Two days of travelling - Bulgaria to Germany

I am writing this sat on the sofa in our new flat in Manchester having arrived in good time. This post, however, is only going to cover the first two days so you’ll have to hold your breath and be patient to hear about the end of the journey.

Rambo's "it is too early" face

So, thinking back those days ago after I published the last update (and we both wiped our tears from the awesome parting visit from our neighbours) we finished packing in the dark which took only a few minutes and then settled down to drink a glass of the excellent port before heading to bed. As all of our bedding had been washed we went into the guest room to sleep where I struggled at first before opening the window really wide and then the fresh air helped and I dropped off. I woke up when the alarm sounded at 3.30 and we were pretty much straight up and the brews were on before second thoughts could occur. The first thing A did was go down and give Rambo a small bowl of food but as you can see from this picture, taken even before that, he was not that impressed at being woken at this time. Poor puppy, neither were we.

 

All set for the off

We had quite a list of things to do before leaving but for me, once I heard him kick his bowl, getting Rambo into the back of Thomas was the priority. He has not been in there for years, if ever, and I wasn’t sure how much he would struggle. As it happens it was really easy though he growled a bit purely with uncertainty as I boosted him up. He settled himself down and went to sleep while we carried on with our leaving jobs.

 

Even the camera couldn't see right

We had to empty the fridge and freezer of the final few things (frozen bread for the journey being the only thing in the freezer) was up the last of the dishes, shower, tidy a few things, check all the doors and windows and padlock any internal doors and then grab any final bits that we suddenly realised we were leaving without. All this took about 1.5 hours from the alarm going off so it was just before 5am when I stood at the outside front door and engaged the padlock for the last time. The picture is blurry but that is quite accurate in a sense as it was way too early to be leaving. The final challenge was to lock the front gate with the new padlock which only just fitted after a few tries and then the excitement of thinking we had left the ferry tickets inside but finding them in a “safe place” I had moved them to the night before. Sleep packing is never a good idea.

 

Pre-dawn sky at our first break point

As we drove away I said “goodbye” to the village, the local town, the nearby main city (after fuelling up) and various other things as the reality of leaving settled in. A was laughing at me a lot and that was good too. As I was driving the first stretch A settled herself and dozed off leaving me to contemplate the winter ahead. We got up onto the motorway towards Bourgas and I was able to enjoy driving towards the sunrise as slowly but surely the sky lightened towards day. A woke up around this time and then we saw a parking area by the motorway so we pulled up to give Rambo a leg stretch, and snap pictures of the sun. What a glorious sight. Rambo was super excited and pulled as I walked him all the way up and then back so he could sniff everything and maybe go to the toilet, but he was way too excited for that. Happily getting him back into Thomas was easy as he almost jumped in himself; at least he wasn’t unhappy in there.

 

I wish these WERE rocket ships to mars

A bit further up the road we were brought to a halt by a van with flashing lights weaving across the lanes to allow for two huge lorries with what looked like rocket motors (but which were probably some kind of fractionating device for gas) on their backs. It took them a bit of time to navigate out of where they had been stopped and then we were past and rushing towards the east.

 

It is down there somewhere

A furnace in the east

Threatening flat bottomed clouds

A super glow

Clouds gathering ahead of us

Netting to stop birds flying onto the carriageway

The road stretches out ahead of us

All the time we were heading towards the rising sun and all the time the sky was getting brighter and more amazing. We snapped pictures from the moving car as we went though most were really blurry and didn’t come out as well as we wanted. Enough did though and these are my favourites. You can imagine how many we took to have this many come out OK. Yeah, we were a bit snap happy and why not.

 

And there it is, before the clouds enveloped it

Finally the sun was fully risen and the day had begun for everyone else, though we were a good couple of hours into the journey already. The road was the super boring one which we have to drive along to get to Chaz and Ivan’s and then we went past their turn off and even further along towards Bourgas. While it is boring at least it is easy driving and it got the day off to a positive feeling start.

