Sandy on the starting blocks.

What can we say, we are off, at long last it feels quite surreal. Bit of an anticlimax in a way but no doubt that will change. We are adding a few new pages, the first one being  this one Europe, Then will come the Middle East, Northen Africa followed by Southern Africa and for the guys and girls who might be using this as research intending to do their own thing in the future the Boring bits, MPG price of diesel, miles and camp sites, etc. As we have said before many things may change and probably will. But first and foremost we would like to give a big big thank you to all who have helped us on our way. It may have been to make sure we actually went, (yes it did drag on for a while) or just an act of kindness, a helping hand here and there or just a few bits that I needed. Just to say THANK YOU it was all appreciated. Our running speed is 60mph and if we average 50 mph we will be well pleased and hope to achieve 23mpg. We will see what we will see on the Boring bits. 
Europe
17th.  Day 1.OK let’s start in UK,  Day one,  we are actually doing it!!!! The day started  early at 7am and we realised just what had to be done. We spent all morning packing Sandy, We should have packed her full on the test packs but thought that’s ok it will fit. Wrong! In the end it all went in although not just as we expected. It would have to be sorted later. As we left Stilton  we did a quick about turn Jackie had left her handbag. A quick stop on the way out to say some goodbyes to some really, really good friends who will be sorely missed and off we went to Harwich to meet the 11.45 pm ferry for the Hook of Holland. The run to Harwich was uneventful and as expected we arrived early. Too early so we went looking for a Halfords or PC world to buy a new Sat Nav. My Tom Tom 920 has been playing up and I thought it was fixed. No it wasn’t! It still crashed periodically so we have been travelling on Jackie Nav which worked quite well. It didn’t crash or get it wrong although it did chatter quite a bit now and then. As we were early we used the well known emergency formula to loose time and sort refuge in a pub! Burger and chips and baked potato did the trick with a couple of pints. We went for the boat and they booked us in quite quick but made everybody with a high vehicle, caravan etc wait for 1 ½ hours to board. Glad we had something to eat earlier. But by the time you loaded it was too late to eat and totally defeated the object of the boat. Everybody wanted a meal and a night’s sleep.  Not a long cold wait and too tired to eat. So it was a cup of coffee and into bed by 10.30. (All that revenue you lost Stena Line, times are hard can you afford it?) 18th,  Day 2.We had reasonable nights sleep apart from some barking dogs that could have quite easily have gone for an unexpected swim. But being dog lovers we resisted the temptation. Breakfast was quite good, excellent selection. Again we were held back to let the cars off the boat before we could unload. Stena Line if you read this note. We are customers too, and you upset a lot of people keeping them waiting around when we could have been on and off the boat so easily much quicker with a bit of thought. It wasn’t as if you were short of room on the boat.
The run through Holland was quite good, no hold ups, a bit of traffic around Rotterdam but a steady run through to our camp site at  Lahn Camping not far from Frankfurt. We had a bit of rain towards the end of the journey but not for long. Nice campsite down by the river. Beautiful cathedral see picture. Site rating 6/10. 
19th Day 3.Left Lahn Camping about 9.30, called at the local bread shop to get fresh rolls for lunch. The weather is getting noticeably warmer, long may it continue. We arrived at Camping Pltz Naabtal near Regensburg. Once more down by the river. Lovely setting. We arrived by 3.30 and by 4 we hade set up camp and were sitting down with a glass of red wine in the sun what bliss. Bob had bought a radio controlled helicopter to while away some of the time we were expecting to spend at the boarders. But he took it for its first test flight and needless to say, he will not be a helicopter pilot and the helicopter is in the bin. Jackie cooked a nice dinner in her new kitchen in the back of Sandy. Afterwards we went for a beer on the site bar and a walk down to the village to find a local bar without success. Camp rating,     7/1020th Day 4.Once more on the road by 9.30. (Well someone got up at 6 o’clock as they could not sleep. Opening and closing the front doors, looking for the gas tap etc. But she is still alive). Steady run towards Vienna in Austria. Once more steady 60, no rush. Stopped off for lunch. We have developed lunch into a couple of rolls, cheese, ham and a coffee in a lay-by. Hopefully we will stay in Austria for a couple of days to let us have a break from the driving and to get the few things that we forgot..      

21st. Day 5.

We stayed in Vienna and went out to see the town for the day. We started off walking, only as we could not find the bus but it was far too far and we ended up in a taxi. It was much bigger than expected and quite historic. The traffic was horrendous as with any old city. The centre was quite picturesque and very pedestrian friendly. The cathedral was screened off for repair work and it was quite novel the way they had done the safety cover to show the finished result. As for the shopping that was forgotten and left for another day probably in Turkey.

22nd. Day 6.

Woke up to another fine day with the sun poking through the clouds. By 9.30 it was bursting out. Just like we like to see it. We left Wien West at about 10.30; it took us a while to fins our way out of the city as we had to run through it to pick up the motorway to get to Budapest and Hungry. On the way we saw a sign for Tesco’s so we turned off and went shopping to fill the freezer and fridge.

