A Winter Wonderland

We woke up early and looked outside at the forest around us. It was so beautiful we thought we would stay all day in the peace and quiet and get a few jobs done around the house

But by 10am James had already fixed the front door and battery isolator and we weren’t sure what to do with ourselves. So we decided to try a Wikilock route through the forests and up the mountain instead

The whole day was absolutely spectacular

The snow and ice glistened off the trees

And we carried on feeling as though we were driving through a Christmas card

As we rounded a corner we saw an unusual road sign

A few seconds later we spotted what looked like a tunnel up ahead

And quickly found ourselves in the middle of a real life bat cave

We jumped out and went in search of bats…

Sadly, we didn’t find anything.

Half an hour later we stopped for a late lunch in a clearing by a stream, hoping that there was something solid under all that snow!

There was and we were tempted to stay there for the night but it was still a little early so we carried on for another hour or so

Eventually we decided on a small lay-by and had another quiet night in amongst the trees.

Next morning it was minus 2 outside and I couldn’t face training in sub-zero temperatures. Worried that it was only going to get colder from now on, I devised a surprisingly successful new programme that could be done in the tiny space we have inside the truck – although James visibly winced every time one of my weights hit a cupboard!

The previous day we had seen signs for a place called ‘Bobovac – the Seat of Kings’. We just had to go and see what it was all about.

It turned out to be a 14^th century fortress town and when we arrived the tour guide office was closed but the gates were open with a ‘Welcome’ sign. So we wandered in

The only building still standing was the mausoleum

There were also the remains of an old cistern, a palace and a church. We followed the paths around the large site but the clouds were low and we couldn’t see much

We clambered up to the top of one of the hills where there were more ruins of the town walls

But the snow and ice were making it difficult to get around and it was bitterly cold.

So we headed back to BigMog and carried on our journey towards Bijambare National Park

Our sat nav decided to take us on a short cut through narrow mountain roads and at one point we met a digger coming in the opposite direction

On such narrow roads, getting past each other was an interesting experience. The digger moved as far as he could to the trees and we moved as close as we could to the bank. The ground was wet and muddy and, just as we were squeezing past, BigMog lost his footing and slid down into the cutting.

But he’s made of sturdy stuff and as soon as the digger was past, James locked the diffs in and we climbed back out without skipping a beat.

We carried on down the increasingly narrow roads and started to get some strange looks from the locals as we went by. At one point a woman stopped her car in front of us and jumped out to ask if we were ok. We thought that maybe we had come the wrong way and our suspicions were confirmed when the narrow road turned into a dirt track and there was no way for a 7.5 tonne lorry to get through.

We backed up to where there was a bit of space, turned around and drove back to the main road. We really need to stop getting ourselves into these scrapes.

We eventually came to a small town and stopped at a local restaurant for lunch. The owner was lovely and helped translate the menu for us. James pointed to a photo of a burger on the wall and asked whether they were available. The owner smiled and said yes but they don’t look like that! Suitably warned, James ordered the cevapi.

We made it to the national park just before dark. I went up to the ticket office to ask whether we could stay the night in their car park. They were pleased to accommodate us and welcomed us to park anywhere we liked.

Despite the snow I managed to train outside again next morning under a picture perfect blue sky. It was still freezing cold though and my heart sank a little when the ticket officer told me that it was a 1.8km walk from the car park to the caves we had come to see.

But it was all so beautiful we bundled ourselves up in big coats, hats and mittens and headed off with big grins on our faces

We spotted the ‘winter lake’ behind the trees

The stecci tombstones looked lovely underneath their blanket of snow

And before we knew it we were at the caves. There are two caves here, a small one that is open all year round and a large one which is only open in the summer months and for which you need a guide.

As it was 30^th November, we had come here expecting to only see the small cave so we couldn’t believe our luck when we found that not only was the big cave still open but the next tour was in an hour’s time and it was the very last tour of the season!

We spent the hour’s wait in a café demolishing an early lunch of pizza, burger and hot chocolate.

