Day six Mako, Hungary to Ihtiman, Bulgaria

Location: Ihtiman, Bulgaria.
Total Miles: 2012

What an absolutely crazy day today has been and, as I start typing this up, it hasn’t even finished yet. We are parked at a petrol station just east of Sofia having a break from the drive.

The alarm was set to go at 5.15am this morning and go it did, waking me up from a snooze I felt like I had just entered having been awake a bit in the night for some reason. I felt good though and this was increased when I found that my parents had both slept really well and were rested and refreshed after days of fitful sleep.

An atmospheric morning

I had a few minutes to play with while I was waiting for them to come out, after I had done my morning check of air pressure and oil levels, and so I got the tripod out and took some pictures including this atmospheric shot down the road where I attempted to capture how the light from the streetlamps glowed in the early morning haze. Lovely.

Shortly after I packed all this away they appeared and so we were off, heading towards the Hungarian/Romanian border with the sun rising gorgeously and glaringly to our left; Finally we were heading substantially south.

Romanian border control

It did not take us long to reach the border and we pulled out of the queue of trucks (very long) and into a much shorter one of cars. We edged forwards and then suddenly there was a problem; the car in front had broken down! The people inside jumped out and pushed and then, with a nod and a smile from the border control people we were through and rolling through a country which had been concerning me for months.

As is usually the case this trepidation was completely misplaced and we found Romania to be a beautiful, welcoming (the few people we came across) and non-hostile place. The roads were excellent too and we had no problems at all. But that is getting ahead of myself.

I have just been called back to the wheel so will continue this writing later, when we have stopped, wherever that is at.

I am back and updating; I’ll leave it til the end of this blog to tell you what has happened and where I am.

Sun shining through the trees lining the road

So we had just got into Romania and almost immediately were struck by how much more beautiful Romania was than any other country we had driven through thus far. The sun was rising (as already observed) right into our eyes and my dad took about ten pictures to attempt to capture the effect it made behind the trees lining the road. It was very lovely, I hope this does do it justice.

We had stopped at the little shack next to the border for a vignette but he only takes cash (euros or local currency so that is a warning for anyone else coming over there) but we drove on and found a petrol station which took visa and also sold the vignettes. A few tips here. The same as Hungary, Romania needs you to know the number plate of your car. They will put this into the system – I presume so the police can know to not bother to stop you and check. It took ages to get this purchased as they had to do each one separately and get you to check the details and sign that they were correct and then print them again. Beaurocracy!

I also fuelled up at this stop and filled the petrol cans (I now had about 40 litres in cans in the back of Julian; enough for one full refill of the tank) and then we were off and on our way again, dashing south towards the mountains.

Very isolated parking place

After an hour or so driving I spotted a rest point and we stopped for breakfast. It was only us and one other vehicle; this huge expanse of parking waiting for an influx of vehicles which may come, eventually.

Wild dogs play fighting

There were also the standard pair of wild dogs waiting here; I suppose this means enough people must stop for them to just about survive. They play fought and tried to get our attention as we walked around when we arrived but as we ignored them, and then shut ourselves inside Julian to food, they went and fell asleep in the sun. Which was up (as is standard for this trip it seems).

Making marmalade breakfast rolls

Our plan for the day was simple; more regular stops but shorter so we could crack on through Romania and if there were any problems, we wouldn’t have wasted time sitting around relaxing or cooking or anything like that so breakfast consisted of marmalade on barms. It was actually really nice and washed down with fruit juice this set me up well for the day.

Amazingly decorative house

Within short order we were back on the road and soon travelling through the first of several villages on the road. The houses were amazing; covered in decorative patterns and brightly coloured; I have never seen anything like this before and it contrasted heavily with some of the shacks which were also present; rich and poor living next to each other? Or just house proud and slovenly? Who knows, but the number of houses decorated like this was impressive.

Catholic church in a village

Our next driver change was a very swift one as I saw a church I wanted to take a picture of and decided to stop in the road, have my parents do a running change, while I dashed out for a snap. There was a family coming out of the church but I didn’t want to be rude and so I deliberately avoided taking their picture. They were all dressed in black and I wonder if they were mourning or just normally dressed that way.

Thirsty, but nothing to drink here

About this time we started noticing the mountains which had been distant closing in on us from both sides and soon we were driving along a valley. It was stunningly beautiful but most of the pictures have not come out at all. Such a shame, but that is the problem with taking pictures from out the window of a moving Julian. We were also starting to think about needing to refuel however our luck seemed to be perpetually out. First of all we could only find stops where they didn’t take visa and then, at this one, I pulled the fuel pump (as there was a sticker saying “VISA” on the door) and was covered in dust; the place was closed!

