Romania 2016 - Comarnic visit in September

[clivehorridge]

Yes, as usual, all over before it feels like it really gets started

I was back in work on Wednesday getting "journey home" updates from Chas & Shayne, but sitting at my desk catching up with the chaos that ensued while away, came hard.

Thank you Chas, Helen and Shayne for your company, we all enjoyed and you know you're always welcome here, by whatever means you get here, Land Cruiser, other vehicle (we even had a Lawnroller in the yard in 2015) or by plane.

First class company!

Anyway, they dealt with staying in unfinished rooms like heroes, with no complaints, so we'll done, I'm thankful for that!

Next year will be different, if there's another visit (hopefully). It would be nice to have a few more trucks arrive, so if anyone's tempted, look out for a Comarnic Romania 2017 thread, and get your name down.

I'd prefer August over September, but we're pretty flexible.

In the meantime, I'll have a browse to see if I have any more photos or vids that are publishable...

 

[Shayne]

Over too soon indeed , i have spent today in a daze sort of going through the motions without the slightest interest . Truck scrubbed up well though a few scratches will need a bit more polishing when i can shake off the post Romania melancholy and Helen just said August next year would suit her better which has cheered me up a bit

 

[AndyCook]

Thanks for the photos, looks like a great trip and much better weather than the 2015 trip.

 

[Shayne]

I think we may have had a Romanian stowaway for the return journey because this just crawled over my keyboard as i was typing ?

It's about an inch long so either it's foreigner or our plastic plants are giving us greenfly on steroids

 

[clivehorridge]

I think we may have had a Romanian stowaway for the return journey because this just crawled over my keyboard as i was typing ?

View attachment 106163

It's about an inch long so either it's foreigner or our plastic plants are giving us greenfly on steroids

Looks like one of ours Shayne, you'll have the Environment Agency on your back for the illegal import of non-native livestock

 

[Shayne]

Had a mess about with Helen's phone trying to post pics but gave up and she has more vids than pics which may as well be deleted .

 

[Chas]

Hmm, Romania 2016, well what can I say that hasn’t already been said? Maybe that it was one of the best breaks I’ve ever had, I did more off roading in the time we were there than I’ve ever done before in some amazingly beautiful countryside.

Clive and Aura’s hospitality was second to none, I took some things for Clive that can’t be got in Romania namely British bangers and unsmoked bacon which then got served up for OUR breakfasts, naughty Clive they were for you and Aura.

Of all the tracks we drove I think The Ridge was top of the list even though for me there were a couple of sixpence half a crown moments.

We had a few BBQ’s on the road, one memorable one on a river bed where I foolishly drove into some water that wasn’t very deep, I could see rocks under water but what I couldn’t see was the silt that made the bottom very soft and I got stuck while the inside of the truck slowly filled to seat depth with water, amazingly the ARB compressor under my seat still works also the amp and sub woofer below the passenger seat still works. Luckily the fridge/freezer in the back stayed above the water line. I was winched out by Clive with assistance from Shayne, thanks fellas.

There was ingress of water into the gearbox either through the seals or maybe the breather had come adrift, to be checked later by Julian V. While being winched out backwards I obviously had the lockers engaged but the wheels weren’t turning it was later realised I had lost reverse gear which would account for the lack of drive. Forward gears are OK so far, and reverse came back but very juddery, at least I got home OK with minimal reversing, not without a bit of concern though, like how long before I have to call the breakdown wagon also concern for my mobile the battery was getting low and the USB socket wasn’t charging later found out the cable was faulty.

Back at the ranch Clive came to the rescue by draining the gearbox three times and refilling with fresh the amount that was drained, the first drain was like mayonnaise the second was slightly darker and less cloudy and surprisingly the third drain was pure amber and has stayed like that on every level check at every stop on the way home. I can’t thank Clive enough for doing that for me because of my weak back getting underneath would have been very difficult to do myself.

