Jones’s Maiden Voyage

[Jane NotRog]

Those are for wimps.

Try Mahjong. My set is still on the boat I relinquished, but I never got very good because I could not find anyone who knew how to play.

I got a set as a young teenager after reading Agatha Christie. We played a lot as a family, but I don’t think we were ever any good.

 

[Rog NotJane]

A good rule for life is if someone produces a recycled bottle full of clear liquid saying “my cousin makes this…” you should curb your plans for the next day.

 

[Rog NotJane]

Those are for wimps.

Try Mahjong.

Isn’t mahjong just Gin Rummy with really thick cards?

 

[KiwiKampers]

It is lovely to see Raul and Tina. Their contributions to MotorhomeFun are always interesting and helpful and their hospitality looks great too.
I hope you saved a sausage or two for Flynn.

 

[Rog NotJane]

Departure came late chez Raoul, we were off by 10am. Headed kind of south to Suceava where Steven the Great set up rulership in the C15. The citadel was nice but like a lot of Romania it’s being renovated and the renovation is straying into “rebuilding”. There’s obviously a ship of Theseus argument but this is quite complete rebuilding and It’s not clear how much the builders know about the original buildings. I don’t think I like it. Still, the general feel of the place was impressive and the views were great. The exhibition was good but as the only voivod I knew about before today was an 80s heavy metal band from Canada it all went a little over my head.

Could we add a kitchen extension with bifold doors?
​

Daenerys Targaryen
​

We left the citadel for lunch - definitely not up to yesterday’s standards - then went to see the museum of cultural artefacts (i.e. houses) reclaimed from communism and creeping McMansions. These museums are a common theme in Eastern Europe (and, to be fair they exist in UK, hello Repair Shop). The big difference here was that we had Raul’s first person accounts of these buildings. He has lived in and worked on buildings exactly like these. The history shown in this museum was daily life in 1980s Romania.

Raul explains the peasants uprising of 1907​

History lesson over we set off south. The drive was a couple of hours through a few cities and over a small range of hills to the Ceahlau Camping on Lachlan Izvorul Muntelui. Raul has a CB radio and could hear all the truck drivers complaining about the Englishman who stuck to the speed limits. I think he’d sanitised the language in telling me.

At Ceahlau Camping we were greeted by the owner who took our money and then returned with four tiny bottles saying “Welcome, my cousin makes this drink, you will enjoy it”.

“Do not drink near a naked flame“
​

We needed the fortification. About 30 minutes after we’d parked up we spotted the rain moving quickly up the reservoir. We tried to wait it out but had to give up after another 30 minutes of increasingly heavy downpour. We grabbed rain gear and decamped to the well equipped kitchen cum dining shelter.

Wet.​

We’d planned to eat out so we weren’t that well prepared but between the two vans we managed a selection of grilled pork products, tomato and avocado salad, sweetcorn and three different types of bread - sadly mainly stale.

Salading​

Some Germans arrived and we tried to persuade them to join us but they retreated into their van never to be seen again.

The campsite is great and only 70lei for the night. It’s right on the lake and, when it isn’t raining they have SUPs, canoes and there are fish in the lake - well, there are old guys fishing by the lake, I didn’t see any evidence of a catch.

…and goodnight.​

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[Jane NotRog]

I actually did like what they were doing to the citadel. There was a clear white line of mortar to show where the new building started, and the increased height of the walls gave a much better feeling of how it would have been. I think their intention is not to build to full height.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

I actually did like what they were doing to the citadel. There was a clear white line of mortar to show where the new building started, and the increased height of the walls gave a much better feeling of how it would have been. I think their intention is not to build to full height.

Your description reminds me of Trigger’s broom.



You probably know this, but there is a lot of debate among historians about whether historical ruins should be left to crumble, maintained in their current state or rebuilt to former glory. I probably vote for maintenance but can see the advantages of rebuilding so you can see what these things looked like. A lot of our more dramatic monuments where rebuilt by the Victorians or in the early C20th, for example Stonehenge. Anyway sorry to hijack your blog.

 

[Langtoftlad]

I'm quite happy for rebuilding as long as it's delineated.

I was quite surprised at how much of the ruins of Machu Picchu had been rebuilt. Part of the UNESCO deal is a pecentage has to be left as found... ie a pile of rubble

 

[Rog NotJane]

Trigger’s broom

Surely The Ship of Theseus?

 

[Langtoftlad]

Surely The Ship of Theseus?

aka Star Trek's transporter paradox

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[Wanders from Glos]

Surely The Ship of Theseus?

Either or! Unless it’s an easy they definitely Theseus.

 

[Jane NotRog]

We said our fond farewells to Raul and Tina, who have been the most welcoming people ever, and given us a real insight into both present day Romania, and its more recent Communist past. Thank you both! We then both headed in our different directions. Our route took us back around the east side of the reservoir and across the dam to the south, so that we could take the more southerly route westwards, through the Bicaz Gorges.

The gorges are very impressive and certainly worth the trip, although finding a parking spot that isn’t crammed with souvenir stalls is probably more difficult than the narrow road itself. Rog did have to drive in the centre of the road a few times to avoid “low ceilings” - rocks that might have been less than 3m above the road.

Eventually we did find space to park in a lay-by, and I got a couple of snaps. Sadly the sun wasn’t coming out to play much, but you can get the impression of how fantastic this place would be in the right weather, and maybe even more out of season.

As we drove to the top of a pass, we saw a massive parking area for a hotel / bob sled experience and parked up. Rather than scaring ourselves silly though, we took Flynn off for a proper walk into the mountains. The scenery was stunning and the sun even peeped out of the clouds occasionally.

I also used my Seek app to spot various flora and fauna. This is a Fly Agaric mushroom…

And this is a brown bear.

I think their AI needs some training on German Wirehaired Pointers and brown bears.

Our original destination was Sighişoara, but driving through the hairpin mountain roads had been a slow business, so we decided to stop sooner, at the thermal resort of Sovata, famous for its helio-thermal* salty lake, Lacul Ursu, or Bear Lake.

*As Wikipedia actually says, definition needed. Don’t most lakes get warmed by the sun? The more special thing is being geothermal, surely.

To the north of town, we found a great big empty car park that thought it wanted to become a field, so made a pleasant stop-over for 50 lei (a tenner).

It was at this point that I discovered that one of Jones’s outside lockers was flapping open. Back at the campsite, Rog had got his pump out of it to give Raul’s rear tyres a bit of air. He didn’t put the pump back into the locker, but onto our bed to recharge, and the locker never got locked. Basically, the locker became an un-locker. According to R, nothing super expensive has gone missing, but nevertheless the small things will add up.

After a tea, a chill and a shower, we explored Sovata a little. Bear Lake had sadly been hemmed in by restaurants and spa, so we abandoned our circumnavigation and had a drink while people watching.

Dinner was at Ciuperca Mică, and was very good. We shared a tomato and olive oil chopped salad on bread to start, and then Rog had cow’s tongue (small part of) and I had a sour duck, red pepper and sun-dried tomato stew with funnel cake. Raul had bought us a funnel cake the day before, and it wasn’t something I expected to go with stew, but in this case it absolutely did.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

The Seek App looks really good, we have downloaded it. Wish we had it during the praying mantis incident. Shame about the rain in the gorges, but looks like you are having a great trip.

 

[Jane NotRog]

The Seek App looks really good, we have downloaded it. Wish we had it during the praying mantis incident. Shame about the rain in the gorges, but looks like you are having a great trip.

Apart from the brown bear incident…

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Apart from the brown bear incident…

Good point, I'll check it on Claire

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[Rog NotJane]

According to R, nothing super expensive has gone missing, but nevertheless the small things will add up.

I’ve been trying to make a list of all those cheap things and it does include all our spare fuses. And zip ties so nothing else better come loose.