 

Zooming along a tree lined road

After a while we swapped drivers, which was great, and headed towards the north and our appointment to drop Rambo off. It was great to sit then, rest my eyes, and get to enjoy the scenery. As we were off the motorway we were heading up into the hills and driving along tree lined country roads which were glorious as the autumn colours spread through the trees. This picture was a lucky shot as I zoomed as I snapped and we were also moving – I am really quite proud of it.

 

Old planes mounted for display and a pretty church

We swapped over drivers again and A was in position to grab these two snaps firstly of a group of Russian military jets (in much funkier poses than the one we found in our local town, but you wouldn’t be able to wing walk on these) and a missile mounted by the side of the road, and then a really pretty church. This was the first time I thought how nice it would be to do this trip but with the opportunity to stop at these kind of sights; maybe we can when we go back to collect Rambo next year as we’ll be driving this way again.

 

Giving Rambo a good rub and a cuddle at the kennels

Howling his goodbyes

Anyway, about 10am or so we drove into Ken’s village and then saw his van parked in front of his house and we were there. At first I couldn’t see how to get in but then the gate opened and there they were, keen to see Rambo again and get him situated, then provide us with a cup of tea, some homemade breakfast muffins (lovely!) and a bit of advice for just over the border into Romania. Rambo was a mix of super happy to see Ken and Margaret again, and terribly sad to be behind a fence with me and A stood saying goodbye. I really hope he settles in OK but with how much those two love him I’m sure he’ll be grand.

 

Getting her drive on

I had done a large amount of the driving that morning so A took over now and we made our way, following the sat nav, out of Ken’s village and then up through the hills, woods and mountains. It was a lovely drive even though the clear morning had given way to over cast and drizzle.

 

More Roman roads, and a church with a tin spire

The way was really easy and we drove along rather a lot of what appeared to be Roman roads which stretched arrow like into the distance. This is an ancient landscape and we saw some really old graveyards with rocks instead of carved headstones in forests by the side of the road. This was also the first time on the trip that I saw a tin roof on a church so I had to get a picture of that.

 

Just a bit of beer for England and Wales

As we went through one larger town on the way we saw signs for Kaufland and followed them as we had promised a friend to bring back as much Zagorka as we could fit on. Imagine my happiness, however, when A suddenly said “isn’t that tumna?!” and I saw a stack of Kamenitsa Tumna, the dark beer which I have been waiting to come on sale (it is only sold over winter) and hoping against hope would appear in the shops before we left. We filled the trolley with 24 bottles of each, then added some random spirit as a gift for a friend and we appeared to be fully functioning alcoholics at the checkout line.  I reorganised the rear of the truck now Rambo was no longer on board and stowed all the beer and then we set off again, still with A driving.

 

Driving onto the bridge over the Danube

Romania is announced

Then all of a sudden we were at a border crossing, passports shown, and then onto the bridge to cross the Danube into Romania. The first picture was an accidental arty one as the map reflected in the windscreen and the wiper was sweeping as a light rain was falling, as it had been on and off for a few miles. The sign in the middle of the bridge caused much excitement as we drove into our second country of the day.

 

Camera held out of the window for this one

On the other side of the bridge I held the camera (rather riskily) out of the window of the car as high as I could get it to snap a picture back over the Danube towards Bulgaria and against all the odds, and a fifty mile an hour wind from our passage, it actually came out OK if a little wonky. This is the last we’ll see of Bulgaria with our own eyes for five months and I am not happy about that.

