We tried for some time to ignore the roaring wind and get back to sleep but without success. So, being typically British, we decided to have a cup of tea and during that time I wrote this entry.
Well, we did get back to sleep and awoke gently at a sensible hour to find that the wind was still howling. However, Henrietta, despite being buffeted, had held firm and, much to my amazement, the satellite dish was still upright and locked on its signal. I decided that the rocks that we had seen when we arrived were not used for camp fires but were used to prevent everything (surfboards, kites, tents satellite dishes and motorhomes) from being blown away.
Well, I was wrong about the windsurfing. Only the experts took to the sea but they had a great time and the speeds that they achieved were incredible. This was nothing however compared to the kite surfers. Only two of them flew (under the circumstances, this must be the correct word) but they were really entertaining. They shot past the windsurfers as if they were stationary and the strength of the wind allowed they to jump even higher and gave them more time to do their twists and turns. I could have watched them all day! I took some photographs but it is difficult to capture the speed and agility of these very skilful athletes.
We had a relaxed start to the morning and then set off for our next destination – Selce on the coast just south of Rijeka. The ACSI guide showed that the site was still open and we hoped that it was correct this time as there were no other options in the area.
The drive took us all along the coast with fantastic views of the blue sea and lunch was taken in a small lay-by high above the sea with views over to the island of Cres with its ferry plying to and fro.
We then travelled through the large town of Rijeka but, being a Sunday, the traffic was very light. Much to our relief, we found that the campsite at Selce was open and would be open until the end of October, giving us an option for a stay on the way back up from Dubrovnik. The site had a real Mediterranean feel about it, especially when we parked under an olive tree and stepped out of the van to find mint and oregano growing around us. We used both in our dinner that evening.
We watched the second rugby semi-final in the evening and cheered for Argentina. Unfortunately, the odds were stacked heavily in South Africa's favour and although Argentina battled bravely, they were outplayed. England will have to play out of their skins to beat South Africa next Saturday.
Photos: Two views of kite surfing at Premantura. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

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