Buckaroo Banzai

He he, Mate, I'm Amazed that you put that much thought into it but your way off. :wink: Historic Route 66 across the states :beta1:

If I'd Known you were sat on your ass redundant you could have come this time and I would have made my excuses to the wife

Already done it mate, this weekend as mentioned, Grossclockner pass in Austria as well as a few others. Next year, LONG WAY ACROSS..! see if you can guess what that might be????

Next time Andy I'll take you along as chief cameraman for Team Croeso :balloon:

Some fresh pics just received from the Romanian bikers I met at the Transfargarasan. :D

Check out the quality interior fittings on this peach :no:

Heres a nice example from this years Swiss Tuning show, Nice :surrender:

http://www.grossglockner.at/en/

I'm hoping to do the Grossclockner Pass amongst others in Austria this weekend, or is that a bit short notice for you?? :balloon:

I didnt like the vacuum, the wheels were too small. it needed at least a set of 18"s to set it off. :wink:

Waiting for the Ferry. nice collection of Vignettes And the only bit that fell off the car, the Wheel centre cap due to the state of the roads. A link to all the pics. http://s1182.photobucket.com/albums/x449/Croeso1/long%20way%20round/?albumview=slideshow Next year, "LONG WAY ACROSS"...! :biggrin:

From Hungary onwards all the border posts are now open with no passport check just drive through and I bought the Slovak and Czech Vignettes from a filling station for 17Euro for the pair. the only other requirement was the pollution sticker for entering Frankfurt city centre. I leave you to google that one if your interested. Some pics from Frankfurt. some pics from Brussels.

Some pics of Prague :cool3:

The garage Parking at the hotel in Prague was interesting as there was a few examples of Exotica parked in there, some in there Pyjamas :cool3:

As I approached the border I started to see roadside vendors and shops selling Hungarian Vignettes but decided to wait till I was at the border to buy one, that turned out to be another mistake as the border had all sorts of dodgy characters/migrants hanging about and peasants begging for money. I pulled up alongside one of the many kiosks selling Vignettes and as soon as I stepped out of the car I was surrounded by beggars holding there hand out, Touts trying to sell me dodgy Vignettes and offering to sell me Euros you name it. This guy was trying to convince me that his Hungarian Vignette was cheaper than the kiosks, I looked at it and it was a vignette for Slovenia, no thanks mate and I shoved it back in his hand. I went to one of the Kiosks (after locking the car) and asked the price for the genuine Vignette, 40RON. I had drawn some Romanian RON from the cash till in Pitesti and had exactly 40RON left. Brilliant. they enter your registration into what looked like a 486 computer and give you a receipt, no window sticker as its checked by ANPR cameras. Cash only by the way RON or Euro they were'nt fussed. This was also the case for the Serbian green card, the Vidin ferry, Bulgarian border Vignette, Romanian border Vignette and border tax, Hungarian/Slovak border Vignette, all cash only in either local currency or Euro so I would say these countries still have some corruption issues. Rather than draw any local currencies I had planned to pay my way round by card but as it turned out I had taken just enough Euro with me to cover my fares. When I turned round to get back in the car a Romanian family were going round it washing the headlights, windscreen and mirrors and I knew they would be expecting to be paid. I had just parted with the last of my RON and had no euro either having used it all along the way. As soon as I walked to the drivers door the husband and wife were there with their hands out insisting payment..! it wasnt that I didnt want to pay them, I just didnt have any money left literally. I got in the car and the husband was holding my door open and would'nt let me close it, they were demanding payment. At that point I had to show some aggression and gave him some verbal to which he backed off and they let me go. it could of got ugly but didnt and there was no Police anywhere not even on the border check, just a women who wanted to see the reciept for the Vignette and didnt even check my Passport. As soon as I was over the border into Hungary it had a more western European feel about the place through the towns and villages and eventually I reached the motorway, was I pleased to see that. From there it was about a 100km dash to the Airport to get the wife and she arrived about the same time as me so no holdups and straight onto the hotel. A few pics of the Danube from the hotel. From here on the trip was just about me and the missus enjoying the drive back to the U.K. and getting to stop the night in nice cities and hotels and eating out. There was only one other dodgy incident that happened along the way and that was on the Wednesday Morning driving just outside Budapest on the motorway, highway robbers..! A couple of thugs in a silver Merc pulled up alongside pointing at the tyres and trying to get us to pull over. No chance, we just ignored them and carried on.