 

One of many beautifully decorated churches in Romania

Once we negotiated the passport control point on the Romanian side of the bridge (again, with no problems at all) we reached a T junction and my instinct told me to turn left to find the short cut advised by Ken but the sat nav took us right and after 30 seconds of thought (and a short trip up the road to the left followed by a U-turn) we decided to follow the sat nav. This was a good choice in the end I think as there was no guarantee on us finding the turning even if we had been meant to turn left. Romania is a beautiful country and in my opinion (and A’s) they look after their houses and villages much better than most Bulgarians. The major feature of Romania, however, is the sheer number of churches even in the tiniest of hamlets and just how ornate they are. It is a Catholic country and so ever church is painted outside with icons. While I hate this on one level, on another they are so amazing to look at and we added this to the list of things to do on a photography tour.

 

Lunch on an impromptu table

A Romanian service station, and the strays

The road from the border up to Budapest was really easy to drive on and we made really good progress with no holdups at all until we were really near the city. We then ground to a halt and sat for a minute or two before creeping forwards until we were past what was obviously a major junction as there were two policemen directing traffic; the delay was caused by the fact that it was a cross roads with lots of turning traffic. After this there were no more delays and we were out on the road to Pitesti and making good time. We stopped briefly for lunch at what was billed as a “service station” but was just a mud parking spot, a city-gas refuelling station (no petrol, diesel or toilets) and a couple of stray dogs.

 

Gorgeous tree and a really old cross

What it lacked in amenities it more than made up for in sights; here is a picture of the beautiful willow tree just up the road and a stone cross that looked ancient and was in the middle of the road on a traffic island. The stray dogs came up to the car to look for food but when none was forthcoming gave a little woof and ran off; the owner of the petrol station then put some food down for them which was really good to see.

 

A classic photo of a classic Romanian view

Romania really is a gorgeous country; I would recommend a driving holiday over here to anyone, really, especially over the summer or around this time as the trees are changing. Our weather had once again changed to sunny for this part of the journey and the views were stunning. This vista, taken just before we went over a river bridge, captures a lot of what we saw on the journey. There are kids playing football in the foreground in a really well maintained facility and then the gorgeous river with stunning mountains in the background. While I definitely prefer Bulgaria, Romania comes a close second.

 

Filthy weather as we entered an area of outstanding beauty

A while after this the weather changed sharply and it was just as we were starting to drive along the bottom of a stunningly beautiful valley which wound for many miles alongside the river. This was a tourist area and there were many hotels all along the edge of the road, some huge hulking communist era concrete blocks and others ancient looking in a classical Romanian style. There must have been 10,000 beds at least along this stretch of road, and probably many more than that. There were a lot of people too, and it seems this part of Romania is booming.

 

Tree covered mountains and valleys

The river running through it

Gorgeous ridges which I wanted to climb to

As we progressed up the valley (through off and on squalls and heavy showers) we could see why they were coming; this was stunning countryside and even in this bad weather it glowed. The road was precarious in places, sometimes suspended above the water on stilts as the cliffs plunged hundreds of feet down into the river and didn’t allow any purchase, but it was well maintained and smooth for the most part. Once again we wished that we could stop and look around a bit, and my walking feet were itching to climb the ridges. One of these days for sure.

 

A single shaft of sunlight breaks through the clouds

When we left the valley our way took us along dual carriageways and through a less dramatic landscape. There were quite a lot of roads shut, or with short diversions, which added interest and we were also running a little low on fuel and after seeing loads of petrol stations when we didn’t need any now we could find one. The clouds were still gathered overhead but at one point one single shaft of sunlight burst through and shone like a searchlight onto one lucky place. I sent A scrambling for the camera to get this picture.

 

A photograph for my dad

This picture is purely in here for my dad and there will be more like this; he has a thing for bridges and while this is a pretty boring modern one, the way it sweeps across the valley is pretty impressive so I hope you like it, father.

 

Sunglasses on as I drive towards the sunset

The sun breaking through the clouds

As the sun descended it came through the clouds more and more and, as we were driving due west, this meant it was in my eyes. I knew I had packed my sunglasses for a reason and so, for all of about five minutes, on they went and I looked cool as anything. The single beam of sunlight from before had been replaced by the more standard spread effect and you can see more clearly here how the landscape had flattened since that scenic valley.

