Sunday, 27 May 2012

18th May: On to Zagreb

We’ve moved on to the Zagreb region, to a lovely, quiet riverside site 40 miles from the city of Zagreb, the Croatian capital. The nearest town is Karlovac 8 miles away.
The campsite pitches are generous, as shown in the photo. Pitches can be quite small in many foreign sites so neighbours end up being too close, and it also doesn’t allow the sensible UK fire protection gap of 6 metres.
Another odd phenomenon is known as the “herd instinct”, where some campers pitch as close as possible to your unit regardless of available space. It might make a good subject for a medical book: “The Psychology of Camping”.
The river really is this turquoise colour. It’s about 50 metres away from our caravan, just far enough should the heavy showers of the last few days cause a sudden rise in level. We were nearly flooded in Alconbury in 1998- many of our friends were- so we’re a bit wary of rivers and heavy rain.
The site used to be approached by crossing the longest wooden bridge in Croatia. This is currently being replaced by a super new concrete road bridge. A welcome local improvement to be sure, but the photo shows another, sadder angle; the last bits of the ancient old structure being engulfed by the concrete juggernaut. I’m certainly not against progress, but there is a price to pay.
For comparison, you might like to see the complete old bridge a few years ago before the “modernisation” (photo from the internet).

No comments: