Jan 8th – Hungary – Chiscau, Romania

(Daniel) After waking up much too early this morning, and packing up the camp, we drove down to Pest and the only Land Rover dealer in Hungary.  Looking very scruffy, we walked in to a few very funny looks.  But after explaining ourselves, and more importantly pointing out the Wolf, the dealer agreed to swap my surplus front pads for some rears, and fitted them while we waited.  Meanwhile out in the car park, Rowan prepared breakfast for us in the trailers kitchen.  The people at Land Rover were very helpful, and gave us back the Wolf after about half an hour.  We then got onto the motorway and headed for Romania.

Heading for Romania

The Hungarian Roads were wonderful all the way to the Border, however, as we crossed over, the roads very quickly declined until we were driving on something similar to a poorly kept country lane, and this was the main highway!  The people looked amazing, in furry hats and Romany clothing  everyone looked like a real character.  We drove through a few towns and lots of beautiful countryside past mountains and fields until we came to a tint town called Chiscau, home to the Bear Cave, where remains of hundreds of extinct Cave Bears were found after the cave was accidentally discovered by miners exploiting the areas huge marble content.  This was one of many caves that were in the area, but the locals, fearing that this would stop them from earning for the marble had destroyed other similar caves before the government could act.  We parked outside a small Pension and ate a dinner of local trout and polenta.  We also took the opportunity to learn some of the language, which is very similar to Italian, the Romanians having come from a group of Romans who settled there long ago.

Arriving in Romania

After dinner we camped in the car park, a scary experience, considering that this is vampire country!

Camping outside the Bear Cave

Distance Driven 450km

Meals Eaten – Ham & Mustard Sandwich, fried trout with Polenta.