 

Diesel goes into Thomas

The fuel situation continued to deteriorate so finally we decided to make use of the spare can of diesel in the back of Thomas. We pulled up and I put the lot in then were back on our way without any troubles. It was only a few more miles when we came to a fuel stop and I refilled Thomas and then put more into the can. I didn’t realise at the time (obviously) but I did what now must be called a habit and left the petrol cap for Thomas at that stop, as I had with Julian on the way over. I think that was in Romania as well. After this petrol station there were loads again so they must clump together which is a bit silly. Surely it would be better to have them spread out so you are always close to one.

 

The sun drops just below the clouds

Through the tree

Sinking fast

The sun was, as it will, continuing to set as we drove on and it was putting on a magnificent show for us. We were starting to get a bit tired by this point (about 7.20pm local time) after thirteen hours of driving but by having short naps while not driving both of us were operating well still.

 

Riding the swell of air from the sun heated rock

We were not the only people appreciating the stunning light show; in the distance, and then closer as we drove on, we could see three para-gliders hanging nearly motionless just off from a steep bluff and cliffs. They were still there as the sun disappeared and I hope they got down OK before the updrafts caused by the sun heating the rock face diminished too much. This picture is also here for The Electrician who is into this sort of thing.

 

Evening glow as we cross another river

A very large fortress in the distance

The darkness was gathering however Romania was not totally done with showing off its treasures. Here we have an excellent picture taken on full zoom from a moving car by A of a massive fortress perched on top of a steep hill which was right across the valley from where we were driving; we took the picture just as a reminder to us never imagining it would come out OK to be used here. Finally for Romania is yet another river we crossed; these were very regular and highlighted another difference between Romania and Bulgaria; the rivers in Bulgaria often don’t keep running all year and so aren’t named however even the smallest trickle had a sign before and after the bridge telling you what they called the waterway.

 

Parked up and steaming gently

We reached the Romanian – Hungarian border at about 10.20pm and, having stopped to get the Hungarian vignette from the kiosk on the road into the border control area, sailed confidently forwards only to be stopped round the corner by a huge queue which was not moving at all. We sat and waited and waited and sat and slowly crawled forwards until it was clear what the first delay was – the three lanes (two of cars, one of lorries) reduced into two lanes for a pinch point before the remaining single lane for cars then branched into four. Why they do this I don’t know but it wasn’t the root cause of the holdup as we were to find out. When we finally reached the front of the queue we saw that very humourless looking Hungarian customs officers were stopping every car and making everyone open their boots, trailers etc for an examination. It took us over half an hour to move the 100 yards or so from the start of the queue to the other side of customs but at least they didn’t ask me to open the roof box.

While we were in the queue we were hailed by the driver of a white van in the lane next to us who had seen that we had Bulgarian plates and he wanted to say hello. I said I Was English and he was impressed and said his cousin was over there. This is just a simple example of how friendly Bulgarians are; I commented to A that if it had been to British cars next to each other they would have refused to even look over.

Brewing up for A before we settled in for the night

We pulled away from the border control point and made to drive down the main road however there was a policeman directing us down a side road and when the car in front dawdled I overtook then found myself confronted by a police car parked across the road and no idea where to go. The cars I had overtaken swung back round and headed further along the side road so I followed and then I recognised where we were and at the end I pulled onto the verge and we stopped for the night, just outside Mako which is where we had stopped on the way. It was only about 10.30 but we were both so tired that I made a brew for myself (A didn’t want one) using the tailgate of Thomas as a table and then we pulled the rug over us and fell pretty much straight to sleep, even though there was traffic from the border going past quite a lot through the night and I had to pull the wing mirror in so their lights stopped shining right on me. To give an idea of how tired the queuing had made me while I was parked I kept saying “my brakes have gone spongy” as the lights of trucks moving on the other side of the road gave me the illusion that I was rolling forwards. Scary and not a state you really want to be driving in.

