Jones’s Maiden Voyage

[Jane NotRog]

We were handed a huge bag of dog food that had been relayed down all through the summer from visiting guests to feed the strays;all of us were past or present dog owners! We happily continued this practice and duly passed a new bag on to some uk guests. The reason we spent 3 days there was to make enquiries about adopting one of the dogs but it became clear that the procedure would take too long. We ended up adopting this ball of fluff from Calabria. -a region full of abandoned dogs.



View attachment 1114562

What a cutie! Flynn is a rescue from Hungary - this has been his first trip back to the land of his birth, but I didn’t spot any signs that he recognised it.

 

[KiwiKampers]

I would like to recommend a non-fiction book I really enjoyed - Along the Enchanted Way: A story of love and life in Romania by William Blacker.
He went tramping through the forests of Transylvania, lived and worked on the land around Maramures and fell in love with a gypsy girl. I’m not doing a very good job of reviewing it, but I promise you that after your travels around Romania you will really appreciate his writing.

​

 

[Jane NotRog]

I would like to recommend a non-fiction book I really enjoyed - Along the Enchanted Way: A story of love and life in Romania by William Blacker.
He went tramping through the forests of Transylvania, lived and worked on the land around Maramures and fell in love with a gypsy girl. I’m not doing a very good job of reviewing it, but I promise you that after your travels around Romania you will really appreciate his writing.

​

Thanks - I have that on my Kobo, must get on and start reading it!

 

[Jane NotRog]

Hmm, does this mean I can add the Ukraine sticker to Jones?

 

[Raul]

You better get a UA sim at that price .

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[Rog NotJane]

Breb in the morning​

We stayed in Camping Babou again today. Our second two night stop. This equates to a very relaxed schedule for us. We also all managed a lie in this morning - Flynn got his ablution walk at 7.30. By the time we returned the campsite owner had deposited a load of sourdough on the doorstep.

By nine, I’d scoffed nearly half the sourdough which meant it was time to set off on a walk. The site’s info leaflet recommended a 5k walk up to a lake which sounded like a good distance and goal in the Romanian autumn heat. We set off and were followed by the two retired sheep dogs who have made the campsite their home. The walk was pretty hot but the two of them stayed with us all the way. Flynn had been very keen that they didn’t approach his dinner yesterday but is always quite happy for any stray dogs to accompany us on a walk.

They’re my monkeys so I should be pack leader.​

The walk was long and hot and the lake wasn’t massively picturesque. Our two guides were quite surprised when Flynn threw himself into the water. The walk back was much quicker than the outwards route but all the dogs were knackered.

Hot.​

It was lunchtime when we got back and Jane made a salad from a Hungarian tomato and a Tesco mozerella. The pickle bucket - available in all good Eastern European countries - made its first appearance too.

Yum​

We took the chance of some downtime to update the country stickers on Jones

Romania also available​

Then we had a relatively staid afternoon around Jones. Playing boardgames and catching up on the news until this:

It translates to: “Alert Weather alert-CODE ORANGE-torrential rain that will accumulate over 25-35 l/sqm. Period of manifestation until 20:00. Avoid any travel and take shelter and self-protection actions!”

That’s a lot of rain. For those still working in Imperial, that upper bound is almost 8993 firkins per square furlong. Certainly something worth alerting every mobile phone in a ten mile radius about. Coincidentally our second today: HMG ran the emergency dog frightening test today. Anyway, we gave Flynn a quick walk then set off to the very nearest restaurant: Breb 148. All businesses in Breb seem to be named after their address.

Rain​

We ordered the “local fatty platter for two” (half portion please) then “three local pork sticks” (r) and “local meat skewers (pork and beef)” (J). It was all great and the rain stopped just as they came round with complimentary home made fire water.

