Jones’s Maiden Voyage

[Lenny HB]

he drive up was by far the most adventurous things have got in Jones. So adventurous that we’ve decided not to be quite this adventurous again until we’ve got upgraded rear springs and shocks

You need to man up boy, you have an off road 4x4, I've driven down worse tracks than that in a FWD A Class.

 

[Lenny HB]

Bloody satnavs, they have messed us about too. Ours thinks the average motorhome has the dimensions of a smart car. But it was much worse trying to do Bulgaria with an English map meaning we could not match places names to the Cyrillic on the signposts. Unfortunately we couldn't read Cyrillic. More than once I would ask Claire if we had arrived in the chosen town and she would have to say I don't know.

Try Greece, spelling on road signs varies from sign to sign I soon learnt to only use coordinates.

 

[Jane NotRog]

They don’t look like chanterelles. I’m not a mushroom expert and would never dare to pick them but the ones I’ve had were yellow, smaller and irregular shapes …

View attachment 1124691

That’s Rog trying to be funny. He put ceps under the fly agaric. This is the photo of the chanterelles, which we didn’t pick.

 

[Jane NotRog]

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/attachments/1cd46fcb-baba-4e0b-a307-6d729ea3dc71-webp.1124619/

Those are porcinii moshrooms, in Ro is Hribi, and those particular ones are autumn hribi, very desirable mushrooms popular with pasta and cheese.

The ones we found were riddled with maggots sadly.

 

[Jane NotRog]

You have certainly taken me down Memory Lane with your journey along the Transfaragarasan Pass (sorry, I can’t get the accents to stick on my iPad).
That road has a grim history. Ceaușescu had it built in the early 1970s to ensure quick military access across the Carpathian mountains in case of a Soviet invasion. It was built using military labour and many (potentially hundreds) died in its construction.
I must warn you that I too nearly died on that road. I got a terrible dose of food poisoning from the sheep’s cheese I bought from a roadside stall. I kid you not! (Maybe it was goat’s cheese!)
We overnighted somewhere that looked very similar to where you were but at the time it was a public holiday and every available piece of flat (and not so flat) grass had a tent pitched on it. There were thousands of them and we stuck out like a sore thumb in our 7m motorhome but were invited to join a group sitting around a camp fire even though language was a barrier.
I also remember there were shops at the end of the pass selling thousands of brightly painted gnomes and garden ornaments. All were absolutely hideous and huge in size. Yet we never saw any in people’s gardens.
Thanks for bringing back memories of the best motorhome holiday we have ever had.

Oh no! We bought goat’s cheese from the bear salami stall and had some last night! Fingers crossed. I didn’t know the sad history of the road

 

[Rog NotJane]

We were joined up here by two other couples. A white 2WD Ducato and a Subaru Forrester with a roof tent. I do not envy the roof tent it was 3C when I walked flynn this morning. To make matters worse he ran over pissed on the fire pit next to their van :-(

The gnome sellers are still here. Some small villages have several. Large flamingoes seem to be in fashion at the moment. I’ll try and get a photo. The little Belgian Gnome bought a bear from them!

 

[Rog NotJane]

We also stopped at Lidl for supplies where I dithered over these…

View attachment 1124651

Which one is the ileum?

Mixing, blending, serving and much more!

Must admit, a “pouring spout and handle for clean works” sounds like an upgrade we could all do with.

 

[Jane NotRog]

This are very popular in Ro, but, a duller yellow if picked in deciduous forests. Bright yellow if near pine trees,
In Ro are called galbiori, and galben means yellow. Used to pick and fry them with eggs. Also tasty with a bit of salt roasted on a stick over the camp fire.

My father got us quite keen on mushroom hunting as children, and one year we found a massive crop of chanterelles and fried them with scrambled eggs. Delicious.

Sadly I’ve barely even found one in the UK since.

A good one to look for in the UK, which is plentiful and no ine seems to know about is the Parasol. Difficult to confuse with anything bad.

Fry them in oil or butter, and you will initially despair, as loads of water comes out. But persevere, and what you are left with is delicious, if a lot smaller. Luckily they are large mushrooms and plentiful!

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[Jane NotRog]

As some of you know, I was treated for my fear of heights in Amsterdam earlier this year. (If you haven’t watched the Channel 4 programme “The Fear Clinic” and are interested in the treatment, which uses beta blockers, I do recommend it.) At the end of my treatment, which was successful, I was told that I’d probably never take up bungee jumping or abseiling, but that I should expect to do everything a “normal” person would.

I’m not sure how happy a “normal” person would be sleeping in their motorhome at 1500m, on the edge of an eroded gravel platform, with a view straight down into the abyss (must not think like that, Jane, tra la la la, back to counting sheep…) Anyway, even though I felt just slightly on edge during our board game and dinner last night, that nervousness was enough to stop me falling asleep. I finally dropped off about 3am. Rog said he woke at 4 to heavy rain, and got to worrying himself, about the further erosion of the gravel platform. Thankfully he didn’t share that with me until we’d finished our drive down!

Your van, teetering on the brink last night​

We started the day with a lovely walk up the track in our little valley. The weather wasn’t great - the low cloud had persisted over night - but occasionally there was a glimpse of blue sky.

Walk done, Rog safely manoeuvred Jones back to the road and we began our ascent and descent of the Transfăgărăşan Highway. I can only hope normal people would be scared by this road, because I was. Matters weren’t helped by a flood of sheep crossing the road!

The road drops from 2,042m at the pass to about 500m in Cirtisoara, so you can see a terrifying 1.5km straight down as you take the road from the pass to the north. I really wasn’t enjoying it, and was feeling depressed at the “failure” of my treatment. Then, as we dropped below around 1300m, I felt much less fearful again. Perhaps “normal” people find the drive scary too? Rog did admit to it being “type 2” fun, so maybe.

Not my photo​

Nor is this one.​

The Transfăgărășan was constructed between 1970 and 1974 during the rule of Caeușescu to ensure quick military access across the mountains in case of a Soviet invasion. At the time, Romania already had several strategic mountain passes through the Southern Carpathians. But these were mainly through river valleys, and would be easy for the Soviets to block. Ceaușescu therefore ordered the construction of a road across the Făgăraș mountains.

The road was built mainly by the military, and has a high human cost. Official records state that 40 soldiers lost their lives, but unofficial estimates are in the hundreds.

Needing some light relief, we stopped for a look at the Brukenthal Summer Palace, which claimed to be a museum as well as a hotel. It was busy setting up for a wedding, and the museum was hiding somewhere among all the white flounces and flowers, but the café in the garden looked lovely, the sun was shining and it was a good 10 degrees warmer, so we decided to stop for a soupy lunch. Tripe for Rog, smoked pork and potato for me.

Our stop for the night was a secluded little car park in Sibiu. After cleaning the three entities that get cleaned more than once a month - Jones, Rog and me - we went for an explore of the town. What a fantastic place it is too! It’s a Saxon town so very reminiscent of lovely medieval German towns. As it was a Sunday, everyone was out and about, strolling and eating ice cream.

We happened on a little craft market too. I bet Christmas is good here - I can just imagine the snow, little stalls and Glühwein

One of our possibilities for dinner was Jap Caffe (not Japanese, and only café adjacent), so we tried it for a drink in the shade. Flynn stuck to his habitual choice of water, but we spread our spores more widely and had a Mycelium Negroni each.

Surprisingly they were very good indeed.

We chilled for a while, and then walked out to dinner at La Cuptor.

We shared this to start -

Vegetarian? It did let them know about the bacon jam but the duck liver mousse was just an additional treat for them. Luckily we are carnivores through and through, and this was delicious.

Rog had a pork knuckle for his main, and I had a roast cockerel. Both delicious.

I’d fancied the giant raspberry for pud, but was too stuffed to contemplate it. Highly recommend the restaurant, and the town. It was putting on its glad rags as we walked back to Jones through the old town.

