Jane & Rog’s Eastwards Coddiwomple

[Jane And Rog]

You are having some bad luck. But every cloud has a silver lining (tactless analogy?), it makes your blog much more interesting and entertaining. There’s a book or tv series in your travels.

We are actually super competent people who just have these accidents to make the blog more interesting. Not.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

We are actually super competent people who just have these accidents to make the blog more interesting. Not.

Good plan.... it works.

 

[billym]

Sorry to read your tales of woe but what have you got against putting your awning away wet? ( Or should I be reading between your lines?)

 

[Jane And Rog]

Sorry to read your tales of woe but what have you got against putting your awning away wet? ( Or should I be reading between your lines?)

It’s somewhat comedic licence but it think it’s something I was told very emphatically right here on MHF. Just before “always put the awning away at night”. Probably

 

[Jane And Rog]

Coddiwompling day 13 part two

The rain continued until about 3pm after that there was a return to normal so everything quickly dried out. During a minor break in the rain I took Flynn for a walk up the mountain.

Rainy selfie​

When I got back we had lunch at the site: pirogi with bacon for Jane, lardy bread (according to ChatGPT) and pickled sausages for me and the bone out of a pork knuckle for Flynn. All the pork and veg came from their own small holding.

Oh, It’s bread and dripping​

We also got a sample of the special soup for free; spicy tripe which was very good indeed.

sluuuurp​

James, the site owner, was very keen that Jane tried some local lavender wine, which tastes a lot better than you’d think (we’re informed, I stuck to beer, Flynn to porky bones).

Like old lady soap but alcoholic​

After lunch Flynn made great friends with a Slovakian Dalmatian.

We didn’t do much other than drying off and reading in the afternoon. We’d planned to cook in the van this evening but the delicious soup and remaining lavender wine convinced us to go back for James’ roast pork knuckle.

It was a good decision. It was delicious.​

This whole site is a microcosm of what makes camping great. The weather was by turns great and awful. But we’ve helped others put their tent up, we’ve been helped by a stranger when we were in need. Flynn made a friend. We learn a bit of Slovakian and taught a bit of English. We cooked some great food and had some great food cooked for us. And we broke a bit of Denby off and now have to get it fixed. Life is good.

Codiwomple rating: still 10/10

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[Gina M]

Brown bread with some chopped onion on it, did you rate that after the lavender wine or do I need my eyes testing again Thank you Jane And Rog for this blog I am loving it, you are both so funny and I love your style of writing

 

[Gina M]

And I love Flynn and his reaction to his muzzle "gift" Our Stanley was the same size and look as Flynn. We were in Spain and use to walk him every morning on the prom and one day we came across a Belgian guy who asked us why he didn't have a muzzle on him? turns out in Spain large dogs have to be muzzled in public too. We had the police pass us on many occasions and they never stopped us or questioned us

 

[cliffanger]

Coddiwompling day 13 part two

The rain continued until about 3pm after that there was a return to normal so everything quickly dried out. During a minor break in the rain I took Flynn for a walk up the mountain.

View attachment 913450

Rainy selfie​

When I got back we had lunch at the site: pirogi with bacon for Jane, lardy bread (according to ChatGPT) and pickled sausages for me and the bone out of a pork knuckle for Flynn. All the pork and veg came from their own small holding.

View attachment 913451

Oh, It’s bread and dripping​

We also got a sample of the special soup for free; spicy tripe which was very good indeed.

View attachment 913459

sluuuurp​

James, the site owner, was very keen that Jane tried some local lavender wine, which tastes a lot better than you’d think (we’re informed, I stuck to beer, Flynn to porky bones).

View attachment 913454

Like old lady soap but alcoholic​

After lunch Flynn made great friends with a Slovakian Dalmatian.

View attachment 913457

We didn’t do much other than drying off and reading in the afternoon. We’d planned to cook in the van this evening but the delicious soup and remaining lavender wine convinced us to go back for James’ roast pork knuckle.

View attachment 913458

It was a good decision. It was delicious.​

This whole site is a microcosm of what makes camping great. The weather was by turns great and awful. But we’ve helped others put their tent up, we’ve been helped by a stranger when we were in need. Flynn made a friend. We learn a bit of Slovakian and taught a bit of English. We cooked some great food and had some great food cooked for us. And we broke a bit of Denby off and now have to get it fixed. Life is good.

Codiwomple rating: still 10/10

View attachment 913452

That pork knuckle looks lovely. I usually make a stew from a pork hock, but they’re difficult to come across down our way.

Loving your blog. Hope the ankle is settling down Jane.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Brown bread with some chopped onion on it, did you rate that after the lavender wine or do I need my eyes testing again Thank you Jane And Rog for this blog I am loving it, you are both so funny and I love your style of writing

Thank you!