Our tour guide was great

She told us that only 5% of visitors here come from Britain. We also learnt a lot about bats and saw some very small ones curled up high along the walls of the cave

Most of this large cave system is only open to scientific researchers, but as a tourist we were still able to walk 500m inside along very well maintained boardwalks

This was another cool and airy cave that did nothing to trigger my claustrophobia until right at the very end when we were just a little bit too far from the entrance

But we were the only people there and our guide had clearly decided we were neither the cave-wrecking nor the getting-lost types so left us to our own devices and allowed us to wander freely back to the entrance admiring the beautiful, cathedral-like structures at our own pace, which was perfect

From there we walked up steep, ice-covered steps to the small cave

The views were stunning

And it was so cold inside that we could see our breath swirling in the torch light

Back outside, the sun had come out and it was starting to warm up so the long walk back to BigMog was beautiful

We had located a remote park-up place an hour or so up the road and headed in that direction. We managed to find fuel and then stumbled across a small, local fruit and veg shop that sold mushrooms – a rare find around here. Life was good, our day had been perfect.

Up until now.

We drove towards our park-up place through tiny, narrow villages but the other drivers were very helpful and either backed up out of our way or pulled into driveways to let us past. We were smiling and waving our thanks and generally having a lovely time.

Until we weren’t.

It was already getting dark and the small roads were icey

We turned upwards at a fork in the road and found ourselves on a dangerously slippery and narrow trail which didn’t look as though it had been used for many months. Low cloud descended on us and the road got narrower and narrower with a steep drop down one side. James’ eyebrows were in a deep furrow as he tried to negotiate the path and my nails were dug into my seat. This was not good at all.

It was too much, if we carried on we were clearly going to have major problems. But how to get back down again on such a tight road? In the end we reversed BigMog up the muddy bank and managed to do a perilous u-turn that had me scrunching my eyes closed and wishing that I was anywhere else but there.

We all know that James has nerves of steel and he deftly manoeuvred the Mog back down the trail as darkness was falling all around us – although his face was ashen.

Once safely back on the dirt road, we pulled over and tried to find somewhere else to stay. There was nothing on our park-up apps that was close enough to get to before it was pitch black and we really didn’t want to be driving these roads in the dark. We had passed what looked like an old school with a small football pitch a few minutes back down the road and I suggested that as an emergency measure we might try there.

As we pulled in we found that it wasn’t actually a school but an abandoned holiday camp and, whilst it was muddy and a little creepy, we would be able to tuck ourselves away off the road and out of view. So that’s what we did.

But the day did not end there. As we pulled up we saw a dog wandering around wearing what looked like a radio collar. It seemed an odd thing for a dog to have around its neck and what was even more strange was that – unlike the many, many dogs wandering the streets and forests of Bosnia which all look well fed, healthy and happy – this dog was emaciated, trembling and clearly very unhappy.

It broke my heart to see him. He came up to us wanting help but we didn’t know what help we could give. We gave him all our sausages which he wolfed down and we made our first fire of the year in the hope that he would come and sit by it to warm up a little

But he didn’t, instead he scraped at the snow-covered grass a little way away from us and tried to curl up in the small patch of dirt. It was terrible to watch and we doubted he would last very much longer out here in the cold. Short of adopting him, we were at a loss as to what to do.

Just as I was about to try and carry him into the Mog, we heard a car pull up and a man started shouting. He was too far away for us to see him in the dark, we could only see the headlights and hear his calls. At first I thought he was shouting at us telling us to leave but suddenly the dog raised his head and looked in his direction. He then slowly pulled himself up and limped towards the man, speeding up as he went until he was trotting even though he was clearly in pain.

The man’s shouts got louder and more excited, the dog disappeared from our view and we sat there with our breaths held. Eventually we heard doors slamming and the car drove off. We waited in the hope that the dog did not come back and for a few seconds we saw nothing. The seconds turned into minutes and after half an hour had gone by with no sign of the dog returning we let our breaths out – it seemed that the poor thing had been rescued and we had witnessed a heart-rending tragedy with a happy ending.

But what was the story? An emaciated dog wearing a radio collar, rescued just as we were there. The only explanation I could come up with was that the dog was either old or ill and kept wandering away from home so his owners had put the collar on him in order to track him. We can but hope.

