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Old Man in a Campervan

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Old Man in a Campervan

Watching Sunsets, not Boxsets. Trying to capture life, exploring and living in Arty the Boxer!

12/06/2026

After a brief stop in Tešanj for supplies we headed up the hill to Teslic. You drive past a hotel and arrive on a plateau at the top of the hill.

Beautifully quiet, and with a breeze to cool us down a bit - this was idyllic and we thought we could spend a few days there.

Nature had other plans and introduced us to two skinny little pups. They appeared abandoned so we gave them water and a little fish.
They were grateful.
River, on the other hand, showed nothing maternal and told them what she thought of them. But they kept coming back and it was driving her nuts. Idyll was over!!

On top of that, we came across a few bits of tape and red paint splodges and if you don’t know, this means the area behind has not been cleared of mines from the 90’s war. Best avoided then… 💥 ⚰️
There is a Spomenik up there and the translation is:

“In this place, twelve fighters of the 1st Battalion of the 5th Kozara Brigade heroically laid down their lives in the 6th Offensive, defending the unprotected population that was retreating due to the atrocities of the occupier.

Glory to the fallen fighters.”

We left the next day.
But fear not…. during the night the pups’ mother appeared and they were clearly being taken care of, and not as abandoned as we thought. So all was well there 😁

11/06/2026

After a few days paying fines and sorting the van out, trying to chill out and enjoying the relative calmness of the campsite, we said our farewells and headed to a park up by a monastery.

The monastery is called Duga Njiva, which appears to translate as Long Field, which if right makes sense as we parked on the long field at the foot of the monastery.

I met one of the ‘Fathers’ and gained permission to park - I think they’re ’Fathers’ in Orthodox but can anyone correct me? We also said we’d litter pick if he had some sacks. The place was disgustingly treated by visitors and litter just dumped. It’s a peaceful, religious place but not treated with respect. They heard their goats and sheep there to graze and we couldn’t leave it messy.

We managed to pack 3-4 bin bags and still needed a box or two for the glass bottles left there. I didn’t see the Father again but I hope he felt we’d earned our stay.

Thank you Manastir Duga Njiva 🙏🏻

08/06/2026

If you’re not keen on frogs, don’t scroll past this lake!

This lake is on Campingplatz Luzani - hardly a Bosnian name but very much run by one! Srdjan was a massive help. He took me to a garage and sorted an oil change for the new engine, took me to a post office type place to pay for a parking fine (still not sure why I got it 🤣) and he cooks a mean goulash.

It’s a small site but is quiet with about 10 pitches, the road is fairly quiet too. Hot showers and a washing machine with no extra charges and EHU & water in each pitch.

The lake had fish in, ducks on and some of the biggest frogs I’ve seen. To give a little help there, I actually thought it was a terrapin!
Crappy pics but it’s the best I can do 😆 🐸

We’ve spent the last 4 nights here since arriving in Bosnia & Herzegovina and just trying to wind down, pick ourselves up and move forward. It’s not easy but we’re getting there…

06/06/2026

Our view on leaving the huge country that is Sweden - the mighty Øresund Bridge.

With Schengen allowance time slipping away fast it was long days and short nights, with pretty uneventful stopovers. Until we reached Germany and came across Lauenstein. This was a delightful little town near the border with Czechia.

It was nice to just stop. To get out and stretch legs for a while. To actually try and enjoy this mammoth journey.

Its town square and castle were lovely, although one or two statues in the garden were more ghoulish than gorgeous…

The town had its own swimming pool area - yes that is normal colour for it - and then there’s the wood carvings. There’s a lot of them about. But even if you don’t like them, you’ve got to admit they’re pretty darn good.

Nice and quiet park up too - much needed. Thank you Lauenstein.

31/05/2026

So, with new engine fitted and some thanks and goodbyes, we began our journey south. Firstly, knocking out a little of Norway, into Finland for a short time and then into Sweden.

First stop - the Swedish Arctic Circle. We’d crossed this previously in Norway and Finland so Sweden was a first.
Pretty uneventful really 🤣

Then we carried on, nursing the Arty’s new heart and found a cracker of a park up by a small beach. And after a few weeks of Midnight Sun, having a whole 90 minutes of ‘dark’ was FAB!

River loved stretching her legs and zooming, and a peaceful night was had by all.

30/05/2026

Geology is boring, right?

Well, possibly… but the history of these two is actually quite interesting.