Mountains getting closer

It did give me a chance to get a photograph of the scenery from a stationary position, however, so it was not a wasted stop and we also managed to have a toilet break in some brand new, hardly used, toilets that were round the back. Very strange also as there were a couple of people wondering around but they all made no attempt to help with fuel. Oh well.

Eventually we managed to find a petrol station which accepted visa and I filled up but it was at this time that I spotted that I had left my filler cap behind at the first stop into Romania! What an idiot! I have never done this before but I suppose there is a first time for everything. A few seconds thought and I unwrapped some of my mum’s lovely fruit cake, stole an elastic band from a water bottle, and had fashioned a covered from these which would keep the dirt out of the tank. DIY extraordinaire :)

Beard, nose and switch back

And so onwards and upwards, sometimes steeply, until we reached the top and then down down down via more switchbacks into the valley on the other side. We kept collecting convoys and they kept overtaking us in the most crazy and dangerous of ways but all you can do is try and keep your eye out for them and avoid them when they have to cut in front suddenly to prevent a head on with another idiot coming the other way.

A tree

On the other side of the mountain we started following a river which became bigger and bigger next to us until it was a huge lake. And what a beautiful lake; we were all commenting to each other at how beautiful it was and my mum was snapping away with the camera trying to get pictures of it as it developed. It is really hard to do this as trees and road furniture fly past the window but we got a nice one here.

Taken on a naughty photo stop

Soon it wasn’t enough for me so I spotted a place to pull over and jumped out, diving through the bushes and took this snap other looking forwards towards more and more water.

Lunch stop

As we were driving along the road next to the water it became lunch time and so we pulled over into a parking area with a toilet and sat on our deck chairs looking at the view and munching on the wraps which my mum had prepared the night before. Once again, as observed, our plan was to not stop for long and so we didn’t really hang around however I did get a chance to take some more pictures around.

The dam, and industrial stuff

First of all this one looking back the way we came; there was a massive dam and huge lock to take ships as big as oil tankers from one level to the next, along with a load of large industrial facilities. Sadly none of the pics as we were going past came out (the camera has been struggling to focus at high speeds, and refusing to actually take the picture. Which is annoying in the utmost when you see something and it just goes “NO!” and doesn’t ‘click’.

The well, a bit dark cos it was so light outside

There was a very pretty well on the other side of the road which my dad pointed out and I don’t know if his pictures came out better than mine but this was the best of the ones I took.

The long and winding road

After lunch we continued alongside the water and believe me I have loads more pictures of it as it was gorgeous but I’ve bored you enough with them so I won’t put another one in. We left the waterside eventually and turned up and over another winding switchbacking pass and then down the other side with the road leading away ahead of us (barely visible through my dirty windshield, I know) and leading us ever onwards and closer towards the border.

Border control from Romania to Bulgaria

At about 3pm we pulled up towards the long awaited crossing; the border post just across the Danube near Vidin. Wow. What we thought would take us untili 6 or 7 pm had been done three hours quicker! What an amazingly easy and simple country it was to cross Romania with good roads, almost no potholes at all, and no requirement in the end for me to use any of my reserve fuel. I can only think that it is worse for those going further east, as our route basically hugged the Serbian border.

And so to border control. First of all we were asked for passports by the Romania side who asked if I had any guns and then smiled and said “have a nice day” and waved us through. Then into the queue for the Bulgarian side and this was all going exactly the same (I had given my passport and my dad’s, he was asking what the hell we were doing going into his country) when my mum got on the walkie talkie to ask what was happening. The change in his face at this instant was remarkable. He stood back and said “Open it up”!!!!

My heart sank. 140 or so bottles of whisky stashed and in such a way it’d take hours for them to unload it all. Anyway, I hopped out, explaining I was emigrating and my life was in this vehicle and the one behind, and showed him in the back of Julian. He looked at the boarded up doorway into the toilet/shower/storage area and said “what is in there?” I explained it was a load of my stuff as my life was in these vehicles but he made me get the electric driver and open it up. It is a really good thing that in the last couple of days I just started chucking stuff back there because what he was present with was a wall of bags and boxes all stacked floor to ceiling. He took one look at it and said “oh no, close it up, on your way” and we were through!

I did explain afterwards to my mum, who did immediately realise what she had done, that acting in ANY way suspiciously as you pass through border control anywhere in the world is a bad idea. Haha what an excitement and funny that the only trouble we had at any border was the last one. All we had to do now was pay the bridge toll (which I did, then sent my dad to pay for Thomas while I resealed the rear storage and calmed myself down.