The bread and onion was bread and dripping! So delicious. The lavender wine was weird, but in a good way. It tasted like a light rosé wine with a hint of lavender, and was like a cider in strength. Locally made apparently.

 

[Jane And Rog]

And I love Flynn and his reaction to his muzzle "gift" Our Stanley was the same size and look as Flynn. We were in Spain and use to walk him every morning on the prom and one day we came across a Belgian guy who asked us why he didn't have a muzzle on him? turns out in Spain large dogs have to be muzzled in public too. We had the police pass us on many occasions and they never stopped us or questioned us

Flynn could not stop rubbing his face on everything to get rid of it. He hated it! Didn’t know that about Spain - we’ve walked around without one too.

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[Jane And Rog]

That pork knuckle looks lovely. I usually make a stew from a pork hock, but they’re difficult to come across down our way.

Loving your blog. Hope the ankle is settling down Jane.

This by far the best one. The English (well, he turned out to be Welsh really) guy, James, has been the best cook of Slovakian food we’ve found. I’d definitely recommend his campsite if you ever visit -

This small campsite nestled in the woods, is a gem. It is rules light and very welcoming. There is excellent walki…

https://park4night.com/lieu/92574/

 

[Jane And Rog]

The ankle is doing well thanks! I’d rather lose the yellow sock though, it’s not a good look

 

[Jane And Rog]

Coddiwompling day 14. More villages

We probably did too much today to achieve a good codiwomple rating. Let’s see:

After paying via uk bank transfers including a cash back from the affable James we set off to Banská Štiavnica a mining town east of the campsite. Parking was 800m away from the town centre. It’s a nice Gothic / Renaissance town, we mooched around but it was hot and busy so we didn’t use any of the LP’s promised trendy cafes.

Two schools, a mining museum a church and atop the hill, a catholic pilgrimage.​

Then on the road again. We’ve found what looks like a good campervan repair place: Turcan Auto in Kaáčiny. That means a quick drive over (2 hours according to Apple Maps) via another old town: Vlkolínec. On the way we stopped for lunch randomly at what turned out to be the gold capital of Europe at one time. Kremnica is now a very posh holiday town with largely complete medieval walls. Sadly it doesn’t have much in the way of restaurants so, lunch was an ice cream. The mint museum - possibly Europe’s oldest mint was closed on Sunday.

Kremnica Gate​

Then on to the Unesco-listed hamlet of Vlkolínec it was built in the C14 and except for the car parking outside every house, it hansn’t changed there are 45 traditional log buildings, including an C18 timber bell tower (so, that’s a change; history ed). It was lovely to wander round although a little steep for Jane’s ankle. We took it easy and stopped halfway for a lemonade.

Slurp slurp slurp - that’s Flynn drinking BTW.​

Slurp slurp slurp.​

Our stop for the night was an old car park on Lake Ontario which was happily only 20 minutes from Turcan Auto. We were one of only two vans there when we arrived but the place was full of Slovaks of a certain age slowly tanning themselves to a deep walnut brown. They packed up their loungers and left around seven (including the other van), leaving only the fishermen grilling their days catch and, by 10pm, we were alone.

Denby plus soon to depart fishermen.​

Unfortunately all the touristing and our decision to save €12 on motorway tax means Apple’s two hour drive was more like 7 hours on the road. I was tired and grumpy, Jane had only eaten a single scoop of ice cream (hazelnut) all day and developed a stomach ache. So, dinner for one (me) was wok fried noodles. Good news the new burner works well as a wok burner. Bad news, it works too well and I burnt it. Shame we weren’t in the best of moods because this was a pretty special place.

Here’s the DenbyVision version



Codiwomple rating: 8/10 losing the one point for the bad mood another for too much driving, please see the headmaster.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Also, because once the drone is out, everything gets a go, here’s Vlkolínec



Interestingly - if you’re interested in these things which I assume people here are - the White transit up the hill from Denby and the one up from that on the other side were the first British vans we’ve seen in Slovakia - the two girls in the Transit said the same!

 

[G-RMPS]

Also, because once the drone is out, everything gets a go, here’s Vlkolínec



Interestingly - if you’re interested in these things which I assume people here are - the White transit up the hill from Denby and the one up from that on the other side were the first British vans we’ve seen in Slovakia - the two girls in the Transit said the same!

Very smooth droning!

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[Jane And Rog]

I think Rog has forgotten that the reason he was so grumpy, is that when he bought the tickets at Vlkolínec, the woman said “senior?” and sold him OAP tickets.

Senior tickets were for 65 and above. The poor lad is only 57!

 

[Wanders from Glos]

I think Rog has forgotten that the reason he was so grumpy, is that when he bought the tickets at Vlkolínec, the woman said “senior?” and sold him OAP tickets.

Senior tickets were for 65 and above. The poor lad is only 57!