I’m actually surprised and a little relieved that everything else stayed in that locker over the mountain roads and ~200kms of driving: bottle jack, torque wrench, socket set, tow rope, ratchet straps, IKEA bag full of random shit, NOCO jump start battery, The Glue Box, my collection of bin bags, our gaffer tape and the axe: all still safe.

 

[Rog NotJane]

It’s not an IKEA bag btw, it’s a small Sainsbury’s bag. Sorry if I caused too much random shit based excitement.

 

[Raul]

Sorry about the locker guys, I didn't noticed it. I'm glad you stoped at Sovata. In the lower part of the town at the train station, you can get the steam train on a special touristic route. Anyways,
We did a left at the end of the lake, and headed for Darmoxa reservation. Unfortunately, 8km before the destination we had to turn. The rain and floods from previous days, we got to witness the devastation, destruction and sorrow of the locals. We didn't took any photos it was too sad, ppl were out salvaging what they could, houses ripped and carted away by the water, squashed cars, vans, electricity concrete pylons, piles of them. The emergency workers been there and gave the initial help, restored some of the road and services. Several humanitarian help cabins, lots of animals missing, died few ppl too. It was like a tsunami but in between the mountains, and ravaged everything in its path. We left that place, got back on main road, and headed for the pass to get back home. That pass had half road missing chunks in several places, but well organised with emergency response workers. You was lucky to cross on the north side, because further south from there was total devastation. Transylvania didn't got affected, so you are good there on.
We look forward to your next adventures, and don't hesitate to call for anything you may need, and we may be able to help.
After Sighisoara, if you head west, another nice spot is Sarmisegetuza Regia, in Hunedoara county. It is the old Dacia capital, that roman emperor Traian turned it into a roman city. Also near by, is the Corvin castle, and before that, on Retezat mountain is the hot bubbling mud. Lots to do if you have the time.

Drum bun

 

[Raul]

Apart from the brown bear incident…

Tina did see a bear cub as we passed a road side parking, with bins. They are shy and wait for traffic to pass.

 

[Jane NotRog]

Oh no, that’s so sad - was it the rain that fell last night? I hope they manage to recover the situation as quickly as possible.

Thanks for the recommendations!

Drum bun!

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[Jane NotRog]

Tina did see a bear cub as we passed a road side parking, with bins. They are shy and wait for traffic to pass

Ooo, fingers crossed. Otherwise I’ll have to carry on pretending with Flynn…

 

[Raul]

No, the previous nights when you had the rain in Maramures near Sapinta.

 

[Langtoftlad]

The rain and floods from previous days, we got to witness the devastation, destruction and sorrow of the locals

Typically not reported by the BBC/Sky... but a couple of news agencies are reporting (and inevitable YouTube) but we do have pages & pages, still, of the murder of Charlie Kirk

 

[nicholsong]

Surely The Ship of Theseus?

But replacing the keel might be trickier than broom heads and handles?

 

[Jays2]

Water is so destructive, until you witness first hand you don’t appreciate it power and unforgiving route it takes, nothing will stop it.
Those poor folk who have lost.

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[Jays2]

It must of been the same weather system we had in Slovenia, we had the day in the van as it did not stop raining all day
10 September 2025.

 

[Rog NotJane]

But replacing the keel might be trickier than broom heads and handles?

Not if you’re a Greek hero, just have Hercules pick it up and Mercury nip in quick to replace it.

 

[Jane NotRog]

Map showing the last few days. We came from Ceahlau Camping yesterday.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Not if you’re a Greek hero, just have Hercules pick it up and Mercury nip in quick to replace it.

Gods are so useful like that.

 

[Dutch 68]

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!

Why not find a proper Mercedes non dealer specialist who likes to play about and swap the engine for a 3 litre v6 with an auto box and a few performance upgrades, it’s only money and you don’t seem the type who worries about warranty, you would enjoy your vehicle so much more with a V6 with 400 horses or so

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