Pay attention at the back! You might learn something 😂

Big Rock: The actual sediment layers that make up the rock are Late Neoproterozoic in age.
Those layers were laid down in a shallow, ancient ocean bed somewhere between 600 million and 850 million years ago.

Little Rock: The dark and light bands are classic rhythmic sedimentation. Hundreds of millions of years ago, Porsanger area experienced predictable, cyclical changes—likely seasonal shifts.
Light bands: Times of higher energy (perhaps spring melts bringing in coarser quartz sand or silts).

Dark bands: Quieter times (winter freezes where fine muds, organics, or dark minerals slowly settled out of stagnant water).

Essentially I’ve got two pieces of the exact same 700-million-year-old history book—one is just open to the front cover, and the other shows the edge of the pages!

Cool eh?

29/05/2026

We also took the very scenic route towards Havøysund, stopping off at the incredible Lillefjord waterfall. Again this was a recommendation from our hosts. And again, it was a stunning place to visit.

This, and our trip to the Trolls helped us realise that however bad things are, there are good things around you.

We’ve desperately tried to find positives from this and I think we’re succeeding.

We’ve met two lovely people, seen a part of Norway we may never have, eaten and drunk things I never thought I would, and experienced kindness, support and generosity that I never expected - and that’s not just here, but to all of you out there.
We can never thank you good people enough 🙏🏻

28/05/2026

Having a base and a hire car gave us the opportunity to look around the area. NordKapp was a revisit and I posted that disappointing return a while ago.

Another place we went to was Trollholmsund. This was Edmunds recommendation and in Sami legend, the legend tells the story of a group of trolls travelling across Finnmark while carrying a chest full of gold and silver.

Unable to cross the Porsangerfjord before dawn, they frantically searched for a cave to hide in. Failing to find one, the sunrise turned them all to stone.

And they stand there today. No gold or silver though sadly. But a fab place to visit.

Oh, and in my last post I incorrectly misspelled Christina and Bark. I apologise to , Kristina & Barke.

27/05/2026

Once we’d finally managed to get a hire car, we then found a rental in Smørfjord. A converted cow shed next to the owners house.

You can find this property on a few places but on Google Maps you’ll see them as Rivdnji Holiday Home or EJG in Smørfjord.

EJG is Edmund and his wife is Christina. And a more lovely couple you’d struggle to meet. They were very welcoming and friendly, and their rental property was ideal for us. So peaceful and had everything we needed. It was perfect for us to just take in the engine disaster and try and recover a little.

The property sits on the main road to NordKapp so if ever you’re coming this way and need a couple of nights out of the Moho, I will highly recommend this place.

It was fascinating talking to them and hearing their stories, we spent an afternoon & evening with them in their lávvu - the Sami wigwam style tent. Christina cooked for us over a fire and brewed coffee and it was truly fabulous and interesting hearing their stories and about their lives there.
And River fell in love with their dog, Bark.

They baked us bread, made us some fresh fish cakes which were delicious and for the first time ever, I drank tree water. Water from a tree 😳
Edmund showed me how they do it and it’s honestly delicious. It’s also super good for you. If ever you get the chance, try some and thank me later.
Have you ever tried it?

These are just some random photos taken from, and around, their home. It’s just fab!

We came as guests and (I hope) we leave as friends. They were so kind to us and if you read this Edmund, thank you both - you will never be forgotten 🙏🏻 and we hope to see you again.

26/05/2026

Final engine/GFM update from me 😊

This morning we finally collected Arty and, after what feels like a lifetime of stress, uncertainty and eye-watering invoices, we are back on the road again.

The last few weeks have honestly been one of the hardest mentally and most financially brutal periods we’ve faced in a long time. I also found asking for help publicly far harder than I expected.

But the kindness, generosity and support people have shown us has genuinely blown me away.

From donations and messages, to advice, check-ins and simple words of encouragement — all of it helped more than you probably realise. Emotionally as much as financially.

We’re incredibly grateful.

The bill still hurts (and probably will for quite some time…), but thanks to all of you it feels survivable now rather than catastrophic.

Most importantly, this whole saga reminded us just how many good people there are out there.

So thank you. Truly.

For those who had asked if the fundraiser was still open, I’ll leave the link for now but either way, thank you all for helping us get through this.

Now hopefully the next Arty photos involve travel, odd places and sunsets… rather than workshops and recovery trucks.

Andy, Liz & River ❤️. https://gofund.me/3ae87061c

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