And so we we waited for 4 days just outside Bari in a little campsite called Camping Freddo- we liked to think of it as the Margate of Italy. Slightly run down but with a pitch 50 metres from the sea it was a perfectly nice place to be marooned for a few days. We organised for a currier to collect the document we needed from uk and crossed our fingers it would arrive on Tuesday…..which it did! So after a few days of doing I’m not really sure what ( reading,hiding from the 39degree heat, cooking, cycling, cold showers) we went back to the port confident it was third time lucky.

We succeeded and finally held the tickets in our hands and departed Bari on our special 1970.s ferry at 22:00. For the state of the ship and the fact it was a 9hour trip to Dubrovnik the cost of the ferry for us and two reclining seats (Dave put his foot down about not having a cabin) was totally over priced. We were chuffed at first to be the only people in the reclining seats area and thought we would have a peaceful night until. 3 coach loads of Italian families and screaming kids joined us- however we did manage a few hours of sleep. We woke to the sun rising over the stunning hills of Croatia and Dubrovnik -it was a beautiful way to start the day.

After a ridiculous amount of time at customs we were on the road by 7:30 and heading straight for Montenegro – where my brother and 10 friends have a villa for a week. After negotiating the crazy roads that switch from tarmac to dirt track with no notice we crossed two border checks and got to our destination in 2 hours. The route was beautiful and Montenegro is a stunning and surprising place. We met my brother and friends and are now taking part in their holiday with the added bonus of a real bed, a place to wash our clothes and some lovely new people to talk to.