The white bits in the sausage are statins

Cheers! And Goodnight.​

 

[CaptainPaul]

Brilliant trip your having and wonderful descriptive writing as you always do
but wondering how your still finding normal driving in your new van? The Mercedes bit....
Im absolutely hating mine! I love cruise control on any vehicles and especially on motorways, toll roads etc but its practically useless due to the brake assist and distance crap etc that's on these vans, it's actually dangerous, nearly killed twice yesterday again, once when it practically ground to a halt and the vehicle in front was still at least 200+ yards ahead of us and we almost got rear ended by a large lorry behind us resulting in lots of horn tooting and shouting (from him i might add! ) and this is with it set to longest time length! then later in the day it decided to just go into N on its own for no reason and revving its merry head off i had to hit the hazards and come to a complete stop then select D again to get going meanwhile we've lorrys whizzing by us literally millimeters from left side, horns blaring again! Its bad enough the auto gearbox is total crap but we also have decided not to do any cruise control driving at all now which for me is a game changer
Seems im not the only one though judging by the comments on this video I had a look at when I arrived somewhat safely at last night's stopover

 

[CaptainPaul]

Just noticed you can't read the user comments on that link but you can see & read them if you go onto YouTube and find the video.... they're actually quite alarming, just glad im not the only one!

 

[Rog NotJane]

but wondering how your still finding normal driving in your new van?

I honestly haven’t noticed that or felt any problems with the cruise control. It sometimes gets excited about a potential crash on narrow roads (on coming car alert) but they all do that. I have also noticed that it gives a quite strong kick on the steering wheel when lane assist thinks you’re drifting over a solid white line. On a single carriage road with a white line next to the verge it feels like it’s pushing you into oncoming traffic. It was disconcerting the first few times it happened but now I’m used to it I know to expect it.

What I’m more worried about at the moment is that it seems to lock itself with people and keys in the van. Not yet sure if that’s Mercedes or Scorpion - nor do we want to experiment with it. But, let’s just assume I have some history of leaving keys behind so getting locked out feels like a real risk.

 

[Rudski01]

Loving reading up on this trip, really like the hymer 4x4 and loving the eura Mobil even more.

I do a bit of part time driving for a coach firm and they’ve just taken delivery of a 25 plt 19 seater, it’s on the new 2ltr merc, I think it sounds like a huge bumblebee is stuck under the bonnet and as Captain Paul says the gearbox is awful, screaming its head off down hills and other spurious goings on, all the others are the 3 ltr or 2.2ltr.they are like night and day compared to this thing.

I think if I were to purchase one I’d be looking at an older model with the different engine in, although I suspect the new eura Mobil are too new to have that option.

Enjoy the rest of your trip, loving the thread

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[KiwiKampers]

I think we stayed in Camping Babou. Your photo of Breb looks very familiar.
William Blacker - Along the Enchanted Way author - spent quite some time in the village.
Here's an extract of a review I found: Whilst his time in the village of Breb in the Maramureş was perhaps the most idyllic, village life was frequently punctuated by tragedy. Death was not far away, whether by lightning strike, freezing to death in the long winter or drowning; tragedies that were often attributed by the deeply religious but also superstitious local people to magic and curses.
And of course, you know that King Charles has two holiday homes in Transylvania? One in Viscera and on in Zalanpatak.

 

[CaptainPaul]

Loving reading up on this trip, really like the hymer 4x4 and loving the eura Mobil even more.

I do a bit of part time driving for a coach firm and they’ve just taken delivery of a 25 plt 19 seater, it’s on the new 2ltr merc, I think it sounds like a huge bumblebee is stuck under the bonnet and as Captain Paul says the gearbox is awful, screaming its head off down hills and other spurious goings on, all the others are the 3 ltr or 2.2ltr.they are like night and day compared to this thing.

I think if I were to purchase one I’d be looking at an older model with the different engine in, although I suspect the new eura Mobil are too new to have that option.

Enjoy the rest of your trip, loving the thread

Yes totally agree with those sentiments it's way underpowered and the gearbox i just can't fathom at all and this is supposed to be Mercedes 9G all singing all dancing gearbox, it's f'ecking horrendous! as i stated a few threads back, if they had done this van with the OM642 3.0L V6 engine it would be a great van and even better if they did them with a manual gearbox it would be the ultimate wee van.... I've spoken to Mercedes back home and they are working on software solutions and various other bits and pieces for me namely disable all this safety technical crap and rechip the gearbox, if it wasn't for the paddle shifters It might well be gone!
On a brighter note the Hymer side is superb we're loving that part of it, nothing to complain about there for sure, its actually beyond what we expected... we got a heavy thunderstorm with loads of rain the other night and I loved driving over all the big deep puddles and really mucky ground that everyone else was avoiding!

 

[CaptainPaul]

It sometimes gets excited about a potential crash on narrow roads (on coming car alert) but they all do that

Yes we had that too lol on a mini roundabout in Holland, van slammed to a complete halt throwing everything about including the Mrs phone right out of her hand, she actually thought we had crashed! and all it was, was the oncoming car on our left and I met at the narrow point leaving the roundabout!

