Tuesday 16th September. Day 12.

Day 12. Well we did eventually find a motel in the end although in hindsight it would probably have been better to sleep in the van. Carl Webb was sick when the smell from the toilet hit him and most of us took our sleeping bags to the room to avoid touching the disgusting blankets. The shower was too filthy to use and the last few guests had thought the same judging by the number of dead bugs and other nasty things lying on the shower screen. In the middle of the night a stray dog found its way into the corridor and ran up and down barking like it was possessed until someone send it out. To add insult to injury it was just about the most expensive places we have stayed in .

This morning everyone was in their vans and engines running by the allotted meeting up time of 7.30am. It was the most prompt departure of the trip and everyone was glad to see the back of the place.

We really wanted to make good progress today in the hope of reaching Hungary where the roads - and the hotels are much better. For the first hour we made good progress until the only motorway in Romania came to an end. From then on it was painfully slow progress - usually about 35mph at best as on our way down through Romania last week there were long stretches of road under repair with only one lane open which meant when we were not crawling along at 35mph we were sitting stationery in long queues instead. The radio had conked out and the iPod speakers need charging up so Ricki and I sat and discussed the prospects for tourism in Romania. Not good we decided although to be fair we went through some national park this morning where for an hour or so the scenery was quite beautiful.


We also had our second brush with the police today. It seems to be common practice in Romania and Bulgaria to pull foreign vehicles over on spurious traffic violations and then demand cash in return for letting them move on. Of course the cops then just pocket the cash. Last week the last vehicle in the convoy was pulled and ‘fined’ 20 euros because someone further up allegedly didn’t have their lights on. This morning 3 of the convoy were stopped for supposedly going through a red light. Again it was totally made up. We saw him spot the foreign places and then leap out to flag the wagons down. This time he demanded all the drivers licenses and having inspected them said they could only have them back if they paid the equivalent of £120 fine per vehicle. Nothing makes Carl Webb more upset than the prospect of parting with money so he leapt out of his vehicle, threatened the police with the British Embassy and told them they could keep the licenses and we would report their illegal confiscation when we got home. To our surprise the bluff worked and they handed back the licenses without any payment. We bolted before they changed their mind!

By now hopes of making Hungary were fading and they sank further when we hit the worst traffic jam of the trip. We thought it was roadworks but actually it was just the queue to get through a small town!

Eventually about 8.00pm we pulled in to the same motel close to the Hungarian border that we stayed in last week on our way out. Budapest is still about 300kms away so we are hoping to get there by early afternoon tomorrow and have a slightly easier day than the last 2 which have been very long days on difficult roads. Much will depend on the border crossing because on the way out we saw vehicles queuing up on the Romanian side of the border for about 10 miles. At the moment the plan if it is like that again is to just overtake everyone down the middle of the road and if we get stopped to claim we are doing Humanitarian Aid and usually get priority. We will see if it works.

As for Alex and John the latest news is they are still in Sofia. The part they need for their vehicle arrived this morning after being couriered by air and they had hoped to be on their way this afternoon. Unfortunately the part was faulty so a new one is being sent so they will be stuck there at least a further 24 hours. We all feel for them as we know how we would feel if it was us.

For the rest of us it is fingers crossed for tomorrow.

P