Heading East towards Ukraine
Wednesday 19th July 2017
Left home at 11am. Journey to Dover was good with virtually no hold ups. Filled up with LPG at Dover. Arrived at port in time to catch an earlier boat.
The Aire by sea front in Calais is being re-developed so it was as well we had decided to go to Arques. The aire there was quite full. Thunderstorms overnight led to a disturbed night's sleep.
Thursday 20th July
Information in MMM (only received two days ago), stated that Lille was now a low emissions zone. I had researched Crit Air zones but Lille had not featured, only Grenoble, Lyon and Paris. It was too late to get the necessary documentation so, rather than risk a fine, we took a different route to Tournai - via Ypres. Scenically it was better but it took an hour longer overall.
We spent the night at our usual halt in Mettlach. We had intended to visit the brewery restaurant for our usual Schnitzell mit Bratkartoffeln but, with the poor exchange rate we were now getting with a weak pound, we decided to walk up the hill to the Imbiss. Bratwurst mit Pommes was much cheaper and equally tasty!
Friday 21st July
This was very much a day of frustrations. First thing we headed to Lidl in near by Orscholz - closed for redevelopment. John's two bin bags full of empty plastic beer bottles will have to wait until we see another Lidl elsewhere.
We then set off on our journey east across Germany. All went well, until near lunch time, we decided to turn off the motorway and follow a scenic route through the Pfalzerwald. From Bad Durkheim we should have been able to join the autobahn, but no, it was closed off! This led to a lengthy detour before we were back on our planned route.
Then followed queue after queue of stationary traffic due in part to the volume of traffic but more to roadworks necessitated by the construction of a third lane. John composed a little ditty!
"Oh dear me, we're going very slow.
The traffic up ahead has stopped, there is no place to go!
The poor weary travellers, cannot get away.
They'll have to find a lay-by, or somewhere else to stay "
As time passed we realised that we would not make our planned destination. Instead we stopped at Kirchberg an dear Jagst which had a pleasant but rather sloping stellplatz. I was sure we'd stayed here before. Consulting our log confirmed this.
We walked up into the charming old town and followed the town wall walk- dramatic drops gave stunning views over the surrounding countryside.
|
|
Saturday 22nd July
Another day of driving east. Despite there being very few lorries on the road as it is the weekend, we still met holdups between Nuremburg and Passau. Although there were some roadworks, the delays were mainly due to the volume of the traffic.
Our stellplatz for the night at Vilshofen was right on the banks of the Danube. Idyllic except for road, rail, river and aircraft noise!
Sunday 23rd July
Today we traversed Austria reaching its easternmost point to stop for the night. The stellplatz at Deutsche Jahrnsdorf was excellent and in a very quiet location on the edge of the village. It was a long day's drive but being a Sunday there were no lorries on the road.
Monday 24th July
We had a leisurely start this morning as the plan was to drive only as far as Budapest. We stocked up on provisions for the next two days at a little local shop and bakery, then headed into Hungary. We had purchased the very expensive e-vignette (€25) the day before. A motorhome, even one as small as ours, was counted as a D2 category and hence expensive! It seemed a lot to pay just to transit the country. We will have to pay again on our way home as the vignette only lasts ten days.
At least the motorway was good, fast and fairly quiet, well surfaced with neat tidy verges and pleasant rest areas.
Our drive took us over the endless Hungarian plains. No wonder the Hungarians of the past were such good horsemen.
We eventually reached the stellplatz deep in the suburbs of Budapest - thank goodness for satnav as we would never have found it otherwise! However, there was a security guard on the gate who said that our Bord Atlas was out of date and the site was closed.
We now had no choice but to back track some 47 miles to the next nearest site, and what a gem of a find, why hadn't we stopped here some three hours ago. The site is by a caravan showroom- paved, electric hookups, shower, toilet and kitchen block, all for free and all to ourselves! There was even a security guard.
Tuesday 25th July
Torrential rain all night. I was concerned that the roads would be flooded, but John assured me it would be okay, explaining that.....
"The rain on the plain, runs mainly down the drain!"
Grhhh! How do I put up with him!
We re-traced our steps back to the Budapest ring road. As soon as we turned off on to the motorway heading south, the traffic was much lighter so we made good progress.
At the Romanian border we managed to miss the signs for the "vignette" kiosk. This meant we had to turn off the motorway to buy one. The cost was just over £5 for seven days, so much cheaper than the £25 in Hungary.
As soon as we turned off the new Romanian autoroute, it was like being back in the old Romania that we remembered from previous visits - potholes, straggling villages and wayside stalls selling fruit.
We visited the Hobos Bodrag Monastery near Arad - beautiful grounds and well kept picturesque buildings. We spent the night on the large car park there where we were "entertained" by the evening prayers being relayed by loud speaker! We hope they don't start too early in the morning.
Another day of driving east. Despite there being very few lorries on the road as it is the weekend, we still met holdups between Nuremburg and Passau. Although there were some roadworks, the delays were mainly due to the volume of the traffic.
Our stellplatz for the night at Vilshofen was right on the banks of the Danube. Idyllic except for road, rail, river and aircraft noise!
Sunday 23rd July
Today we traversed Austria reaching its easternmost point to stop for the night. The stellplatz at Deutsche Jahrnsdorf was excellent and in a very quiet location on the edge of the village. It was a long day's drive but being a Sunday there were no lorries on the road.
Monday 24th July
We had a leisurely start this morning as the plan was to drive only as far as Budapest. We stocked up on provisions for the next two days at a little local shop and bakery, then headed into Hungary. We had purchased the very expensive e-vignette (€25) the day before. A motorhome, even one as small as ours, was counted as a D2 category and hence expensive! It seemed a lot to pay just to transit the country. We will have to pay again on our way home as the vignette only lasts ten days.
At least the motorway was good, fast and fairly quiet, well surfaced with neat tidy verges and pleasant rest areas.
Our drive took us over the endless Hungarian plains. No wonder the Hungarians of the past were such good horsemen.
We eventually reached the stellplatz deep in the suburbs of Budapest - thank goodness for satnav as we would never have found it otherwise! However, there was a security guard on the gate who said that our Bord Atlas was out of date and the site was closed.
We now had no choice but to back track some 47 miles to the next nearest site, and what a gem of a find, why hadn't we stopped here some three hours ago. The site is by a caravan showroom- paved, electric hookups, shower, toilet and kitchen block, all for free and all to ourselves! There was even a security guard.
Tuesday 25th July
Torrential rain all night. I was concerned that the roads would be flooded, but John assured me it would be okay, explaining that.....
"The rain on the plain, runs mainly down the drain!"
Grhhh! How do I put up with him!
We re-traced our steps back to the Budapest ring road. As soon as we turned off on to the motorway heading south, the traffic was much lighter so we made good progress.
At the Romanian border we managed to miss the signs for the "vignette" kiosk. This meant we had to turn off the motorway to buy one. The cost was just over £5 for seven days, so much cheaper than the £25 in Hungary.
As soon as we turned off the new Romanian autoroute, it was like being back in the old Romania that we remembered from previous visits - potholes, straggling villages and wayside stalls selling fruit.
We visited the Hobos Bodrag Monastery near Arad - beautiful grounds and well kept picturesque buildings. We spent the night on the large car park there where we were "entertained" by the evening prayers being relayed by loud speaker! We hope they don't start too early in the morning.
|
|
Wednesday 26th July
We were woken about 6 am when the monastery bells rang to announce the first service of the day. The rhythmic voice of the priest luckily soon lulled us back to sleep.
We headed into Arad and soon passed a well stocked Lidl on the outskirts of town, so we took advantage of it to stock up on the next few days' provisions.
The centre of Arad is mainly impressive Hapsburg-era buildings but we found it impossible to park even our small motorhome so that we could explore on foot.
The road from Arad west to Deva was very twisty and often narrow despite it being a main road. Lorries thundered through the numerous villages along the route, always ignoring the speed limits. We were glad when we reached Simeria and our destination for the night, the small friendly campsite at the "Villa Dorr", which we first visited some eight years ago.
Thursday 27th July
A quick 50km drive along a newish motorway soon brought us to our first stop for the day- Calnic Fortified Chapel and Keep, parts of which date back to around the year 1300. The one and a half rings of walls are remarkably well preserved. It is now an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
|
|
From Calnic we took the direct route to Sascion and the northern end of the Transalpina Highway. There were no warning signs that it was an extremely narrow road for the six kilometres between the two places. No passing places, a drop off each side of the road and just wide enough for Nicolle. In the only village along the route, Dumbrava, the road was unsurfaced. Fortunately, apart from the local dustbin lorry, we met no other vehicle.