If you come to Romania, I recommend a stop in Sibiu.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

As some of you know, I was treated for my fear of heights in Amsterdam earlier this year. (If you haven’t watched the Channel 4 programme “The Fear Clinic” and are interested in the treatment, which uses beta blockers, I do recommend it.) At the end of my treatment, which was successful, I was told that I’d probably never take up bungee jumping or abseiling, but that I should expect to do everything a “normal” person would.

I’m not sure how happy a “normal” person would be sleeping in their motorhome at 1500m, on the edge of an eroded gravel platform, with a view straight down into the abyss (must not think like that, Jane, tra la la la, back to counting sheep…) Anyway, even though I felt just slightly on edge during our board game and dinner last night, that nervousness was enough to stop me falling asleep. I finally dropped off about 3am. Rog said he woke at 4 to heavy rain, and got to worrying himself, about the further erosion of the gravel platform. Thankfully he didn’t share that with me until we’d finished our drive down!

View attachment 1125145

Your van, teetering on the brink last night​

We started the day with a lovely walk up the track in our little valley. The weather wasn’t great - the low cloud had persisted over night - but occasionally there was a glimpse of blue sky.

View attachment 1125146

View attachment 1125147

View attachment 1125148

Walk done, Rog safely manoeuvred Jones back to the road and we began our ascent and descent of the Transfăgărăşan Highway. I can only hope normal people would be scared by this road, because I was. Matters weren’t helped by a flood of sheep crossing the road!

View attachment 1125149

The road drops from 2,042m at the pass to about 500m in Cirtisoara, so you can see a terrifying 1.5km straight down as you take the road from the pass to the north. I really wasn’t enjoying it, and was feeling depressed at the “failure” of my treatment. Then, as we dropped below around 1300m, I felt much less fearful again. Perhaps “normal” people find the drive scary too? Rog did admit to it being “type 2” fun, so maybe.

View attachment 1125150

Not my photo​

View attachment 1125151

Nor is this one.​

The Transfăgărășan was constructed between 1970 and 1974 during the rule of Caeușescu to ensure quick military access across the mountains in case of a Soviet invasion. At the time, Romania already had several strategic mountain passes through the Southern Carpathians. But these were mainly through river valleys, and would be easy for the Soviets to block. Ceaușescu therefore ordered the construction of a road across the Făgăraș mountains.

The road was built mainly by the military, and has a high human cost. Official records state that 40 soldiers lost their lives, but unofficial estimates are in the hundreds.

Needing some light relief, we stopped for a look at the Brukenthal Summer Palace, which claimed to be a museum as well as a hotel. It was busy setting up for a wedding, and the museum was hiding somewhere among all the white flounces and flowers, but the café in the garden looked lovely, the sun was shining and it was a good 10 degrees warmer, so we decided to stop for a soupy lunch. Tripe for Rog, smoked pork and potato for me.

View attachment 1125153

Our stop for the night was a secluded little car park in Sibiu. After cleaning the three entities that get cleaned more than once a month - Jones, Rog and me - we went for an explore of the town. What a fantastic place it is too! It’s a Saxon town so very reminiscent of lovely medieval German towns. As it was a Sunday, everyone was out and about, strolling and eating ice cream.

View attachment 1125154

We happened on a little craft market too. I bet Christmas is good here - I can just imagine the snow, little stalls and Glühwein

View attachment 1125155

View attachment 1125157

One of our possibilities for dinner was Jap Caffe (not Japanese, and only café adjacent), so we tried it for a drink in the shade. Flynn stuck to his habitual choice of water, but we spread our spores more widely and had a Mycelium Negroni each.

View attachment 1125160

Surprisingly they were very good indeed.

View attachment 1125161

We chilled for a while, and then walked out to dinner at La Cuptor.

We shared this to start -

View attachment 1125162

View attachment 1125188
Vegetarian? It did let them know about the bacon jam but the duck liver mousse was just an additional treat for them. Luckily we are carnivores through and through, and this was delicious.

Rog had a pork knuckle for his main, and I had a roast cockerel. Both delicious.

View attachment 1125165

I’d fancied the giant raspberry for pud, but was too stuffed to contemplate it. Highly recommend the restaurant, and the town. It was putting on its glad rags as we walked back to Jones through the old town.