Overall I was surprised with Romania, the rural areas still look very poor and most people are still getting about in horse and carts but the towns have a more modern and wealthy feel about them. Sibiu was a very clean town and the golden tulip tower hotel was ultra modern having only been built in 2008. but not expensive and a bottle of good red wine in the restaurant was 18RON, that's about £3.70...! :beta1: Although the Transfargarasan mountain highway was a bit of a disapointment the Romanian Bikers I chatted too told me about a lesser known pass over the mountains, the "Transalpina" pass. They said the road was also in a bad way but is being completely re-surfaced and should be finished by next summer. Wikipedia link to Transalpina pass. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transalpina_%28DN_67C%29 Couple of pics the bikers sent me of the road. I left the Hotel at 7.00am on the Tuesday morning to drive to Budapest to collect the wife from the Airport. the road from Sibiu to Hungary looked like a major transport route for lorries so has been upgraded with a good road surface and overtaking points but its still slow going. Getting anywhere in Romania is slow going it seemed and with only one section of motorway near the Capitol of Bucarest, its gonna stay like that for a very long time. Petrol is not an issue though with filling stations everywhere selling 95RON, 99RON and Diesel. it took me about 6 hours solid driving to get to the Romanian/Hungarian border, some bits were good, some bits were crap..! a good bit a bad bit, you cant see it in the piccy but I joined a queue of lorries that went on for ever, I crawled for about 40 minutes only to find that the hold up was a railway crossing. the crossing was in such a bad state that the traffic had to inch over it and my car only just cleared the deck. a typical Romanian village on route Next to the Horse and Cart, the "Dacia" is the workhorse of Romania. :thumbup:

I made it back from my trip today, safely with no problems with the car the whole trip. No dents or scratches, no punctures or buckled wheels (Murt :biggrin:) and not a single warning light. I'll write up my final update and post it up next week :thumbup1:

emerging from the tunnel at the top into the cloud pull over to let my brakes cool Sibiu

some views from the road

pics of the shocking state of the road on the Pitesti side

Today's update will come as a big disapointment but here goes. The Victoria hotel in Pitesti was great, very grand and cheap, and the gated car park makes it a great hotel if you don't want your car getting any of the wrong kind of attention. I had a slow start as I knew I had plenty of time today so had a relaxed breakfast and on the road by 9:00am. The road from Pitesti to the ascent of the highway is a good hours drive and the road is bad, it's no surprise that car's in these kind of countries don't last long. As I started to ascend the highway I was hoping for a step change in the quality of the road. Knowing that this road was built by the military as a strategic route rather than a connecting road between 2 towns you would expect it to be a good quality all the way. But instead it was the same poor quality all the way up to the resovoir. A scenic route but anything but a drivers road? I'm thinking, am I on the right road?? Got chatting to some Romanian bikers and they said if I go beyond this point towards Sibiu the road is in a very bad state?? I was confused, there was me expecting this ribbon of perfect tarmac?? I did continue and to my horror the road is not in a bad way, its virtually undriveable..! great big craters and potholes, see the pics. This continued for at least 10kms maybe more before it improved. my average speed was about 10mph if that......Hmm some drivers road this is turning out to be..! It eventually got smooth enough that you could drive at a reasonable speed but still not brilliant, eventually as you near the summit the road improved enough to the point were I could start really pressing on. lots of dropped jawed Romanian's stood by the roadside taking pics of the view horrified at the speed I was passing them but that's what I was there for. At the top you enter the tunnel which takes you through the last high peaks and I emerged the other side to low cloud and virtually zero visibility..! There is the usual car park and gift shops at the top so I pulled over for a minute to reflect on the drive so far. I realised that the section of road that top gear drove must have been the descent down the other side towards Sibiu, the bit that I was just about to drive in zero visibility....Great..! Fog lights on I set off on the descent and the quality of the road was better but still not brilliant, very slowly down the road following another car till suddenly we dropped out of the cloud and the road was clear. That's it, foot hard down, lots of supercharge whine and I was off like a greyhound out the trap. unfortunately by that point I had already descended most of the mountain so there was'nt much left but at least the road was clear. Then came the next problem, a problem I've experienced before when descending mountains....No Brakes, Yes I had been braking so hard into the bends that I boiled the brake fluid. so it seems that the upgrade Brembos on the XK are not up to mountain driving. I've always maintained in my other threads that the most important asset your car needs for mountains is brakes, brakes, brakes. Power is nothing, Brakes is everything. (of course you can always drive slowly, but why would you want to do that?) I'm sure there's probably an equation you can use to calculate the increase in weight of the car depending on the angle of descent but it must be a substantial increase. So forced to pull it down through the box and use the hopeless handbrake to stop I pulled in at a stop point and went for a walk and piccys for half hour to let the brakes cool. It was'nt turning out to be the ultimate drive I was hoping for. I had already seen enough of the road to confirm that amazingly Top Gear have got it wrong again..! Although most of my descent was in the clouds I could judge what the road would have been like if conditions were clear and for me the road surface is just not good enough to call it the worlds best driving road. You would think that Top Gear would have researched the whole of Europe before making their claims but it appears they don't, someone must just phone in and say, I've heard there's a half decent road in Romania and they just go there and say oh yes this is it, this is the one..! Right I'm gonna make a bold statement now based on fact and experience: DON'T LISTEN TO THE IDIOTS AT TOP GEAR, THEY ARE FILLING YOU WITH RUBBISH..! Instead, listen to Team Croeso who has been there, done it and got the T-Shirts. If you want to drive mountains for the driving experience then there are no better places in Europe than the French and Swiss Alps, end of..! There are passes in the Alps that are as dramatic in layout as this one with perfect road surface, stunning scenery, lots of good restaurants, hotels, guesthouses and campsites. And its only a days drive from Calais. Right, now I've got that off my chest I'll continue. I did'nt see any point in driving back over the mountain with the cloud so decided to drive straight on to Sibiu and check into my hotel. The road to Sibiu is brand new and smooth so I now know that if you plan to drive the Transfargarasan at some point in the future your better of stopping in Sibiu and driving the highway to the tunnel at the top and about another 5kms the other side, then turn round and come back, don't continue on to Pitesti or you'll be very disapointed. If this trip had only been about the Transfargarasan it would have been a big disapointment. Arrived at my Hotel in Sibiu by 2:30pm so had an hours kip before writing this up and then half hour on the treadmill. Its an early start tomorrow as I have to get to Budapest to collect the wife from the airport, so this will be the last installment I will write till next week when I'm back at work. Team Croeso, Bringing you Genuine and honest Euro touring advice. Pics from the resovoir.