 Not quite like your UK Tesco on the inside, but it looks the same on the outside. The fish stall had live fish swimming around ready to be caught and filleted. Piles of car tyres, and a fresh Butchery with sides of meat hanging up. Not refrigerated just hanging like they used to be in UK at one time before the PC and Health and Safety brigade started. We stayed at Fortuna Camping for the night. Just one other van on site so very quite. But there won’t be a rush for the showers, no hot water, dirty; it was a struggle to clean your teeth. Not to be recommended. Rating 3/10.

23rd Day 7.

Shock horror, we woke up to RAIN. What is this?. With the state of the showers etc we did not stay just packed up quick and left ASAP. It took us a while to get through Budapest as like Vienna we had to go through the city to connect up with the motorway. Once on the motorway it was fine, not a lot of traffic and a steady run. But nether of us had a decent nights sleep so we stopped off at services for breakfast. Omelette Hungarian style with cheese and noodles. But very welcome it was too. Later we stopped and had a 40min snooze. We felt much better after that. The roads have now started to deteriorated and our 60mph has slowed down to about 40 to 50. So if we average 40mph we will do quite well. No motorway as we make our way into Romania.

At the Romanian boarder we were stopped and passports checked which was fine and then another boarder guard came up and requested driving licences. Well I gave him the African copies which he clocked straight away and asked us to pull over to the side. Fearing trouble when he came back I coughed that I have inadvertently given him the wrong licences and explained. Opening the back of Sandy to get the proper copies he took one look at all the gear and told us that he could manage with the copies which I thought was quite decent of him. While we were waiting one of the guards came over to talk to us and once more seemed quite a nice guy. Was he checking us out? Don’t know. But they let us through. Romania seems a very desolate place, lots of run down buildings, vast open tracts of land. So much opportunity, so much waste. As the run was taking us far longer than expected we turned off the main road following a camping sign. After about 4kl we turned at the bottom of a lane to a small house, (looked like a signal box for the trains) and it looked a bit iffy from the road. But we went in and found the best welcome yet. Pot of tea and a lady who spoke excellent English who is a gem. She runs a children’s charity for Romanian orphans. The camp site supports her efforts. So if anyone is passing its worth a nights stay. We don’t intend to plug or advertise camp sites but this one is different. The shower/toilet block is sparkling and free internet access. Camp site is called Route Roemenie at Minis Nr. 298 prov. Arad. Web address, www.routeroemenie.nl.

Whilst the pace has been quite steady with no rush we feel that it is going to slow down even more looking at the roads and the boarder crossings that are looming up in front of us.

24TH Day 8.

The weather is very hot this morning so had a nice breakfast in the sunshine. We also thought we would take the opportunity to sort out a few things like get the next maps out that would be needed, and sort a few of the boxes out before we set off also Bob filled the water tank up before we left. We had used about 75 ltrs of water over 7 days. The camps site owner told us that we need to drive with our head lights on at all times, another camper told us this as he was stopped and fined 100 Euros for this. They also and asked if we had purchased a Vinnett. This is a temporary form of road tax for visitors. The fine for not having it is about 100Euros. It only costs about 11 Euros so it’s a no brainer really. Near the end of the day pushing 6 ish we found a campsite in the back and beyond which was basically some bodies back garden.  Having eaten Jackie wanted to go for ac walk to see the local sights!!!!!! So we walked down the road to the end looking at the run down houses that could be quite nice with a bit of effort and money spent on them but I suspect life to survive is hard without rendering and painting houses. One thing we did see was a huge bird’s nest on top of an electric post. This was about mtr round perched just above the live wires. The bird was stood up and you could just see the heads of the two chicks poking over the top. Not having the camera the photos had to wait until next morning when the bird was sat down and not such a good photo. We have also noticed since being in Romania that EVERYBODY seems to have a dog, and then of course you have the millions of wild ones as well. But WHY do they all seem to start barking around ten at night and continue to do so for some time.!

25TH Day 9

So after a restless night of hearing said dogs we also woke up to howling wind and rain so packed up and left pretty sharp'ish. We set off not bothering with any breakfast just a cup of coffee. It was miserable and it didn’t look like it was going to get any better.  When we were under way the rain was intermittent and stopping for a cup of coffee and breakfast was hit and miss for the rain. We were also attempting to buy a Vinnette and were told to go to Polinto over the bridge. This turned out to be 40kl away. Good job we purchased one as you will find out later. The rest of the day until late morning was quite uneventful but then things changed. It turns out that the Romanian Police are quite corrupt. I was stopped for speeding. Pulled in to the side of the road as I had apparently exceeded the speed limit of 50kmph by 15kph in a radar trap. OK that was a fair cop, the fine was 330 Levi. (4.2 Levi to the Euro) Seemed a lot to me for 15kmph. As I didn’t have enough Levi I asked if I could pay in Euros. They wanted 150Euro. Seemed a lot at the time but I didn’t know what the exchange rate was off the top of my head so I paid. The Policeman was very nice, very polite, and explained all the speeding ticket and give me a receipt in Levi and took 150 Euros off me. See him smiling on the photo. Wouldn’t you with a 70 Euro tip!!!! So when you read this Mr Policeman and I know you will. How dose it feel to be named as a cheat. YOU STOLE 70 EUROS FROM ME. AS A POLICEMAN YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED. NOW SHOW THIS TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS. I MAY E MAIL IT TO YOUR SUPERIORS AS WELL SO THAT THEY KNOW. It would appear that this is what they do to increase there salary. Target foreign vehicles, impose the largest fine they can and hope the driver dose not have enough local currency so they can take it in Euros at their rate so that they can change it into local currency. Put the fine in to match the receipt and pocket the rest. So if you’re unlucky and caught insist on going to a bank. You have to pay the fine but they don’t get extra cash out of you as well that way. So that’s my rant over. I should have been sharper, not got caught and realised what the CROOKS were up to and insisted on going to the bank.  Job done now time to move on.

