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Skip the ‘chafing’ footnote if you are prone to body horror.
08:20: I woke at 07:00 but didn’t get up until about 07:50.I’m washed and dressed now. I’m about to go in search of breakfast. The chafing1 I’ve treated with lip balm (closest thing to Vaseline) as the Aloe Vera after-bite treatment didn’t seem to be helping. I ought to be able to find a pharmacy today where I’ll be able to buy a small tub. I feel human again after the wash. Two more days to Zagreb, then I need to find somewhere to stay in the city on the night of the 20th/21st and make my way to the airport on the 21st.2
08:37: I’ve booked an AirBnB night in Zagreb — my first one since Ulm, at the beginning of June.
08:38: At a guesthouse up the road where the lunch options are pork rib, goulash or chicken tortilla. I’m going for the goulash.
09:28: €6.60 for an amazing bowl of goulash with masses of chunky fresh bread, a cuppa and 20cl of apple/water mix.
09:47:26 Posters for folk bands are everywhere! 
09:49:41 This is the hostel. 
09:50:05 …and another, more flattering, view.
10:34: On the road, finally. I’ll buy lunch on the way.
11:03: Leaving Brestanica.
11:39: Krško.
12:10: €4.13 for a small tub of Vaseline.
12:15: Stopping for lunch of salad even though I’m not mad hungry. I just don’t want to carry any more stuff.
12:50: Finished lunch. FUCK it’s hot. €9.60 for a plate of fruit salad and yoghurt, 50cl apple juice/water and a cup of tea.
13:11: Leaving Krško.
13:42: Stari Grad.
13:47: Turned off the lethal main road to take a shortcut along the railway track. I’m heading for Brežice, then crossing to the far side of the river valley and crossing the motorway to parallel it for a while before heading north again to the campsite as Jesnice, north of Bregana. It’s outrageously hot and I’ve only drunk a fraction of my water. I’ve had cold drinks in restaurants; 1½ litres so far today.
14:07: Pesje.
14:19: Zgornji Obrež.
14:52: Gornji Lenart.
15:04: Crossed the railway track. Šentlenart.
15:29: Brežice
16:10: Salty crisps, yoghurt and (hopefully) a quiche: €2.53 at Lidl.
16:50: On the move again. Leaving Brežice.
17:03: Crossed the Sava river. Čatež ob Savi.
17:19: Dvorce.
18:12: Podgračeno Awful stretch alongside the motorway. At least a good hour to go to the campsite, which isn’t showing up on MAPS.ME.
18:37: Ribnica.
19:06: Leaving Ribnica. Female cop in a paddy wagon quizzed me, asking for ID3.
19:15:26
19:24: Jesnice.
20:17: At the campsite behind the guesthouse and restaurant, after a lovely break with Zoran and his dad. I asked them for directions to the campsite. They set me straight, but not before giving me a load of apple juice, and when Zoran’s wife Barbara came home, cake! The restaurant is the social centre of the vlillage, with football, beers and4
20:49: Sitting down to a mixed salad. The sun has already set and now the temperature is pleasant. Actually, the latter half of the walk today was fine.
22:01: €8.10 for dinner. I had a three-scoop portion of banana split ice cream and 0.5 l apple juice/water mix. I’ve almost finished book three of the Deptford Trilogy.
I didn’t write ‘chafing’ in my notes; I wrote “the redness around my bumhole” 😬↩︎
…to meet Aisling, who is flying in so we can spend a week together, for the first time since we met in Reims at the beginning of May.↩︎
As far as I remember, I was squatting on the ground eating the last of the salty crisps when she pulled up. I stood up and ferreted my passport out of the top of my rucksack and gave it to her. I’m not sure I told her what my mission was. No smiles, but she left me to it. This was the first of several encounters with border patrols on the walk.↩︎
…I just tapered off here.↩︎
