Day 7: 31st August

It is hot today, even by Croatian standards. The gold group are off doing twenty kilometres for their final day of assessment, and us? I am sitting in an internet cafe by the sea digesting the largest pizza I have ever eaten waiting for them to return so that we can have dinner and rub it in to them. Oh look, their back, “What did you get up to today lads, another hard day’s paddling at 37 degrees? Good. Good. Oh, me, what did I do? Well...”

Because we are not on assessment, Major Billington decided that after four days of exerting ourselves it would be a good idea to do no paddling today. Yes, that is right: zero. So, after the gold group had set off, we continued to relax on the beach until after midday when we decided to walk the three kilometres from our camp site to the town of Slano. However, the midday sun was oh so strong that we had to drop into the first hotel we saw to use their pool and bar. It was here that I experienced the awkward feeling I get when you and the barman do not understand each other and a queue of disgruntled guests begin to appear behind you, good times.

In Slano, we sat down in the best cafe we saw, ordered pizzas and begun the daunting task of uploading photos from cameras and this blog on the internet. And so remained until now. Dinner is on the way and it is finally beginning to cool down outside.  We will walk back in the dark to the camp and tomorrow shall journey to the Island Sipan on another  20km paddle.  Self sufficiency is over and tonoght we dine very well!