The next morning we headed further south towards the Sutjeska national park. It was the beginning of December, so on the way we stopped off at a supermarket and bought Christmas decorations for BigMog and a Santa hat for teddy

We also managed to find somewhere to give BigMog a good clean, something he had been needing for a very long time

With the days getting increasingly short, we realised that we would not make it to our park-up spot before dark so pulled over by a memorial on the side of the road enroute. We were much higher up here and the snow was deeper – it wasn’t an ideal place to sleep but it was fine

The next morning we woke to find ice on the inside of our windows and we were about as cold as we had ever been. James got up early to use the toilet only to find that both our grey and black water tanks had frozen along with the pipes into them. With no way for the water to go down and out we ended up with our wet room swimming in wee.

It was not a good start to the day.

By the time we had cleaned it all up it was mid morning but still no warmer and it took a bit of effort to start BigMog’s engine.

We pressed on towards the national park but the roads got narrower and icier as we climbed higher. We turned off the main road onto a dirt road but after only a few minutes decided to give up and turn back towards Sarajevo.

We headed for the old ski slope complex just a few miles south west of the city, a remnant of the 1984 Olympic Games held to great acclaim before the 1990s war tore the country apart. We parked up in a large layby looking down over the abandoned site

It was beautiful and rather eery.

We thought we might stay overnight but that meant driving back down the hill into the old car park. Just as we were getting back into the truck James noticed a puddle under the truck and a strong smell of diesel. After a quick inspection we found that our large diesel tank was leaking – and with over 200 litres of fuel in it this needed urgent attention.

We needed a welder and decided on a two-pronged attack. First we searched on google and found a place half an hour away in the city. As we drove towards it I made contact with the only person we knew in Sarajevo – the lady from the campsite where we had arranged to leave BigMog over Christmas. She was wonderful and very quickly sent us a contact number for a friend of hers who said he could help.

We arrived at the welding place recommended by google only to find it was no good – it looked like someone’s house and there was no-one around. It was also up a very tight and steep road which we had only just managed to squeeze BigMog up so trying to turn round to go back down was yet another terrifying manoeuvre that had our stress levels going catastrophic again.

Once back on the main road we pulled over and James called the contact number our campsite lady had given us. The gentleman on the other end was called Ben and he could not have been more helpful. We arranged to go to his house at 10am the next morning where he said we could remove the tank and take it to a nearby welder that he knew well.

With no more to be done that day we drove into the city to find a supermarket where we bought a bucket, a funnel and a length of hose pipe. We then parked-up in a large car park next to a thermal spa for the night.

That evening James transferred 60L of fuel from our leaking tank into the smaller tank and put the bucket underneath the leak overnight. Whatever fuel we lost after that, there was nothing we could do about it.

The next day was one which made us realise just how wonderful the Bosnian people are. We arrived at Ben’s house to find he had borrowed some large diesel containers and enlisted a friend to help us syphon all our fuel out of the tank into them

Ben then had to go to work but once James had removed the tank another of his friends turned up in an estate car to drive James and the tank to the welders. The welders did a great job patching up the leak

The manager of the workshop drove James and the tank back to me and the Mog. James then refitted the repaired tank, syphoned the fuel back in and we were good to go.

Neither Ben nor any of this friends would accept any money from us – not even a few cans of beer to say thank you. They simply said that we were guests in their country and they were happy to help.

We were back in our car park with a fully repaired fuel tank by 4:30pm. A bad situation had turned into another of those life-affirming moments that make our nomadic lives so good.

The next morning we stocked up with food at the supermarket next door and drove back to the Olympic ski slopes

It was pouring down with rain so we spent the afternoon inside and cooked a wonderful Thai steak stir fry

That night James was woken up at 12:30am by the sound of a car screeching around very close to us followed by the voices of drunk men circling the truck. He said it was the first time ever that he feared we would have trouble. But just as he was about to get out and confront the men it started to rain heavily again and they jumped back in their car and drove away.

I’m so glad none of this woke me up as I would never have got back to sleep for worrying. But even so, when he told me what had happened the next morning, I was not keen to stay another night.

In the daylight, however, there was nothing threatening here at all. After a freezing cold training session on sheet ice, we bundled ourselves up and went to explore

We saw the podium where the athletes had been awarded their medals

I took a photo of James standing on the Number 1 spot but we later found that this podium had been the site of mass executions during the 1990s war so I have chosen not to use the photo here.