luxury travel Bulgarian style From the ferry it was still about 250kms to Pitesti and the first 100kms or so the road was lumpy and bumpy but driveable so didnt slow me down that much, (the ferry was the biggest cost of time today) after that the road was actually very good and I could get on although I crossed a time zone and lost an hour. I had a vision in my head that Pitesti was going to be a drab run down town with broken roads and pavements but was very surprised. Its a modern vibrant town, tidy with street bars and restaurants and it was packed with people all out in there Sunday best. I checked in at the hotel which was another big surprise as it was very smart and regal, and they gave me a huge jacuzzi suite..!, thats not bad for 60 euros a night including breakfast. I took a walk through the town and there was a stage set in the precint and live music playing, the place was heaving and after walking up and down about 3 times I eventually grabbed an empty table at a street restaurant and had a meal, eating out is cheap too. Notice how my car makes this hotel look good Pitesti town centre looking forward to tomorrow now.

Some pics of the river crossing

Decided to skip breakfast this morning and get straight on the road at 8:00am. After the problems yesterday at the Serb border I figured it could take a couple of hours to get out so got straight on the motorway heading south. The motorway out of Belgrade for the first 20kms or so was in a terrible state but after that is was nearly as good as a u.k. motorway. I had to do about a 100kms on the motorway before pulling of and taking an E road (should be the same as a U.K. A road), I had only gone about 5 kms and the road reduced to a gravel track, oh dear..! I stuck with it to see if it improved further on but sadly it didnt. One minute it was smooth tarmac, then it would turn to gravel, then a patchwork quilt of repairs and it was full of lumps and bumps. I think I'm gonna need all my suspension re-bushed when I get home. and I rattled one of the centre caps out from the rear wheel and lost it.:angry: Motorway from Belgrade after the bad bits. the gravel track and patchwork repairs :thumbdown: My worry was I had to do about 100kms or more to get to the Bulgarian border and this road was really only suitable for a 4x4, my only option was to take it easy on the bad bits but that cost me time. Before setting off on this trip my fear was always the roads in Romania, they were bad but nothing like Serbia. sections of the road were being resurfaced but I think it will take years to finish. I got to the Serb/Bulgarian border and I knew before I got there that the border would be quiet as I was really off the beaten track, Sure enough there was only 2 cars waiting to cross. Bought a Vignette (5euro) but I dont think I needed it, it was only a short run to the Vidin Ferry and it was back roads all the way. Quick passport/vehicle docs check on both sides and I was on my way. Serb/Bulgarian border crossing in the middle of knowhere took about an hour to get to Vidin and when I arrived there were only a few cars waiting so I knew I'd be on the next boat. The crossing over the Danube is a fairly drawn out affair as theres only one boat and probably took 2 hours total with customs and vehicle checks both sides and waiting to buy a vignette on the Romainian side. the ferry cost 20euro for the car and 3 euro per occupant, on the Romanian side it cost 3 euro for the Vignette (surprised they've got the nerve to charge that much) and 10 euro border tax. At least the guys on the Romanian side had a sense of humour, he checked my passport and vehicle registration and said "whats in the boot?" luggage I said. he didnt bother checking just handed back my passport and said "and your not carrying any drugs or guns?" and walked off??? like I'm gonna say yes to that one. then the next guy walks over and said "English.....Black Jaguar......you must be Mafia, yes?" laughed and walked off...Great..! :thumbup: Theres a road bridge being built across the river which I'm guessing will make the ferry redundant.