What I’m more worried about at the moment is that it seems to lock itself with people and keys in the van.

Yes they seem to lock themselves automatically mine does but thankfully only the cab doors as mine didn't come with the full all doors including garage central locking and im actually glad now mine doesn't have it as firstly it's useless if you want to make use of your factory fitted deadlocks and 2nd ive been reading on another MLT 570 forum loads of folk being able to unlock their cabs ok but not their habitation doors again due to the deadlocks, so at least thats one useless optional extra avoided!

 

[CaptainPaul]

I also meant to ask you, I noticed you mentioned you'd your AC on the other night for Flynn which of course with our 3 dogs was something we also like to use too, but are you getting much time out of it? We can only get around 2 hours although thats full blast would probably get a bit more if we turned it down, but im currently looking into more lithium a better inverter and some more solar panels on the roof... Ideally id like around 5 hours habitation AC.... which im told is achievable with a few decent upgrades

 

[Wanders from Glos]

View attachment 1115084

Breb in the morning​

We stayed in Camping Babou again today. Our second two night stop. This equates to a very relaxed schedule for us. We also all managed a lie in this morning - Flynn got his ablution walk at 7.30. By the time we returned the campsite owner had deposited a load of sourdough on the doorstep.

By nine, I’d scoffed nearly half the sourdough which meant it was time to set off on a walk. The site’s info leaflet recommended a 5k walk up to a lake which sounded like a good distance and goal in the Romanian autumn heat. We set off and were followed by the two retired sheep dogs who have made the campsite their home. The walk was pretty hot but the two of them stayed with us all the way. Flynn had been very keen that they didn’t approach his dinner yesterday but is always quite happy for any stray dogs to accompany us on a walk.

View attachment 1115085

They’re my monkeys so I should be pack leader.​

The walk was long and hot and the lake wasn’t massively picturesque. Our two guides were quite surprised when Flynn threw himself into the water. The walk back was much quicker than the outwards route but all the dogs were knackered.

View attachment 1115086

Hot.​

It was lunchtime when we got back and Jane made a salad from a Hungarian tomato and a Tesco mozerella. The pickle bucket - available in all good Eastern European countries - made its first appearance too.

View attachment 1115087

Yum​

We took the chance of some downtime to update the country stickers on Jones
View attachment 1115100

Romania also available​

Then we had a relatively staid afternoon around Jones. Playing boardgames and catching up on the news until this:

View attachment 1115088​

It translates to: “Alert Weather alert-CODE ORANGE-torrential rain that will accumulate over 25-35 l/sqm. Period of manifestation until 20:00. Avoid any travel and take shelter and self-protection actions!”

That’s a lot of rain. For those still working in Imperial, that upper bound is almost 8993 firkins per square furlong. Certainly something worth alerting every mobile phone in a ten mile radius about. Coincidentally our second today: HMG ran the emergency dog frightening test today. Anyway, we gave Flynn a quick walk then set off to the very nearest restaurant: Breb 148. All businesses in Breb seem to be named after their address.

View attachment 1115089

Rain​

We ordered the “local fatty platter for two” (half portion please) then “three local pork sticks” (r) and “local meat skewers (pork and beef)” (J). It was all great and the rain stopped just as they came round with complimentary home made fire water.

View attachment 1115090

The white bits in the sausage are statins
View attachment 1115091
Cheers! And Goodnight.​

"The white bits in the sausage are statins"

Are you really sure about that? As a non-executive member of the MHF Physics Committee I’d like to use my History skills and request primary sources.

Great report as ever.

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[Raul]

Great post guys, keep it coming. You have a great way of describing and illustrating each day. You got away with just rain, some areas got pounded by hailstones. No rain here for the past two months, severe drought. Our well is down to last 4m of water out of 18. Never seen the well bellow 8m of water.

 

[Lenny HB]

What I’m more worried about at the moment is that it seems to lock itself with people and keys in the van. Not yet sure if that’s Mercedes or Scorpion - nor do we want to experiment with it. But, let’s just assume I have some history of leaving keys behind so getting locked out feels like a real risk.

I fitted a switch on the hab door inline with the solenoid so I can't get locked out.