View attachment 1125169

View attachment 1125170

If you come to Romania, I recommend a stop in Sibiu.

Sibiu looks splendid and to be fair I think most people would feel slightly nervous on the mountain road. Did I mention I have been in a RTC where the car went off the edge of a mountain pass in Spain. Didn't do me a lot of good.

 

[Jays2]

We did our laundry there, had a very nice ice cream in the centre , whilst waiting.
Did not overnight.

 

[Riverbankannie]

I would not sleep on that gravel ledge either !

 

[captainPaul]

Well done on surviving your high altitude ledge night you did great and don't think of it as a failure and if you do feel you lost it a bit, remember failure is not the opposite of success, its part of it

 

[Grianan]

Sibiu looks wonderful. I am inspired by your Rumania travels. Bulgaria not so much . I think any normal person would be terrified by that drop!

 

[Jane NotRog]

Sibiu looks splendid and to be fair I think most people would feel slightly nervous on the mountain road. Did I mention I have been in a RTC where the car went off the edge of a mountain pass in Spain. Didn't do me a lot of good.

Rog once drove us off a mountain pass in France. Doesn’t help the fear of heights! Luckily a tree stopped us falling very far.

 

[Raul]

We rode Transfagarasan Me and Tina from north to south, on a Honda VFR 800, and from south to north on a Kawasaki ZX9R. She was not phased about it, as a year later we did Glosscknocker Strasse in the Austrian Alps on the Kawasaki, all the way to the top at the glacier. That is over 4000m.

If you liked Sibiu, You will like Cluj, also a very nice town with a mix of Austro Hungarian and German heritage.

PS
On the way out this time, we took the new motorway into Hungary at Oradea no border, just deserted empty boots.

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[Wanders from Glos]

Rog once drove us off a mountain pass in France. Doesn’t help the fear of heights! Luckily a tree stopped us falling very far.

Oh dear. In my case my friend the driver had sun stroke and passed out! We all ended up in hospital, nothing serious, broken ribs cuts and bruises. But it did make me nervous on mountain roads with drops for a while.

 

[Jane NotRog]

Oh dear. In my case my friend the driver had sun stroke and passed out! We all ended up in hospital, nothing serious, broken ribs cuts and bruises. But it did make me nervous on mountain roads with drops for a while.

Yes, my psychotherapist in Amsterdam seemed to think that part of my fear of heights was quite logical and so not amenable to treatment.

 

[Jane NotRog]

We rode Transfagarasan Me and Tina from north to south, on a Honda VFR 800, and from south to north on a Kawasaki ZX9R. She was not phased about it, as a year later we did Glosscknocker Strasse in the Austrian Alps on the Kawasaki, all the way to the top at the glacier. That is over 4000m.

If you liked Sibiu, You will like Cluj, also a very nice town with a mix of Austro Hungarian and German heritage.

PS
On the way out this time, we took the new motorway into Hungary at Oradea no border, just deserted empty boots.

We’re planning to leave that way - good news! And hats off to Tina

 

[Jane NotRog]

I’ve been forgetting the maps! Imagine Bucharest off to the bottom rightish, and that’s the last couple of days.

 

[Rog NotJane]

Sunday stared out very rainy indeed it was quite cold too. Autumn has finally arrived. We decided to make the most of the bad weather by getting some shopping done: booze and dinner successful, green for the bog: unsuccessful.

Then drive through the rain. It feels (and is obvious from the map) like we’re on our way home now. We don’t have a firm route in mind but we know we have to avoid Czechia because of their ridiculous toll laws and we probably don’t want to try to chase the good weather - i.e. Northern Italy. So we’re looking to exit Romania back in Hungary near Oradea.