 

A cautious start to the day was required

We were both still asleep when an alarm started going off in some buildings nearby. It sounded for a few minutes, then stopped, then started again then stopped and when it started for the third time I checked my phone and found that it was about 5.00am and so I went and made A a coffee which I passed to her while she was still wrapped up in the blanket. It had been pretty cold in the night and I hadn’t been able to get the blanket down to my feet under the steering wheel so ended up laying across the seats at one point. With the coffee in A’s hand I started the car and we made our way down the road and into Hungary. It had been a beautifully clear night when we stopped with stunning stars and moon however now there was fog and it was really thick. It was actually quite a challenge to drive and the fact that the road were dead straight for the most part, and the sat-nav gave me some clues, really helped. Once again there were some random road closures and seemingly abandoned road works which added to the fun but we kept safe.

 

Bright moon above haze in the lower country

I drove until we were on motorways and then we stopped at the first rest point so I could make a brew for myself then A took over so I could get some rest. The mist was a little clearer at this point so the moon was visible again however as we drove it descended and it was pretty much constant throughout the morning. Hungary is a super boring country anyway so we weren’t missing much other than run down communist era towns and mess – at least from the memories I have of the trip there.

 

No smoking signs on everything

Pizza and cappuccino for breakfast

About the only thing of note to happen in Hungary was when we stopped for breakfast at a petrol station I was most amused at the super tidy dining tables outside looking like they had never been used once and all with a “no smoking” sign on. I suppose this is fair enough considering it was a petrol station but it amused me none the less. We bought some slices of pizza from the cafe inside and took them out to sit on these tables; it was rather nice actually and good to just rest even for only a few minutes before getting back in the saddle. We stopped again once more in Hungary to pick up the vignette for Austria which we bought at a really busy service station which was jammed with Japanese tourists and children – hell on earth in other words.

 

This is what a border check point should look like

Leaving Hungary was as easy as entering had been difficult. We almost didn’t notice when we were suddenly upon a border post and flying through into Austria on the other side. Hungary had taken all of four hour of driving to get over and it didn’t deserve any stops or any more photographs than we took.

 

Huge wind turbines as the road goes under and eco bridge

And so to Austria which is immediately a much more interesting country even if this is only due to the sheer number of wind turbines which cover the land for miles and miles. Austria was the first place we saw eco-bridges on this trip as well; these are standard looking road bridges over the carriageway which have trees and bushes growing all over them to provide a safe passage for wildlife. This picture shows both a load of wind turbines and an eco bridge.

Austria is far more interesting than Hungary

In contrast to the flat and boring Hungarian countryside Austria immediately became rolling wooded hills with distant ridges and peaks to add interest. The road wound through valleys and over ridges but was good quality and we kept a good pace up. Our speed had been dictated by the fact that Thomas starts drinking fuel thirstily as soon as his engine goes over 3000rpm so we were keeping it just below that, which translated to a steady 65mph.

Suddenly the mist is back

At one point just as we went over a hill and round a corner we were confronted once again by the fog which had disappeared near the border. It was really quite sudden and at first I thought it was smoke but it continued for a fair few miles. I suppose that as we are firmly in autumn having low lying fog and mist is to be expected. It was never so thick as to represent a danger and we kept our speed up throughout.

 

A location from the trip over

I got quite excited when I suddenly noticed that we were about to pass a hotel which my parents had stayed at (while I had been outside in Julian) and got A to snap a load of pictures. I wasn’t too sure at the time but now I am convinced and they will probably confirm this in the comments (if they haven’t fallen asleep by this time, nearly 4,400 words into this post). I can remember so well sitting on my camp chair just up in the corner near the building stealing the WiFi to send and update to you lovely people.

