Travel is a Wonderful Thing The journey not the arrival matters.. T.S Eliot

A leisurely breakfast in this lovely Hotel Lectar then off to Plitvice Lakes. Gav the Nav is now known as Gavinshka with an english accent as its a she who must be obeyed! Set off and Gavinshka said 3.5 hours to our destination. With Celeste relaxing as the kilometres click by, the scenery unfolded. It is beautiful with many small villages along the way dotting the landscape and each with a church and spire.The highway system is brilliant in Slovenia and buzz box is settling in at 120kms with not to much shaking ( I am talking about the car not Celeste ). Stopped at a checkpoint, passports stamped and we leave Slovenia and enter Croatia. Cars whistle along as the speed limit is 130 with many doing more than that. I am glad we bought Gavinshka as it would have been more difficult despite what we were told about finding our way around. Up up into the mountains we go and after winding around ravines and curving slopes we get our first encounter of what is to come. A river and a waterfall that flowed under a house. Go figure but Celeste said it was impressive as I was told "keep your eyes on the road ". Arrive at Plitvice Hotel on the edge of the Plitvice Lakes, checked in and had a drink. Should be a great day of exploring tomorrow.

Today we walked Plitvice Lakes system both upper and lower. It was an early start as we wanted to try and beat the hoards that would be arriving. It was exquisite. The boardwalks are made of felled logs and it winds up and down valleys, across streams and through dense forest. You can go from silence to the sound of rushing water at the turn of a corner. The park is clean and very serene. Although the main falls were not flowing as hard as in the middle of winter it was still very beautiful. The walk took us about 4 hours and was well worth the effort. The Birch forest has just started to turn colour and they look very pretty with some a golden hue. After the 10 klm trek we retired to the hotel for a well earned rest ( and drink).