Over there is Bulgaria

That excitement over we headed out onto the bridge over the Danube and into Bulgaria. It stretched ahead of us enticingly, leading me towards this new stage in my life. There were no good pictures of the water as the standard road furniture got in the way.

And finally. BULGARIA!

BULGARIA!!!!

We’d made it.

A pot holed, cobbled, road

What a rude shock the standard of the roads in this northern part of Bulgaria was compare to the smooth and easy roads in Romania. This particular village, with a stretch of gravel and unmade track, followed by the standard cobbled street, took us about 10 minutes to drive through as we had to keep it so slow to avoid damaging the tyres on the trailer, or shaking our own bones to dust in our bodies. Just dreadful. And it did not get better for a while, with some very active driving required to avoid the pot holes all along the road, driving down the middle of the road and swerving in at the last minute to dodge between the huge depression on one side and the uncoming vehicle on the other.

Misty mountains in the distance

None of this detracted from the beauty of the scenery as we made our way towards our early finish to the day, somewhere on the road towards Sofia. Mountains with snow on rose in the hazy distance and the near scenery was tree-covered hill sides, or farmland. I do love this country.

A lonely mountain, which dominated the landscape

At this time we started driving towards a mountain which was to dominate our view for  good hour or so as we drove towards it and then past it. It had such a dramatic shape and was sat right on its own on a plain so really dominated the view.

The sun setting

We had been actively looking for a place to stay but, after driving past a couple of hotels which were only an hour or so into Bulgaria and therefore too early really to stop, we had seen nothing. The sun started going down. We started thinking “hmmm are we going to find something” and continued driving towards Sofia. Then suddenly my mum spotted a sign “MOTEL in 200m” and I started to look to stop and pull in but there was a massive HGV about 2 feet off my bumper and he was flashing me and getting closer and closer. There was no way I could make the manoeuvre safely.

And that was the last hotel we saw. An hour later we were vibrating and bumping our way, in the dark, along bad Bulgarian roads and I had to stop in the trolley way (I didn’t even notice until my mum, who had been driving Thomas til that point, said “didn’t you see how close that was!”) to allow her to get some rest. Funnily enough about five minutes after this fraught driver change the road smoothed and we were up and rolling again.

As we got closer to Sofia (my original stretch destination) I started putting in “find me a hotel” in the satnav but every one was behind us, by at least 10 or 15 miles as well. This was starting to get a bit serious as we had been driving for over eleven hours by this time and I had not really had a substantial break. I was feeling OK, but I am a sensible person and don’t like driving exhausted.

We got to Sofia. This was a moment of some excitement and I finally found a location for a hotel within a few miles. My mood changed a bit as we pulled off the main road and saw what kind of a dodgy place we had been brought to. Rather than take Thomas down the narrow streets I went alone with my mum in Julian and we made a quick decision that I was not going to park my stuff outside that hotel over night. No way. So I turned round, went back, and then while the parents made use of the sawdust toilet (the first time for my mum all trip!) I took Thomas and did a three point turn up the road and brought him back. I am getting quite good at that now.

We went back towards a sign for a hotel we had spotted a bit before but then I made a snap decision. We had been driving around Sofia aimlessly and wasting energy and driving time. I put “Sofia Airport” into the satnav (as I know where I am there and also presumed there would be hotels around) and we went through several even more run down and scary areas in Sofia before finally doing the circuit round in front of Terminal 1 and then I was able to relax; these are roads that I know. We saw hotels but none accessible (the other side of a motorway, with no exit) and so we kept driving on the road towards our ultimate destination.

Trying to smile through the tiredness

By this time it was about 9pm and we were tired, hungry, and needed a rest. We had started seriously talking about cat napping in the vehicles and driving straight through; a completely ridiculous idea but when you can’t find a single hotel what else are you to do. We stopped at the next service station we found and went in for a coffee and a sandwich. We chatted and decided that we would just keep driving, we HAD to find somewhere, and after this break I felt a lot more cheerful and upbeat about everything. I felt responsible for this ridiculously long day mainly as I had missed the turnoff for the mountain hotel so much earlier in the day.

We drove on, into the dark, and then suddenly the sign we had been waiting for! A motel. As we pulled up, parked, and turned the engines off we had been driving for nearly 16 hours without many breaks at all, and had done about 500 miles. My parents went and checked in and I tried to connect the MiFi again after hard rebooting; still no joy... It MUST be a SIM problem, and then to the other free wifi networks around which I couldn’t either. I then went into the reception and published the day before’s blog (as you will know, as regular readers) and then it was into Julian and straight to sleep.

What a day!