 

And so we were suddenly in Germany

We entered Germany at pace as we didn’t even have to slow down for the border, and totally missed the “Welcome to Germany” sign so you get this speed limit explanation sign instead. As you can see the weather was now firmly set to “lovely” and it was really starting to warm up nicely. Germany is also a beautiful country so there was lots to look at while not driving, though we were continuing our habit of cat naps as and when.

 

A turbine blade on a train - they are HUGE!

Germany is also a land of many wind turbines and they appear to be putting more up. We saw one huge pylon with no blades on it, surrounded by service vehicles and then a little later there were huge trains stopped in sidings with the blades on their trucks. The picture isn’t that great as we were going fast and I saw it at the last minute but you get the idea.

 

Our picnic spot, and the kettle whistling away

Lovely warm weather to lay in

At about 1pm local time we pulled into a rest station for a toilet break and to have some lunch. The sun was shining so nicely that we decided to drag the rug onto the grass and brew up as well as eat and this was a brilliant idea. Even though we only stopped for about fifteen or twenty minutes we still got to relax and I could so have slept there in the sun for ages.

 

German engineering at its best

Here is some more bridge photography for my dad and I am sure I remember driving over this with them and my mum trying to get a picture from underneath the overhang on Julian. This has definitely come out better.

 

A couple of the rivers we drove over

We drove over many bridges like the one in that previous photograph and tried at every one to get a good picture of the water but it was tough from our road position to do this. The barriers also got in the way a lot and I resorted again to holding the camera out of the window to get a better angle.

 

A building of some sort on a distant ridge

Once again there was a lot to see on the way (and yes the implication of that statement is I am cutting out photographs which I could easily put in here and type about for the sake of brevity. Stop laughing. I am!) and here I present to you another example of superb photographic work at full zoom and long distance with high speed thrown in. I can’t work out whether it is a church or a fort but it was a long way away and deserved the attempt at a shot.

 

Two wind turbines bracket the setting sun

Really wide open sky as the day ends

We were making excellent progress having hit no traffic at all since the night before at the border and now the sun was setting ahead of us as we went almost directly westwards. We stopped for fuel before carrying on and I have selected two of the best pictures of the sunset as we wound through hills and into and out of its light, with my sunglasses once again making an appearance. I am particularly pleased with the one setting between the two wind turbines as I spotted it was about to occur and prompted A to play photographer once again.

 

Red lights and red sky

There were a lot of road works along the way but they were short stretches over bridges which didn’t take long to get past and didn’t generate any tailbacks. We had seen that there was a hotel at the place we refuelled but I wanted to drive on a bit further and this seemed to backfire as we saw a truck put its hazards on and then we were at a standstill with traffic stretching ahead as far as we could see. We crawled along for a while and then did a sat-nav search for hotels nearby but the top two results involved going back on ourselves for 12 miles or so. I related the story of my search for a hotel with my parents in Sofia and we made the call that we should just keep going forwards, towards our ultimate destination, and stop when we found a place.

 

Our room and our dinner

This turned out to be a really good decision as the traffic cleared after about 20 minutes of delay and we then found a service stop with a restaurant and a hotel not much further up the road. We parked, grabbed our stuff, and made our way towards what we thought was the hotel but then I spotted a road sign pointing further away so we were back to Thomas and went to the other side of the motorway where there was a large hotel. After a bit of confusion we found the check in desk, paid for the room and received a free WiFi key which worked when I logged on before we went down for dinner. Unfortunately when we came back up (the food was pretty good) it was not connecting any more but as tired as I was I stopped caring and just turned the laptop off. We were asleep in a really comfortable bed by about 9pm which was just what I needed. We did have to open the window as the air conditioning appeared to be set to blow hot air whatever setting you put it on, but we were that much warmer than the night before even with this.

So this has turned out to be a really long post covering the first two days, there are over 5000 words in it and 65 photographs. I will finish off the journey in an update to be published tomorrow so don’t worry, there is more.