We Do Adventure

"That won't make a good picture" warned my wife as I reached for the camera. She may well be right. But I have soft spot of the venerable Lada Niva. Spotting two of them, identically coloured, alone in an otherwise empty car park somewhere in central Bosnia was too much temptation. I have a friend who tells me horror stories about how their oil (or it could be fuel) consumption grows with age every time I say anything approaching complimentary about these stalwarts of Soviet design. He wants to ensure I never succumb to my irrational attraction and enter into any kind of long-term relationship with the vehicle. And so, for better or for worse, I will continue my quiet admiration from a discreet distance.

I have three chances to drive in Bosnia Herzegovina. The first was to bump start Novi Most's old Toyota combi. The second: bump starting the combi again! The third, however, was the chance to drive through snowy mountains in a Toyota that didn't seem to have any mechanical faults. I've never struggled to adjust to driving on the 'other side', whether it's been in a left- or right-hand drive vehicle. But we've seen Mostar 's tiny streets and its twisting mountain roads. If we're to have a car when we move it'll be left-hand drive. Rowan wants it's to be small and I don't blame her. She's not yet had the chance to drive on the right so that's a new experience that's awaiting her. We're currently driving a new Mini Clubman , which is nice although not perhaps as iconic as the yellow Mini One we had before it! Every other car in BiH seems to be a VW Golf. You can see the complete history of the model in a matter of minutes on ...