The salt mine we went to has to be seen to be believed, many metres underground ( Edit 208 mtr) were halls that defied all expectations, they were massive (54mtr high) (see photos at the end) my sat nav has a camera that videos while driving and when the memory card gets full it over records the oldest ones, unfortunately ALL the off road ones got deleted, bugger! I should have removed the card but that didn’t occur to me until too late.

Once again many thanks to Clive and Aura for an unforgettable holiday thoroughly recommended to anyone thinking of doing the same.

The river bed where I took a dip

Clive's garden acts as a short cut for some of the locals and all of that stuff from the back of the truck was out there for a few days drying out in the heat of the sun all my tools and camping gear but nothing was disturbed while we weren't there, says something of the honesty of the Romanian locals.


The mother of all chain saws used for carving out the salt.

And finally saying goodbye to Calais with my 80 being second one off behind that black BMW 4x4.

 

[clivehorridge]

Thanks for the photos, looks like a great trip and much better weather than the 2015 trip.

On the subject of photos, I've just posted a load of pics in the Media Gallery (including all of mine during this visit) showing a few places we've been to before and after.

I'm no photographer and I don't have a nice fancy DSLR, so excuse the quality. Anyway, it might give folks an idea of what's here if they want to consider coming.

 

[clivehorridge]

Sorry you lost so many photos Chas

That ridge ride is one I do so often I didn't take many pics either, except the few 'line-up' pics already posted.

I'm not sure where your "sixpence half a crown moments" were, but there are a few 'twisters' on that route. I like it because there's a bit of everything (except water) and it's high and away from civilisation.

Pulling you out of the mud was actually a bit of excitement for me, I just wish the fun had been under better circumstances. It pushed my little winch to it's limit and at one stage, it was almost stalled to a standstill. I was just about to jump out and rig the snatch-block when it started moving again.

I'm sure Helen took some video or photos of you coming out backwards, I wonder if Shayne can find them?

@Shayne, would you try to copy them to your laptop before you overwrite them, it's easy done from the i-Pad with your USB charge cable.

Thanks Chas for the kind words and don't worry, we had some "English" sausages for breccie this morning, so Aura must have kept some by .

 

[Shayne]

As i said while there Clive the 1 minute youtube vid i posted regarding the drivetrain clunk in Helen's truck took me over an hour to upload !
All is not lost though it occurred to me that our rubbish connection from talktalk is likely to blame and Helen's phone is on o2 network so she will sign up for youtube and see how it goes . Unfortunately she has two 10 minute vids of Chas's Titanic episode but not a single pic .

 

[thelal]

Had a lovely time with Clive and his family in their countryside retreat. Missed the other guys, as had to go back to work (flying work trip) but will post some pics here.

Fantastic hospitality to an unknown visitor (other than a couple of emails) and kudos to Clive.

 

[thelal]

 

[sharpy]

certainly looked a good trip and one i would like to make if i can make the time next year

 

[clivehorridge]

certainly looked a good trip and one i would like to make if i can make the time next year

Like I said Simon, look out for a 2017 thread, it would be great to have you along.

 

[Shayne]

As promised

 

[clivehorridge]

Great Shayne!

Well, sort of, I never expected to be going public in my snaps!

Pretty gooey stuff that was, plenty of suction!

 

[Chas]

As promised

Titanic? at least it didn't sink Shayne. Mind you if the water had been deeper . . . . .

 

[clivehorridge]

Had a lovely time with Clive and his family in their countryside retreat. Missed the other guys, as had to go back to work (flying work trip) but will post some pics here.

Fantastic hospitality to an unknown visitor (other than a couple of emails) and kudos to Clive.

It looks like I missed this somehow Brendan, must have been all the photos that followed, took my attention away.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words, it was our pleasure.

Next time you're close enough, give us a bell and we can drag you off to somewhere different.

Your 30,000 mile 'long way home' from Alaska is as impressive as it gets, rather humbling TBH for a guy that thinks a 400km round-trip is a long day .

 

[thelal]

Will do - was fun. Have some video of our yaunt - where can I post them?

 

[clivehorridge]

Will do - was fun. Have some video of our yaunt - where can I post them?

Here would do nicely Brendan, or you can put them in my album mentioned above, post #168.