By lunch time we had a few kilometres under our wheels and the weather had cleared slightly. We stopped for some light touristing at Corovin Castle. I’ve complained previously about old buildings being renovated too much but not enough. Corovin could not be accused of “not enough” it looks like it was built yesterday - actually just this morning since it’s still being re-roofed. The castle has some shaky connections to Vlad (he was perhaps held prisoner here) but it definitely starred as Castle Dracula Orlok in the 2024 remake of Nosferatu

Wikipedia says “[Corovin] is considered one of the largest castles” which is surprisingly oblique. Surely the size of castles is a matter of record. Whatever, it’s very nice but we’re probably reaching peak ruin now so our tour was fairly cursory. Corovin has a strange siting too. It’s in the middle of a sea of decaying steel mills. The car park features a huge cooling tower which Google optimistically classify as a “tourist attraction”

There were a couple of exhibitions in the castle. The first was photography from local snapper Horta Prejja of life in remote Romanian villages where social media and phones haven’t penetrated. It’s well worth a look. The other was awful sculptures by an angsty sixth former. I took a lot more photos of the latter than the castle.

Speaking of photos, we didn’t take any of the fantastic Gypsy houses we saw on the way into Hunedora. You can see them in this FT article though.

We did get a picture of one of Romania’s famous gnome merchants. Sadly no flamingoes here - not a very impressive offering at all but, bear in mind this is inside Corvin castle.

The rain started again just as we returned to Jones and didn’t let up until night. After a false start we ended up at Gursanda Park. Chosen mainly because it has a washing machine. It’s an interesting place though. The campsite is a subsidiary business to the horse riding and zip lines. Behind all of this though is a massive compound full of old good sheds and some not-too-bad-graffiti. Flyn and I also saw bats on our morning walk today.

Also, did I mention, they have puppies!

 

[guy b]

Great trip. No sign of bears on transfagarashan? I thought it was a great road to drive.

 

[WESTY66]

Sunday stared out very rainy indeed it was quite cold too. Autumn has finally arrived. We decided to make the most of the bad weather by getting some shopping done: booze and dinner successful, green for the bog: unsuccessful.

Then drive through the rain. It feels (and is obvious from the map) like we’re on our way home now. We don’t have a firm route in mind but we know we have to avoid Czechia because of their ridiculous toll laws and we probably don’t want to try to chase the good weather - i.e. Northern Italy. So we’re looking to exit Romania back in Hungary near Oradea.

By lunch time we had a few kilometres under our wheels and the weather had cleared slightly. We stopped for some light touristing at Corovin Castle. I’ve complained previously about old buildings being renovated too much but not enough. Corovin could not be accused of “not enough” it looks like it was built yesterday - actually just this morning since it’s still being re-roofed. The castle has some shaky connections to Vlad (he was perhaps held prisoner here) but it definitely starred as Castle Dracula Orlok in the 2024 remake of Nosferatu

View attachment 1125754

View attachment 1125759
Wikipedia says “[Corovin] is considered one of the largest castles” which is surprisingly oblique. Surely the size of castles is a matter of record. Whatever, it’s very nice but we’re probably reaching peak ruin now so our tour was fairly cursory. Corovin has a strange siting too. It’s in the middle of a sea of decaying steel mills. The car park features a huge cooling tower which Google optimistically classify as a “tourist attraction”

View attachment 1125755

There were a couple of exhibitions in the castle. The first was photography from local snapper Horta Prejja of life in remote Romanian villages where social media and phones haven’t penetrated. It’s well worth a look. The other was awful sculptures by an angsty sixth former. I took a lot more photos of the latter than the castle.

View attachment 1125758

Speaking of photos, we didn’t take any of the fantastic Gypsy houses we saw on the way into Hunedora. You can see them in this FT article though.

We did get a picture of one of Romania’s famous gnome merchants. Sadly no flamingoes here - not a very impressive offering at all but, bear in mind this is inside Corvin castle.

View attachment 1125760

The rain started again just as we returned to Jones and didn’t let up until night. After a false start we ended up at Gursanda Park. Chosen mainly because it has a washing machine. It’s an interesting place though. The campsite is a subsidiary business to the horse riding and zip lines. Behind all of this though is a massive compound full of old good sheds and some not-too-bad-graffiti. Flyn and I also saw bats on our morning walk today.

View attachment 1125756

View attachment 1125757
Also, did I mention, they have puppies!

