Distance travelled: 291km
Total distance: 11,610km
Ice cream count: 33

From Zagreb we headed down to the west coast, to Rovinj and Pula, which we had heard good things about. Rovinj was a beautiful old town, quite typically Croatian with its city walls and cobbled, light-coloured stone streets winding between orange roofed houses, but this was another scorcher and it was uncomfortably hot exploring the tourist-filled town. Cool drinks and a banana split by the harbour helped somewhat, and Wilf managed to have a paddle at a small beach, but it was a relief to get back into the air conditioned van.

We headed on to Pula and continued to a little beach called Histria Beach where we had heard about a place to park and wild camp – Croatia was proving very expensive for campsites (some were more than €70 a night just to camp and use the communal facilities), so we decided to give the wild camping a go. Arriving at about 7pm we expected to be able to set up and get Griff ready for bed, but sadly the summer holidays and a huge inflatable water park at this little beach meant it was still heaving with German, Croatian and other nationalities of holiday makers all having a great time in the water. As we were so far from anywhere, we decided to get a drink and feed Griff in the nearby cafe while things quietened down. Eventually we found a spot and pitched up for the night, but it was definitely less comfortable and a little more stressful than we’d have liked, as we both listened out to every sound and passing car/person/groups of people – of which there were quite a few! Griff slept surprisingly well however, and we both managed a couple of hours; on the whole though, we decided that wild camping wasn’t really our thing and that we’d shop around for some cheaper campsites instead!!