We then decided to brave the slippery ice and climb to the top of the highest ski slope – we had come this far, we couldn’t chicken out now

At first the steps were wide and clear enough to be easy going but after a while they narrowed and were covered in ice. I wasn’t sure we could make it any further and the views form here were already impressive

But James went up further to investigate and shouted back down that things got easier so off we went to see how far we could get.

We climbed yet more steps then had to scramble up a grassy, snowy slope and finally hauled ourselves up huge slabs of concrete

But eventually we made it to the foot of the stairs inside the ski slope itself and climbed them to the very top. We looked down the enormous slope

How anyone could stand there with a couple of wooden planks strapped to their feet and decide it would be a great idea to launch themselves down is beyond me!

As we weren’t going to stay another night here we needed to find somewhere close by as an alternative. I found somewhere on our park-up app that looked lovely and was only a few minutes down the road. We set off and soon found ourselves driving up a narrow, icey but safe dirt road. We weren’t sure what we would find at the other end but when we arrived we were thrilled

It was gorgeous

The view over the forest-clad mountains was spectacular

It was hard to believe that we were only a few kilometers from Sarajevo.

I sat outside enjoying the fresh air whilst James cleaned the garage and dried it out after all the rain

Suddenly we saw movement to one side and, as we stood still watching, a beautiful fox came up

He was nervous at first but got into his stride and decided to see whether we had anything of interest

Finding that we didn’t, he wandered up the road and vanished.

Some gentle rain started again but we put the awning out and managed to brave the weather for a bit longer until it got too cold to be fun.

We had been disappointed to miss out on Sutjeska national park and a careful study of google maps suggested that we had gone the wrong way – there were roads that looked wider and better albeit longer. So the next day we packed up and headed south again.

This time we got it right, the roads were smooth tarmac and the drive was lovely. We parked up by the Tjentiste monument

As we wandered towards the steps, a guard cat looked after BigMog

Whilst a resident dog guided us towards the monument

He took his guiding duties very seriously

I followed him all the way up where he showed me the dedication stones laid out like an amphitheatre

The monument itself was very striking

It seemed to change depending on which angle you looked at it

The nearby Battle of Sutjeska Museum was closed but the building itself was worth a look

Afterwards, we drove to a park-up place near the river and it was lovely

Despite being quite close to the road it was quiet with beautiful views

It was still only 2pm but dusk was already starting to close in so we lit a fire and stood watching ‘Bushmen’s TV’ for the rest of the afternoon

A little further south were two adjacent lakes – Vrba and Klinje. We drove the wonderful roads towards them the next morning and looked out over the viewpoint

It was still cold but the sun was out and the skies were blue

Further down the road we found an abandoned hotel

And a short walk later was the dam and waterfall

This whole area is probably full with tourists in the summer months, having it all to ourselves was a real treat

After finding that our planned park-up place in the forests had been turned into a construction site, we happened upon another spot down by the river a few miles downstream

This one was even better than the previous night’s. The views were just as beautiful

But there was far more space for us to spread out and the road was nowhere to be seen or heard.

We lit our third and final fire with what was left of our wood and spent another idyllic afternoon warming ourselves and watching the flames flicker as the sun sank behind the mountains

We had been in Bosnia for almost six weeks now and had done almost everything we wanted to do with the exception of one major highlight – Sarajevo.

We had been skirting around the city for a week or so and now it was time to head inside for a bit of history and culture.

We packed up and set off out of the national park.

Most roads in Bosnia are great but every now and again there are some narrow ones. Most drivers in Bosnia are great but every now and again there are some mad ones. What you don’t want is to meet the one on the other and sadly, about twenty minutes into our journey, that’s exactly what we did.

We were driving along a slightly narrow road when an artic came towards us in the other direction. The driver didn’t seem to want to move over and as he passed us there was a sudden very loud bang. I jumped out of my seat and for a moment thought the lorry had hit BigMog’s side quarter. Luckily it had only hit the wing mirror

Bad enough though and very, very annoying.

It looked as though our cultural trip into Sarajevo was going to have to wait. Yet another detour to find a Mercedes garage was coming our way….