The Transalpina crosses the Parang Mountains, in the Southern Carpathians, linking Novaci and Sebes. First developed by the Romans, it was used to transport gold from the mines in Dracia to Rome. Later, it was used in both world wars by the German Army for troop movements. Work began to modernise the road in the 1930's, it was inaugurated by King Carol II in 1938 and became known as the King's Road.
To begin with, the road climbs steadily through a thickly wooded valley which in places was more like a gorge. At least it was well surfaced and wide enough. About half way along its 148 kilometre length, a series of hair pin bends climbs steeply up towards the Urdele Pass, the highest point on the highway at 2,145m above sea level. It was here that we found a perfect spot to wild camp for the night, with wide ranging views in all directions.
Friday 28th July
The clouds were still down when we woke this morning, so it was a lazy start to the day. It was a shame that the views were obscured as the road either side of the Urdele Pass would have been spectacular.
A pleasant enough 100 km drive through typical Romanian villages with their houses and land demarcated by walls, fences etc and a ditch in front, led us eventually to a campsite close to the Transfagarasan Highway.
Saturday 29th July
Today we headed to the Transfagarasan Highway having first stopped to buy fresh food in Curtea de Arges, the southern starting point of the highway. The Transfagarasan was built by Nocolae Ceausescu as an escape route through the Southern Carpathian Mountains in the event of a Soviet invasion. It was described by Jeremy Clarkson as "the world's best driving road". The Top Gear team drove an Aston Martin, a Ferrari and a Lamborghini. Would it be the same driving a Ford Transit motorhome?
The start of the road passed through a spectacular gorge with the serpentine road clinging precariously to its sides. As there was so much traffic (it was the weekend) it was totally impossible for us to park anywhere near the start of the 1400 steps leading up to the remains of Dracula's Castle.
Further up the road we drove alongside Lake Vidraru crossing over its spectacular dam - again absolutely nowhere we could stop. The road now started its dramatic zigzag ascent above the tree line to the highest point on the pass. From here an unlit tunnel, today choked by queuing traffic, led to the northern stretch of the highway. The descent from the top was even more impressive than the southern approach. Zigzag followed zigzag for as far as the eye could see - truly spectacular.
|
|
The final section of this dramatic highway was through woodland. The official end of the highway was only a short distance away from our destination for the night - De Oude Wilg in the small village of Carta. We have stayed here previously when travelling through Romania and it is still the gem of a campsite we remember.
|
|
Sunday 30th July
A much needed day of rest especially for John after all the driving. Camping Oude Wilg is just the place to spend a relaxing day.
We met another British couple, Andrea and Paul, who are full timers travelling around Europe. They were impressed and inspired by our adventures and asked if they could interview us for their website. They put the video on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/followourmotorhome/posts/1914525168787881
By the next day, we had 12000 hits!
In the evening we and they, together with Lily (New Zealander) and husband Leo (Dutch) spent a pleasant evening drinking, chatting and swapping campsite information.
Monday 31st July
We headed further east today making a brief stop in Fagaras where a late 16th Century Fortress is built on the site of a citadel raised to the ground around 1460 by Vlad the Impaler.
A much needed day of rest especially for John after all the driving. Camping Oude Wilg is just the place to spend a relaxing day.
We met another British couple, Andrea and Paul, who are full timers travelling around Europe. They were impressed and inspired by our adventures and asked if they could interview us for their website. They put the video on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/followourmotorhome/posts/1914525168787881
By the next day, we had 12000 hits!
In the evening we and they, together with Lily (New Zealander) and husband Leo (Dutch) spent a pleasant evening drinking, chatting and swapping campsite information.
Monday 31st July
We headed further east today making a brief stop in Fagaras where a late 16th Century Fortress is built on the site of a citadel raised to the ground around 1460 by Vlad the Impaler.
|
|
In Bran we walked into the village to view its famous castle which is often called Dracula's Castle although the link to him is tenuous. It is likely that he laid siege to the castle in 1460 when he attacked the area, but never actually lived there. Today the interior looks much as it would have done when Queen Marie of Romania, a grand daughter of Queen Victoria lived there.
We spent the night at Vampire Camping in Bran, a pleasant spot which we had visited on a previous trip to Romania. Andrea & Paul and Lily & Leo joined us there and we had drinks and dinner together, Andrea cooking a delicious paella.