View attachment 1125752

View attachment 1125753

Can you briefly explain the complexity of the Czech toll laws for above 3.5t, I assumed it was a go box type of thing, is there more to it? Thanks

 

[Rog NotJane]

No bears sadly we camped well above the tree line though. Drive was OK I’m just indifferent to driving so this was a lot of steering. It’s like if you love ironing a pleated shirt is great fun if not, it’s just. a faff. Views were good though.

Also it’s Corvin castle, not Corovin. “Corvin” means “rook”.

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[Jane NotRog]

Great trip. No sign of bears on transfagarashan? I thought it was a great road to drive.

No, none. I think they mostly appear at the start and end of the day, so people who camped in the woods on PFN were saying they'd seen them from the van. We were above the tree line so it was unlikely for us.

 

[Jane NotRog]

Can you briefly explain the complexity of the Czech toll laws for above 3.5t, I assumed it was a go box type of thing, is there more to it? Thanks

It is just a go box.

Tolls for Heavy Motorhomes >3.5T in Europe: Country by Country Guide

Navigate Europe’s roads with ease! Discover toll regulations, OBUs & vignettes for heavy motorhomes over 3,500kg in Europe with our county by country A-Z guide.

thegapdecaders.com

This thread put us off it, with the large deposit and it being difficult to return, and hence get your deposit back. However they were contacted by a reader in 2024 and she had no trouble. So we may give it a go. Rog is keen for a different route back.

Slovakia is nice and easy so that would be a win.

 

[Grianan]

It is just a go box.

Tolls for Heavy Motorhomes >3.5T in Europe: Country by Country Guide

Navigate Europe’s roads with ease! Discover toll regulations, OBUs & vignettes for heavy motorhomes over 3,500kg in Europe with our county by country A-Z guide.

thegapdecaders.com

This thread put us off it, with the large deposit and it being difficult to return, and hence get your deposit back. However they were contacted by a reader in 2024 and she had no trouble. So we may give it a go. Rog is keen for a different route back.

Slovakia is nice and easy so that would be a win.

I’m happy for you to experiment with a go box … it’s somewhere we’d like to go but put off by being over 3500kg.

 

[Rog NotJane]

Rog is keen for a different route back.

Less steering.

 

[Jane NotRog]

We had an atypically slow start to the day, with a hair wash for me, and blog writing for Rog. It was nearly 10 before we were on the road, heading for the Scarisoara Ice Cave, about 3 hours away.

About an hour in to our journey, we stopped for fuel, and Rog went to open the filler cap, only to find that the black fob part of the Mercedes key was missing. We surmised that that my Jones key, in my bag on the passenger seat, had allowed Jones to start without R’s fob.

Oh, no!​

We put this to the test to check whether the missing key part was in Jones, or back in the campsite...

Once I was a good distance away, Jones didn’t start, so Rog’s key fob wasn’t down in the footwell, or anywhere near. Probably it was back at the campsite, so we phoned them. The kind owner immediately went and looked, and just as quickly found the key hoorah! But then, of course, we had to retrace our steps for another hour to collect it.

At this point I suggested we stay another night at the campsite - I didn’t fancy the 3 hour drive to the ice cave so late in the day, and as this site had a good washing machine and a separate dryer, why not wash our bedlinen too?

So we did. And this time the weather was kinder, and it wasn’t tipping it down, so we were allowed onto the campsite field - much less apocalyptic, and a very good place, with well-spaced level pitches. Tonight is the last night before the site closes for the winter, so we just scraped in!

Gratuitous puppy pic as we don’t have one of Jones in the field​

I decided to use up some fridge / freezer contents and made a smoked salmon pie - also a good test of the oven, which is new to Jones and quite exciting!

We also made good use of a chilled afternoon by having our first game of Antike Duellum - quite a hefty game in which I was Carthage being attacked by the evil Romans. As a learning game, it went on a bit long, so we called it a draw before the fish pie was ruined. Veni, vedi, got hungry…

Evil Romans, building evil temples​

Salmon pie​

Tomorrow, we will check the ground around Jones very carefully before leaving.

 

[Jane NotRog]

I’ve been a bit forgetful about the maps, so here’s the last few days.