It was a cooler morning with some clouds and a breeze.

So we got on our bikes to do a circuit of Lake Soderica. We went down the path that comes to an end and then we were using our noses to go down goat tracks through corn and sunflower fields.

We ended up on a tarred road and arrived in the tiny village of Torcic. Luckily there was a cafe open so we could stop for a cool drink.

All drinks here are owned by Carlsberg which includes the local beer Pan and the Somersby brand that are everywhere. Even my lemon drink is from Carlsberg.

The church in town is from the 1300s.

We then continued on our cycle around the lake and crossing a large bridge we saw a large bird. Glenn identified it as a white tailed eagle.

We were looking for a track to get us back to the lakeside. Google showed the path we needed but it was going through a quarry. We went through the gate but were met by an angry barking dog so we retreated again.

We crossed the railway line – looking both ways. There were some interesting old line repair vehicles on the track.

We continued until we found another goat track off to the left and we ended up on the lake. We were opposite our campsite.

It was then a short ride until we were back in the campsite.

It was very hot by now – probably 35 degrees – so we went for a cooling swim in the lake. We again saw the freshwater jellyfish – about 1.5cm across. I found out they are from China but not considered harmful. But it’s the first time I’ve seen jellyfish in freshwater.

The water is crystal clear and very pure apparently – coming from the Drava River but being strained through sand before it gets to the lake.

We had a relaxed afternoon reading in the shade.

The campsite bar opened again so we had a drink there.

I had a Peach Radler which is a mix of beer and peach juice. It sounds horrible but it’s very nice and it ends up being 2% alcohol. I have also been drinking nonalcoholic beer mixes with lemon and pineapple. There’s quite a lot here of these inventive mixes – which is good.

Back at the van a black cloud came over with a strong breeze then a heavy rain shower. We quickly gathered everything into the van. It didn’t last long and cooled everything down.

Later on a couple walking their dogs came over to the van. He is from near Bristol in the Uk , his wife is Croatian and they live here. They had never seen a British number plate here and wondered how we had found the campsite so had to come over for a chat. Apparently the campsite is never advertised so they get very few customers. The husband had come over here many times with his late wife and they bought a house here. He obviously spent some time here and met his new wife – and they bought a rest is history.

We missed a few storms that night – we were very lucky.