Jan 7th – Budapest, Hungary

(Daniel) After repairing the camp showers, I had a wonderful hot shower this morning and got into a clean change of clothes.  I returned to the camp, to find the others had got up and went for a shower themselves.  After they returned Rowan made a mushroom soup, which we ate for breakfast. Meanwhile I cleaned and lubricated the telescopic ladder, which had already started to stick.  When Rowan and Gabby finished they wanted to go to the Baths, a popular pastime in the city, I had some work to do on the Wolf, so I told them that I would see them later and gave them a radio to stay in touch.

After cleaning the ladder I took a good look around the Wolf, fitted the 2 metre radio antenna and did a few silly jobs which I had been putting off.  Then I headed down into Pest for a walk around and some lunch. 

Changing the brakes on the Wolf
Hungarian Paprika

I arrived and found a great shop called Dan Sucks, after taking a photo and having a walk about I decided to head back to the camp for lunch instead.  However I got a bit lost, expecting sense of direction alone to guide me back, and ended up having to ask people where the campsite was.  The first person I asked did not know, so I drove on, and this is when something horrible happened.  I pulled over in a lay by and was about to jump out and ask a man standing there, when another car pulled over in front of me, I am sure that he was topping to take a look at the Wolf, but he did not pull in very far, and caused a Lada behind him to slam on the brakes, the Lada stopped, but a Transit van behind did not and went straight into the back of the Lada, causing it to hit the first car that had pulled over.  Then another screech of brakes as a fourth car went into the back of the transit.  I was now blocked in by all these crashed cars, and knew that it would probably get worse.  I was not involved, and no-one appeared hurt, so I quickly reversed out and drove off.  After this I did not want to pull over and ask again, so it took me over an hour of driving around to find my way back to the campsite.

Dan Sucks!! Actually its a dress shop

When I returned, to my surprise Rowan and Gabby were not there, so I went to the restaurant at the entrance to wait, and had a meal and a couple of beers.  After two hours the others returned in the dark.  I was pretty annoyed, as we had arranged to meet up for dinner, and was still shaken from the episode earlier.  However, it turned out that Rowan and Gabby had had an equally galling day.  They had had a wonderful time at the Baths, going form the hot spring, to the cold pool, but afterwards had taken public transport back, and not understanding the ticket system had been fined not once but three times, a total of forty euros!  We swapped stories and Rowan started to prepare dinner.  He had bought a whole Fois gras in the market, and cooked this with an apple and mustard ragu.  While he prepared this culinary delight, I took out the axe from the trailer and cut enough firewood to see us through the evening.

Fois Gras with Apple and Mustard Ragu

After an excellent dinner we sat around the fire talking, drinking and listening to music until we retired to our separate bedrooms and went to sleep.

Distance Driven – Too much!

Meals eaten – Mushroom Soup, Fois Gras with Apple and Mustard Ragu and Toast.