View attachment 914294

Ha ha that happened to Claire on Lake Maggiore. I think the lady was being kind and saving us money, but Claire was very clear she should pay full price.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Rog is getting a bit confused these days, what with being in his seventh decade and all, so he didn’t really realise what had happened until he came upon me doubled-up with mirth. Otherwise I’m sure he’d have insisted on paying full whack. You’re probably right that the kiosk lady was trying to be kind.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

I don’t think Claire was motivated by altruism more like outrage!

 

[Gina M]

Rog is getting a bit confused these days, what with being in his seventh decade and all, so he didn’t really realise what had happened until he came upon me doubled-up with mirth. Otherwise I’m sure he’d have insisted on paying full whack. You’re probably right that the kiosk lady was trying to be kind.

I feel the same, the lady was being kind by offering him the cheaper price

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[Jane And Rog]

We woke up alone on the great big concrete parking near the lake. It was actually a lot better than that sounds.

I fired up Merlin Bird ID and got a few for my life list, including a Golden Oriole. Try as I might, though, I couldn’t spot it in person (in bird). I did see a Fieldfare and a Common Whitethroat - are they rare, do you think?

Our first destination was just down the road was Turcan Auto - they sell campers and even convert their own very cool Mercedes Sprinter 4WDs, but we were interested in parts for Thule awnings.

The owner chap was very friendly and spoke amazingly good English. They even had two sizes of awning parts in stock - but not ours. Delivery time was 8-10 days so we decided to carry on and try to phone ahead to someone else, maybe in Poland.

On the way to the dealer, I’d spotted something amazing - the factory where Ecco shoes are made, and it had an outlet! After some faffing around on spanky new roads our Garmin didn’t know about, we pulled up, and 30 minutes later were leaving, lighter of wallet. Best of all, I got summer walking boots with high ankles, so a lot more support for when I’m able to hike again.

Sorry about the state of the van!

We drove on, only stopping at Lidl to try to get mozzie spray (fail), fizzy wine (fail, it was all too sugary for me) and lunch (partial success - we settled on sharing a baguette sandwich as I was so hungry after missing dinner last night.

Our destination was Camping Vysoke, but it was closed for unspecified reasons.

I must say, our Slovak is coming on in leaps and bounds, that just reads like English to me.

Anyway, we headed back up mountain to Rijo camping, which stung us for €31 for one night, Denby, Flynn, us and no electricity. At least it had good showers.

Up mountain because we are now in the High Tatras, which sound like a seventies girl band. Flynn is happy as it’s a lot cooler - early twenties with a fresh breeze.

Rog did a nice Tatra-based dog walk while I did van cleaning. This is so common we need an acronym - RDDWWIDVC. When he came back he needed doggie cuddles - camping chairs are not the best for this!

We decided to eat out as

a) I was starving
b) Denby supplies are at the sardine pasta level after inadequate supermarkets en-route
c) We fancied it

So we walked down to Restaurant Famosa, which served an exciting mix of Italian and local specialities.

Rog started with a tiny little steak tartare that just piqued his appetite for the main course.

Fries with that, sir?

I had an Old Bohemian Potato Soup. I’m not quite sure whether old Bohemians make better soup, or whether the potatoes were slightly aged, but anyway, it was delicious.

We both had catfish for mains, and as we’re getting wise to these Eastern European countries now, we ordered double portions of veg.

Quite enormous, but we must be veg-starved as we left mostly chips.

Coddiwompling rating: Ecco boots!
Ankle: The yellow sock is fading fast!

 

[Jane And Rog]

Very smooth droning!

Thanks but… all done by DJI, no human intervention other than identifying Denby to their software.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Yesterday’s map. Very much east in direction, wonder if I should deduct coddiwomple points.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Coddiwompling day 16. Plumbing and awnings please

First thing this morning, Denby obviously decided that just getting a new awning wasn’t enough jeopardy. Nearly… but not quite. We just need something else annoying and inconvenient but not enough to cancel the whole trip. So the bathroom tap stopped working. It’s obviously the micro switch wiring wearing out but, we don’t have a replacement.

We spent the morning phoning various campervan places in Poland and Slovakia to see if they had the correct awning legs and taps or tap bits. All of them were lovely, helpful and speak great English but didn’t have either of these two items. So we gave up. Our previous van only had one cold tap so we can probably manage tooth brushing in the kitchen and we can manoeuvre Denby to make a good chunk of shade. Also trees exist.

So, we filled up and emptied Denby’s various tanks and set off for Levoča. But first a walk (R+F) and a wander round town (J). We collected:

• Souvenir Christmas decoration (jane)
• Delicious bread to make lunch (jane)
• Bag full of wild strawberries (rog)
• Fur full of mud to distribute around Denby (Flynn)

Definitely not Jane in an orange frock.​

Yum​

Put a cross in the square where you think the dog is.​

All in all quite productive.