 

[Jane NotRog]

“

I think we stayed in Camping Babou. Your photo of Breb looks very familiar.
William Blacker - Along the Enchanted Way author - spent quite some time in the village.
Here's an extract of a review I found: Whilst his time in the village of Breb in the Maramureş was perhaps the most idyllic, village life was frequently punctuated by tragedy. Death was not far away, whether by lightning strike, freezing to death in the long winter or drowning; tragedies that were often attributed by the deeply religious but also superstitious local people to magic and curses.
And of course, you know that King Charles has two holiday homes in Transylvania? One in Viscera and on in Zalanpatak.

It’s a great site - highly recommended.

I did read that one of the houses nearby was associated with His Maj, but when I googled, it wasn’t one he owned, more one his trust renovated. The article also said that he’d dropped any direct involvement in 2013. I’ll have to check that again though if we visit the guesthouses I have as being his.

 

[Jane NotRog]

I also meant to ask you, I noticed you mentioned you'd your AC on the other night for Flynn which of course with our 3 dogs was something we also like to use too, but are you getting much time out of it? We can only get around 2 hours although thats full blast would probably get a bit more if we turned it down, but im currently looking into more lithium a better inverter and some more solar panels on the roof... Ideally id like around 5 hours habitation AC.... which im told is achievable with a few decent upgrades

We reckon 3 hours with the current 330Ah set up, and we’re doubling that in November, partly to be ready for diesel heating.

 

[Jane NotRog]

"The white bits in the sausage are statins"

Are you really sure about that? As a non-executive member of the MHF Physics Committee I’d like to use my History skills and request primary sources.

Great report as ever.

The primary source is Rog’s brain needing to prove to his GP that he took his high cholesterol test results seriously.

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[Wanders from Glos]

The primary source is Rog’s brain needing to prove to his GP that he took his high cholesterol test results seriously.

Perfectly acceptable

 

[Jane NotRog]

It was time to move on from Camping Babou. It’s an excellent site at the edge of a lovely village and has a very friendly Dutch owner. Total cost was €25 for the two nights, laundry and a loaf of his homemade sourdough - not bad!

Our first stop was Bârsana Monastery, which despite its name is a nunnery. There are 10 massive wooden buildings, all built since 1993, when the place was reestablished after the fall of communism. Only 11 nuns live here, so as Rog said, at least one of them must be a roofer.

Nuns required. Low pay, roofing skills a must.

The whole place was very polished, rather like a Romanian Nunnery / Swiss Ski Chalet first cross. I did ask one nun where the fondue restaurant was, but it appeared that she had taken a vow of silence.

The Fondue Restaurant


The backroads to our next stop took us through some fantastic rural scenes. It’s a shame the sun didn’t come out to play.

Our second church of the day was the early 17C one at Poienile Izei, which is a small wooden affair famous for its frescoes depicting the torments in hell inflicted on sinners by the devil.

Bottom left we can see the devil inflating someone’s intestines by bellows up the bum. Then, bottom right, we have a spike being driven into someone’s bum. Whoever was inspired to paint these was a bit of a bum-o-phobe, it seems - he should have added a scene of the after-effects of my world-famous vindaloo sauce. Even I wouldn’t fancy an eternity of the day after.

But top right, you can see the worst of all horrors - having a tiny violin played to you for all of time. I bet it’s out of tune and played by a child, too. I’d take the bum bellows any day.

We then drove on with various possible camping spots in mind. We even attempted the track up to a site that specialises in being an off-road place, very much liked on Park For Night as the owner is full of local 4WD knowledge. But the track was very steep and rutted, and we thought a steep rut too far in Jones, just yet anyway. Also, the forecast for the afternoon was rain, so getting back down the next day might not have been easy either. Luckily there was a wide entrance to a farm, where we could turn round.

In the end, we lucked out on an easier off-road wild-camping spot, in the Maramures Mountains National Park. What a fantastic spot!

After a dog walk, we settled down with an adult beverage and an amazing view.





I was blogging and Rog was cooking supper - pasta with chanterelles, Parma ham and peas…

…and we were chatting away, being very smug about the fantastic location that we reached in our new 4WD motorhome, when this happened.

 

[scousebird]

we were chatting away, being very smug about the fantastic location that we reached in our new 4WD motorhome, when this happened.

Brilliant

 

[cliffanger]

It was time to move on from Camping Babou. It’s an excellent site at the edge of a lovely village and has a very friendly Dutch owner. Total cost was €25 for the two nights, laundry and a loaf of his homemade sourdough - not bad!