We continued south east moving through the mountains. Albeit at a slower pace as we were now into two way traffic and everything speed wise was dictated by the trucks. This was the main trucking route through to Bucuresti so if you pass one truck there is another right around the corner.  Only the last 60kl’s were a sort of motorway. They seem to believe, well they do stop on the hard shoulder, park up to go into the field. To them it’s just a normal road. Not quite sure what the rules are but we managed to stay out of trouble. And I don’t think they have all quite managed to instigate speed limiters yet. Still snow on the tops of the mountains but not low enough to worry us. The scenery was quite stunning at times of the mountains and valleys. A lot of the locals seem to still use a horse and cart as the main means of transport. The only variation seems to be one horse or two. It can be quite problematic when two trucks are approaching one another with a horse and cart on the road as well. How they survive (the horse and cart) I don’t know. Bucuresti was interesting as the road wee needed supposedly the ring road was not signposted off the motorway. We ended up going most of the way into Bucuresti before turning around. Finding the ring was more by good luck and chance than anything else. But eventually we ended up on the right road. But at time it was hard to believe that this was the ring road around the capital city. Not having a camp site to go to we intended to stop and park up for the night but it was so miserable and after 6 that we decided to push on to just short of the boarder before stopping for the night. Eventually we found a hotel in Giurgiu just before the border. The hotel was ok but the flats around it left just a tad to be desired. What possessed them to build a hotel in that location beggars belief. Our main concern was for Sandy’s security. Yes wee locked the doors and put the security locks on, removed the valuables. If it wasn’t for the reassurances’ of the staff and the fact that Sandy had a camera on her all night we might not have stopped. But it was bliss, to have a proper bed and shower, cooked meal and breakfast in the offering.

26th Day 10.

Strange, they seem to have a dog problem as well. Seems that they need a cull. I like dogs, but they seem to be out of hand in this country. Breakfast was ok. You have to remember you are not in UK and their idea of a good breakfast is somewhat different sometimes from ours. Sandy was safe and well so we loaded up and set off for the boarder. They have put a diversion in to send you through toll booths. You have to pay a 6 Euro bridge tax to leave the country. You have two choices. We paid and crossed this old dilapidated potholed bridge into Bulgaria. Coming off the bridge the customs was not very busy. (Being Sunday was probably helpful) Exiting Romanian the boarder guard asked where we were going. Replying Cape Town he just said bye bye. We went straight into Bulgaria and stopped at the first garage to purchase a Vignette. Yes you need one here as well. (UK take note, EU Countries do it).  We had not been going 20kls when we were stopped by the police. We have found that we do attract a lot of attention. Can’t quite understand why? He looked at the Vignette and our number plate and waved us on. The rest of the day was quite slow, the roads whilst quiet are pot holed, rutted tarmac or concrete tracks at best sometimes. Bearing in mind that this was the main route to Turkey one would have thought they would have spent some of the Vignette monies on keeping it reasonable. One of the corners was quite interesting as it wound on very quickly around the rock face and we went into a left hand involuntary drift at about 35mph, fortunately a bit of left hand corrected this bit of violent potential roll but not as much as Jackie’s comments!!!!!!. It made the point that road signs and roads are not that good and one to keep and eye on in the future. The rest of today has fortunately been quite boring and uneventful crossing the mountains and down to the Black Sea. We are currently parked 10 mtrs from the sea at Primorsko,   (see photo) Great for a morning dip if wanted.  Its 11.25 pm. A little late for us campers so it’s off to bed as we will be into Turkey tomorrow and maybe down to Istanbul or just outside on camp site so that Jackie can catch up with all her washing.

27th, Day 11. Malko, Bulgaria.

What a start to the day. It was raining cats and dogs as we woke up. Not a pleasant day to say the least. We had a very quick breakfast as we packed up and set off towards the Turkish boarder. The road we were on at was quite good but rapidly deteriorated to a patched up bumpy, hilly, switchback bendy two way road. To consider that this used to be the main route into Turkey beggars belief, the amount of crashes from the Lorries must have been horrendous. And the boarder was right at the top of a mountain, covered in mist, cold and dreary.

That was the end of our Europe trip, now we are going to enter the Middle East. The pace will start to slow down as we hit warmer weather.