Then to Levoča, a walled town; now a UNESCO site, previously the seat of kings. It’s got a lot of impressive renaissance mansions an important church, a highly restored town hall and a lovely main square to keep them all in.

C17 stationary shop​

We’re parked just outside the town walls and have the car park (///auditor.podium.hung) to ourselves.

We sat out the heat of the day then went for a wander and a pint.

Sadly the town’s Cage of Shame wasn’t accepting visitors no matter how dirty.​

Small head or big beer? Phone in with your votes!​

Dinner was a 50m walk and climb up some stairs on the outside of the city walls (surely a security hazard) to Reštaurácia Kupecká Bašta (literally: Restaurant Corpulent Bastard). We started with “pork toast” to accompany drinks which we thought might be nice local ham or maybe pork mince on bread but turned out to be a delicious roast pork/cheese on toast hybrid. The bread was probably fried too. “Five stars would eat again” said my Trip Advisor review.

Five stars, would marry again.​

Mains were “Gypsy pork neck and pickled vegetables” for me and “pork with cheese and potatoes pancakes” for Jane - attempting to relive her days in Kyiv. It was all good. The gypsy neck edging it at the final scoring. I also amusingly ate a massive forkful of horseradish thinking it was grated cabbage.

Codiwomple rating: 9/10 taps were not planned but plumbing in denby is predictably bad.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Today’s map.

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[Grianan]

What a great blog to catch up on over breakfast!

 

[125BEER]

The curse of the hot weather! We couldn’t leave Flynn for long enough. We shall try our best for relics though, promise!

The bbq is a Nomadr grill / smoker thing. At the time you could get them in the UK, but I’m not sure you can any more. You can get them in orange now though, grrr.

Not cheap.....

Cheers

 

[Lenny HB]

Our previous van only had one cold tap so we can probably manage tooth brushing in the kitchen

Just open the kitchen tap slightly, enough for the pump to run with no water or a dribble coming out, then you can use the bathroom tap.

 

[Jane And Rog]

We were in Levoča bright and early to see inside the Basilica of St James. It was before opening time, so it made sense (no it didn’t) to have a coffee first and visit afterwards.

Rog also indulged in a mountain of custard, topped with butter cream and wedged with pastry like the worst cake-burger chimera you could imagine. Even Flynn wasn’t that keen on the buttercream.

We had to tag-team the church for dog reasons, so I was left tied up to a park bench with Flynn.

It was now 8:40 and Rog then discovered that the church wasn’t just open at 8:30 but had tours every hour, on the hour, starting at 8:30. No admission in between times. Luckily the nice lady took pity on him and let him in anyway.

The Basilica of St James is famous for having the tallest wooden altar in Europe, and also for having a complete set of its original 12 altars - mostly these were destroyed in the reformation. No photos allowed so this is the best we got, sneakily.

When Rog got back to Flynn and me, there was still half an hour to wait till the 9:30 tour, so I didn’t bother. Having a dog means you end up doing a lot of things alone, and waiting around a lot. Of course, we should be doing more dog walking than town stuff - but my ankle has put paid to that.

We drove a mere hop down the road to Spiš Castle. This is said to be Slovakia’s most spectacular castle, and it certainly lived up to its billing.

I didn’t fancy waiting around again, so I did do the walk up to and around the castle, though it was sometimes pretty sketchy, with steep ramps and shiny, polished stone steps.

Rog took a drone shot of the castle.



Our sat nav was then set for Poland! But Slovakia had one last hurrah, as first I, then Rog, shopped for supplies. It’s a stinking hot 29 degrees here now, as a heat wave hits the whole of Europe.

As we drove near the Polish border, I noticed the Slovakian town names were written in Cyrillic as well. I’m guessing Ukrainian origins for some of the local people - we were pretty close to the border.

We’ve stopped at Camping Drymak which is a nice little place but managed to piss me off by having showers which take zloty coins. We’d already paid the owner in euros (just 10, bargain) so it was pretty obvious we were just across the border and didn’t have any Polish currency. A zloty is 20p. Honestly, I’d have paid a euro each extra for camping to get a hassle-free shower.

While I was battling with the showers, Flynn had a welcome river break.

Ankle news not great either - two Flynn incidents when Rog wasn’t nearby have caused minor twists and it’s looking a bit more swollen again.

Dinner was gnocchi & veg skewers with steak. I wanted lamb or fish for a change but we’re in the wrong part of the world for that. I wonder what happens to all the sheep whose cheese is everywhere here.

Coddiwompling rating: 0
Ankle rating: 0

 

[Jane And Rog]

Just open the kitchen tap slightly, enough for the pump to run with no water or a dribble coming out, then you can use the bathroom tap.

This is exactly what we’re doing thanks. Tonight, the angle of the van, humidity and most likely because Denby is haunted, the tap is working again.

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