View attachment 1115580

Our first stop was Bârsana Monastery, which despite its name is a nunnery. There are 10 massive wooden buildings, all built since 1993, when the place was reestablished after the fall of communism. Only 11 nuns live here, so as Rog said, at least one of them must be a roofer.

View attachment 1115581
Nuns required. Low pay, roofing skills a must.

The whole place was very polished, rather like a Romanian Nunnery / Swiss Ski Chalet first cross. I did ask one nun where the fondue restaurant was, but it appeared that she had taken a vow of silence.

View attachment 1115582
The Fondue Restaurant


The backroads to our next stop took us through some fantastic rural scenes. It’s a shame the sun didn’t come out to play.

View attachment 1115583

Our second church of the day was the early 17C one at Poienile Izei, which is a small wooden affair famous for its frescoes depicting the torments in hell inflicted on sinners by the devil.

View attachment 1115584

Bottom left we can see the devil inflating someone’s intestines by bellows up the bum. Then, bottom right, we have a spike being driven into someone’s bum. Whoever was inspired to paint these was a bit of a bum-o-phobe, it seems - he should have added a scene of the after-effects of my world-famous vindaloo sauce. Even I wouldn’t fancy an eternity of the day after.

But top right, you can see the worst of all horrors - having a tiny violin played to you for all of time. I bet it’s out of tune and played by a child, too. I’d take the bum bellows any day.

We then drove on with various possible camping spots in mind. We even attempted the track up to a site that specialises in being an off-road place, very much liked on Park For Night as the owner is full of local 4WD knowledge. But the track was very steep and rutted, and we thought a steep rut too far in Jones, just yet anyway. Also, the forecast for the afternoon was rain, so getting back down the next day might not have been easy either. Luckily there was a wide entrance to a farm, where we could turn round.

View attachment 1115585

In the end, we lucked out on an easier off-road wild-camping spot, in the Maramures Mountains National Park. What a fantastic spot!

View attachment 1115586



After a dog walk, we settled down with an adult beverage and an amazing view.





I was blogging and Rog was cooking supper - pasta with chanterelles, Parma ham and peas…

View attachment 1115588

…and we were chatting away, being very smug about the fantastic location that we reached in our new 4WD motorhome, when this happened.

View attachment 1115587

Brilliant!

 

[Jenben]

Classic

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[Raul]

As you are in Maramures now, near Borsa there is a cable car, that takes you up on the mountain. Then after that about 300 steps, you go up to see the Horses Waterfall "Cascada Cailor". It's a nice site and worth the effort. Rodna mountains national park. Opposite where you just been over the DN18 road. But, before the Prislop pass.

Beutiful spot you found there, not many places like that are left in Europe.

 

[Jane NotRog]

As you are in Maramures now, near Borsa there is a cable car, that takes you up on the mountain. Then after that about 300 steps, you go up to see the Hoses Waterfall "Cascada Cailor". It's a nice site and worth the effort.

Beutiful spot you found there, not many places like that are left in Europe.

Thanks! It is a fantastic spot, you’re right, and so empty, despite the caravan!

We’re heading east now actually - towards the Painted Monasteries and then you, if you’re around…

 

[Wanders from Glos]

What fantastic photos, you are really selling Romania to us.

 

[Raul]

Thanks! It is a fantastic spot, you’re right, and so empty, depsite the caravan!

We’re heading east now actually - towards the Painted Monasteries and then you, if you’re around…

Yes certainly, look forward to it. Tomorrow I finish a solar install that was planed a year ago. Is near the mountains an off grid house.
And Wednesday we will drive up in the van to intercept you, and have some time off. There are some spots that I never had the time to explore, and the Carpathian's have so much to offer.

 

[CaptainPaul]

But the track was very steep and rutted, and we thought a steep rut too far in Jones, just yet anyway. Also, the forecast for the afternoon was rain, so getting back down the next day might not have been easy either. Luckily there was a wide entrance to a farm, where we could turn round.

I think you did right....
I believe the van could do it ok but one false move into too deep a rut and you could potentially land on your ear... although It would been great to chat to the 4x4 guy and see what he thought was and wasn't feasible, it's alright going up that track in an old Massey or a battered 4x4 jeep but a different ball game in a £160k+ motorhome!
I'd say out of all of us I'll be the first one to go arse over tit in my yoke!

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