Tuesday 1st August
We made an early start this morning. A quiet, scenic and for once, well surfaced road took us over the mountains to join the main road to Bucharest.
En route we stopped to visit Peles Castle at Sinaia. Parking proved almost impossible but we eventually found a spot outside the nearby monastery. From there a shady pathway led some 500 metres up to the castle which is set in parkland. The castle resembles a Bavarian Schloss. It was built between 1875 and 1885 for King Carol II. All the 160 rooms in the castle are elaborately decorated in many different styles. Unfortunately it was so crowded to the extent that we knew if we had gone in, we would have seen little.
The remainder of the day's drive to Bucharest was not at all interesting. John managed to negotiate Bucharest's traffic to a secure 24 hour parking where we spent the night. (New parking charges! Yesterday it would have cost us 25 lei but it doubled overnight!) A very dusty and dirty car park.
Fortunately, we arrived early so managed to do the sightseeing in the afternoon and evening. Tomorrow we can move on.
|
|
Wednesday 2nd August
We headed northwest, crossing a rich plain where the main crops were sweetcorn, sunflowers and melons. Campsites in the area are few and far between so we had little choice but to stay at Camping Donarsis near Braila and the Ukranian border - expensive at €20 but at least everywhere was clean and tidy. With outside temperature hitting 50deg C in the full sun, we were glad to stop.
Thursday 3rd August
Oh what a day! All started well with a visit to stock up on food - Carrefour in Braile had all we needed.
En route to the Moldovian border at Galati there were few road signs and when we pulled in to look at the map, a very helpful gentleman in a Cadillac stopped and said to follow him. Without his help we would have had great difficulty finding the road to the border.
The Romanian and Moldovian customs were slow but straightforward. We had to buy a vignette for Moldova (7 Romanian Lei equivalent to £1.30). We then drove for approximately 1km on a very bumpy road and found ourselves at the Moldovian/Ukrainian border.
Crossing into Ukraine was very different - more paperwork requested and then a thorough search in all Nicolle's lockers and cupboards. The customs inspector looked in boxes and asked what certain items, especially medication, were used for. Eventually we were waved through and then we were faced with the worst roads we have ever had the misfortune to find ourselves on. Deep, deep potholes, in many cases stretching right across the road, for mile after mile. The main E road was little better than side road we took to try and reach Vylkove at the mouth of the Danube. At nearly 8pm we still had 40km to drive to our destination. As it would have been mad to drive in the dark we decided to wild camp beside the road.
|
|
Friday 4th August
Considering where we had to spend last night we did manage to get some sleep. Ukrainian roads in this area are a tale of two - bad or good, nothing in between. The bad are so bad that average speed was no more than 5km an hour. You had to carefully plan your route through the deep pot holes. These roads went on and on for mile after mile. The good, well these stretches were usually short and far between. Ukrainian roads have beaten us. Even 4WD vehicles were having problems. We couldn't help but wonder what the Ukrainian transport budget is being spent on!
Tonight we are back near the Moldovian border at Reni. We had hoped to cross back into Romania before nightfall. At least on our short visit into Ukraine we have seen the Danube Delta villages, the ornate churches and in the village of Sevcenkove, a very fine war monument.
Considering where we had to spend last night we did manage to get some sleep. Ukrainian roads in this area are a tale of two - bad or good, nothing in between. The bad are so bad that average speed was no more than 5km an hour. You had to carefully plan your route through the deep pot holes. These roads went on and on for mile after mile. The good, well these stretches were usually short and far between. Ukrainian roads have beaten us. Even 4WD vehicles were having problems. We couldn't help but wonder what the Ukrainian transport budget is being spent on!
Tonight we are back near the Moldovian border at Reni. We had hoped to cross back into Romania before nightfall. At least on our short visit into Ukraine we have seen the Danube Delta villages, the ornate churches and in the village of Sevcenkove, a very fine war monument.
|
|
|
Saturday 5th August
It is getting hotter! 59.6 deg C outside in the full sun which is where we had to wait for two hours to re-enter Romania from Moldova. I then had to wash the floor of the van after the customs had checked inside, where the inside temperature was 45.5.
We decided to return to Romania because of the road conditions in Ukraine. We will head north through Romania and maybe re-enter Moldova further north.
We spent tonight back at Camping Donaris in Braila.