Following Sunday night’s mixed fish BBQ thrown by us celebrating Steve’s catch, 6am the next morning (Monday 24th) Steve and John went fishing with their rods, heavy weights and heavy heads in a tiny boat driven by Nebojša, the guy who ferries guests past our terrace to and from the expensive fish restaurant Catovica Mlini. The boys returned with full grins and full catch and Thurma and John insisted on preparing dinner for us that evening. As directed by Dusan (our camp owner) instead of barbequing the fish, John would coat them in seasoned flour and then deep fry in corn oil containing fresh crushed garlic and rosemary sprigs taken from the garden. The feast was sumptuous.

Tuesday turned into an exciting adventure, when we thought it would be a quiet day. Captain Ivan messaged me to say he would be at his garden from late afternoon and would the four of like to visit and pick some fresh produce from his garden at the same time. We’d already told Thurma and John all about it and none of us could wait. This time we would make our own way in the Poacher. Thurma and I had packed shopping bags.

This photo is from our terrace and shows how high we have to climb up the mountain to reach Gornji Morinj. As previously mentioned the Poacher has the turning circle of a football pitch, so on some of the mountain hair pin bends we had to have two attempts, but we got there after a 20 minute drive.

Car parked up, we walked passed the wild boar whose name is ‘Gile’ and were greeted by Ivan who, once again, proudly showed us around his garden. This time we were all prepared wearing walking boots, having been previously warned of snakes, most of them non-poisonous. Although Ivan knew the ones which were poisonous, we didn’t, and to be honest, I wasn’t too keen to find out.

The previous time we had visited, Ivan had wanted to take us to a beauty spot but we didn’t have suitable foot ware. This time we did and we hadn’t a clue where he was taking us as he left his garden, us closely following, leading the way through neighbour’s gardens and vineyards. At one point we stopped for Ivan to pick up a stick. I thought, as we were finding it difficult to walk through the growth of Spring, the stick was to beat a path through. Wrong!! He told us the stick was to make sure there were no snakes. Not to be outdone, both John and Steve looked for their own sticks, much longer than Ivan’s of course. Thurma, rather worried about snakes, decided to sing quite loudly and clap her hands. No idea what films she had seen, but if it works for her, why not? We walked in single file, Ivan leading, beating a path, telling us there were no snakes, the men following, then Thurma and me looking left and right. No harm in checking.

We walked, we climbed, we dodged obstacle, sometimes with sheer drops to one side and finally got to where Ivan wanted to show us THE view. The view was by a rock called “Kuk” (which means “hip” in English) right on the edge of the mountain with a sheer drop behind it and another sheer drop to our right. The view was nearly as breath taking as the fear. There was only room for three at a time and that was with careful juggling of space.

Steve, so taken with the views and opportunity for photography, overcame his acrophobia, but once he returned to the safe side and relaxed himself, suddenly found his legs a bit wobbly. Walking back to Ivan’s place, we couldn’t stop talking about it and how lucky we were to have such an opportunity. Apparently the path is easier to find in the Winter, and the locals had told Ivan where it was when he bought his place.

Thurma and I carrying our fresh produce goodie bags, together with our men piled back into the Poacher for the return journey. The Poacher, being a little bit old, 1984, had to be driven in low gear rather than on the brakes, so the brakes wouldn’t overheat. Again, we had to have two attempts at a few of the sharp bends, and at one point John was on the ladder at the back of the Poacher, one hand hanging on, the other hand shielding his eyes from the setting sun, as look out for the odd car behind wanting to overtake, and the odd car in front wanting to get by us on the less than generous single lane road. The safari drive back was a little under an hour and naturally we wanted to celebrate our successes of not having fallen off the rock at the Tramontana Beach Bar – so we did!

The red squiggle was our route taken from our dash cam. We live to explore another day and perhaps next time we want to buy a lettuce, we’ll buy it from our local shop.

NOTE FROM CAPTAIN IVAN : We will be in the garden from 4pm if you need any lettuce or onions. Be free to come or let me know and I will bring them to you on my way back 🙂 I will read and translate your blog to local guys in Gornji Morinj today to see their reaction. They are going to be so proud that someone is writing about their village