I realised today that I'm gonna have to do my updates every day or I'll never remember anything after 9 days on the road. Yesterday was a good run despite the late start it was a clear run all the way. thats the first time I've crossed Northern Italy via Alessandra and its a brilliant road, a bit longer than going via Milan but everytime I've been that way theres always hold ups round Milan and loads of tolls booths and it takes longer. Worth rembering if you happen to be going that way. Today I was on the road by 9:00am. set the sat nav route and it told me I should arrive in Belgrade at 3:30pm. that would have been nice as I could have spent a few hours looking round. I knew that would be impossible with summer traffic and 3 border crossings. I was only on the motorway 5 minutes and it drew to a crawl. the route from Venice to the Slovenian border should have taken about 1.5 hrs, instead it took 3hrs. The amount of holiday traffic on that road was unbelievable. it was nose to tail and crawling all the way. Every service station was rammed full with cars and they were queing out on the slip roads for petrol. Eventually I had to bite the bullet and join the queue at one services as I was empty. Close to Trieste the road splits and the left lane goes off to Austria and Hungary, the right lane to Slovenia, thankfully most of the traffic went left and I went right. From there on it was plain sailing, the Slovenian border is an open border so no queuing for passport check but had to pull in to buy a Vignette (15euro). Its hard to judge a country when your just driving through but Slovenia looked like a really nice place, Very green, clean and the Motorway is first class. I flew through there with no holdups. The Croatian border was a bit slower with a passport check and I stopped for a quick 5 minute break to strech my legs. No Vignette in Croatia but Toll booths but not many, it was a case of pull a ticket when you enter, pay when you get to the end. Much better than Italy as theres toll boths every 10 minutes, it can be a right pain especially in a right hand drive car cause you have to keep getting in and out to pay (unless you have a passenger obviously). Slovenian/Croatian border. Croatia seems to be the new big Holiday hot spot as once over the border the road suddenly filled with traffic again from knowhere but I noticed they were all pulling off heading for the coastal resorts. A few Kms further on the road was clear again and I could press on. From the motorway Croatia looked fairly featureless and boring just fields and trees and the motorway was not quite as smooth as Slovenia. I was making good progress and had managed to claw back some time and the sat nav was telling me I would arrive around 5:30pm, that would still give me an hour or 2 for a look round Belgrade. However nothing can prepare you for the Shambles at the Croat/Serb border, its mayhem..! It took over 2 hours to cross the border and so I still didnt get to the hotel till 8:00pm...Doh..! After queuing for about 2 hours to get to the passport check the customs guy asked for my green card, told him I didnt have one. he said right, I'll keep your passport, you clear off and get yourself a green card, come back and see me when you've got it and I'll give you your passport back. He said all that in Serbian but I knew exactly what he was saying. From there on your on your own trying to work out what you have to do. Can be a bit worrying if you've never been in this kind of situation before but I've been arrested at far worse border posts than this one so I was not bothered. I parked up the other side of the border along with all the other confused people and there was lots of them. I tapped a customs guy and asked him where to purchase a green card, he pointed to some dodgy looking portakibins across the way so I wondered over. there were a couple of small Serbian insurance companies working out of the cabins brokering 30 day policies for the sum of 115euro, the policy is probably not worth the paper its printed on but I had to have it to get on. They give you 2 bits of paper, a 30 policy for you to hold onto and a slip to give to the nice customs man so you can recover your passport. You then have to walk back to the customs check avoiding getting run down by all the frustrated drivers exiting at full speed to recover your passport. its all very disorganised but part of the experience when you take on a route like this. (note, Make sure they stamp your passport with an entrance stamp particularly in Serbia and all no EU countries or you can have trouble when leaving as you they may consider you an illegal immigrant. if you have the entrance stamp it shows you legally entered the country) The Serb/Croat Border Some Romanian guy I got chatting to while waiting in the queue in his classic Ford Taunus Unsurprisingly once I'd recovered my passport and got on my way the road was empty, the border was a great holder of traffic once your the other side of it. the bad news is the motorway is in a bad way, not potholed but very lumpy and bumpy. it really stood out after Slovenia's glass smooth motorways. Belgrade is divided into the old city on one side of the river and new city on the other, my hotel was in the new city and it looked fairly trendy and cosmopolitan round that area. I drove over the bridge and looked briefly around the old town, reminded me of the Czech republic as Graffiti seems to be the local sport. Checked in and then spent an hour in the gym and sauna to sweat out the dirt of the day then dinner and a nice bottle of local red. More on Croeso's long way round later.