Split : 2

Friday, 19th June.

We decided to go riding this  morning and on seeing a young man wearing a pair of Australian flag shorts, Mike stopped to chat, discovering that the young man was in fact Dutch and not from Down Under as we had assumed, but had spent some time windsurfing in Australia, in particular in W.A., which is where he bought the shorts.  He and his girlfriend were about to ride into Split, having been told at reception that it was possible, so we decided that if it was possible, then we should ride in too!  They took off and we followed but sadly could only make it about halfway as the neverending climbing eventually beat us.  Just when we thought we'd reached the end of one hill there was another one!  An older than us lady, walking down one of the hills carrying a bag of apricots in one hand and a bunch of flowers in the other, stopped and insisted we take three of the apricots, 'from my garden' she told us, she must have thought we need some refreshments.   We found a coffee shop so after liquid refreshments and a rest, we turned around and rode down hill back to camp.  Spying a hairdressing shop on the way, Mike went in and bought a haircut though a bit annoyed that his cost $A8, $A3 more than mine!
After a wander through the impressive campsite, we rode around to the adjoining town Podstrana, where we bought and ate a snack lunch, going into Split by bus in the late afternoon, much easier on the old legs than trying to pedal up hills!
The TomTom we bought in England in April has given us a great deal of trouble almost since the day we bought it and we went in search of a new gps yesterday,  though baulking at the price asked.  As we approached the city, Mike spotted a shop advertising satellite navigation systems so we got off the bus at the next stop and walked back to the shop to find that the sat navs they sold were nautical.  Leaving the nautical shop, having agreed that we would have to bite the bullet and spend the money for a replacement, we were walking down the hill into the city when Mike noticed a small computer shop and thinking that someone there might know of someplace nearby where one could be bought, we went in and when asked if he could help, the shopkeeper said he had one in stock.  It is a Prestigio which we've not heard of before and is now ours, at less than half the cost of the one we saw yesterday and is so much better than the TomTom ever was, we hope to find our way around Europe now without the problems we have had! 
Feeling much happier and relieved at finding a replacement, we enjoyed our evening stroll, a couple of beers and a pizza before catching the bus 'home'.