CURRENCIES £1 = 1.24 EUROS £1 = 295 HUNGARIAN FORINTS

MON 8^TH SEPT DAILY 207 Km TOTAL 10407 Km

COSTS-CAMPING 4000 Ft SHOPPING 5680 Ft

VIGNETTE TO USE MAIN ROADS 12 E

Vienna to Lake Balaton

Hot and sunny. As Vienna is very close to the border we arrived there fairly quickly and for the third country in a row we had to buy a vignette in order to use their main highways. We needed to get some local currency and some shopping so we followed signs to a Tesco in a nice little spa town called Sarvar and there was also a cash machine there. Sharon was a bit surprised when I said I had drawn 25000 out but with 295 to the pound it is not really that much in sterling. We travelled down to lake Balaton and found a campsite close to the shore near to Balatongyorok. It was a fairly large site but there was only three other couples using it as we are getting to the end of the holiday season now and there are not as many tourists around. The camp site owner who checked us in did not speak any English at all so we had to converse in German, which I can speak a little, and sign language but he was very helpful and we even managed to order some fresh bread rolls for the following morning. I was quite desperate to get onto the internet and although they did not have WiFi he was using a device plugged into a USB port to get online and he even tried plugging it into our laptop but could not get it to work. In the evening we had a little walk to the lake and tested the temperature as lake Balaton is the second largest thermal lake in the world and the water even stays warm in the winter months.

TUES 9^TH SEPT DAILY 83 Km TOTAL 10490 Km

COSTS-FUEL 13000 Ft PARKING 1000 Ft

CAMPING 4700 Ft

Balatongyorok to Balatonkenese

Hot and sunny. It was such a lovely morning we had breakfast outside with fresh bread rolls which had been delivered to our motor home and left on the table outside. I then went for a swim in the lake, had a quick shower and we headed up the side of the lake to Tihany which has a large church and is full of gift shops. We had lunch, then a walk around for an hour then continued to the northern end of the lake and found a campsite to stop at, where we were the only ones staying there. It shows how big the lake is as we had travelled all day and were still next to it.

WED 10^TH SEPT DAILY 127 Km TOTAL 10617 Km

COSTS-CAMPING 4700 Ft INTERNET 300 Ft

BUS 540 Ft TOUR BUS 8000 Ft

Balaton to Budapest

Hot and sunny. After a very early start we took the motorway to Budapest which did not take very long but once we got into the suburbs we found it was a bit lacking in signposts so it was difficult to know exactly where we were in relation to the campsite on the map, so we navigated by the sun to point us in the general direction and found a site. The check in was at a hotel and the facilities were in the basement with a door to the outside but were not very good at all. Once again we were the only people camping there.

We had an early lunch and then caught the bus into the city centre and using a map from the campsite we walked from Buda across to Pest to find the tourist information, but when we got to the place marked on the map there was only an information board. We had decided to go on a bus tour of the city as it is a very big place and we would have to walk for miles to see the sights, and the office selling tickets for tour was close to the information board and a bus came more or less straight away after we bought the tickets. It was a hop on and off type tour with a commentary on headphones but we decided to stay on the bus. As part of the tour went back across the Danube to Buda we went round one and a half times so we did not have far to go to catch our bus back to the site. On the bus into the city when I tried to pay the driver he just waved us past, so we thought we had better buy some tickets for the return journey which you are then supposed to stamp in a machine on the bus. Even though the bus was packed travelling both ways we did not see anybody else stamp a ticket so we are convinced that nobody else seems to bother paying. We enjoyed the tour of Budapest but having visited Bratislava and Vienna as well in the same week we are a little bit tired of cities now and need a break. Its also very difficult to follow a city as beautiful as Vienna.

THURS 11^TH SEPT DAILY 155 Km TOTAL 10772 Km

COSTS-SHOPPING 1850 Ft PARKING 800 Ft

Budapest to Esztergom and God

Rain in the morning then hot and sunny. We followed the road from the centre of Budapest along the side of the Danube to Esztergom through the area known as the Danube bend which is supposed to be the prettiest part, but it was raining almost all of the way which spoilt it somewhat. The weather had cleared so we had a walk round and got some shopping then went back to the motor home for lunch and then visited the cathedral in the afternoon which is very well decorated inside. There is a bridge there and the next one downstream is back in Budapest, so we crossed it, taking us back into Slovakia for a few Km before we crossed the border into Hungary once again, so we would not have to go back into the capital city to continue our journey east the next day. We followed the river down the other side to one of the campsites on the map only to find it was closed so we stayed overnight in a car park near a place called God and close to the river. We had a nice walk along the bank of the river before our evening meal and then had an early night as we were both tired out.

FRI 12^TH SEPT DAILY 210 Km TOTAL 10982 Km

COSTS-FUEL 13000 Ft SHOPPING 13900 Ft

CAMPING 4000 Ft

Hot and sunny, rain at night. We were up early and not much to pack away so we had an early start and made our way to Miskolc and went to a Lidl there to stock up our larder as we are not sure what the shopping situation is like in Romania which is our next port of call. After stopping for lunch in a car park we found a campsite which was virtually deserted except for a woman cleaning everything down for the end of the season. She booked us in and told us to park in front of one of their chalets and use the toilet and shower in there and plug our electric in to the shaver socket in the bathroom. We spent the afternoon cleaning and washing and then cooked our evening meal on an open fire using wood collected from around the site to save using our gas, as we have not got a great deal left and the only cylinders they have in Hungary are too tall to fit in our gas cupboard. We found out on the internet that Statoil, the supplier of our last bottle we bought in Estonia has no outlets further south than Poland so we ran out slightly too late.

SAT 13^TH SEPT DAILY 229 Km TOTAL 11211 Km

COSTS-CAMPING 8000 Ft GOULASH 2000 Ft

Miskolc to Gyula

Warm and sunny, cool in morning and evening. Today we have a definite feeling that Autumn is upon us all of a sudden as there is a nip in the air morning and evening and the leaves are all changing colour and falling. Shortly after we left Miskolc the wind was blowing very strong gusts which made driving difficult and it was keeping us from going over about 60 Km/Hr. The countryside is very flat around that area so there was not much to act as a barrier other than a few trees here and there. When we turned to travel in a more southerly direction the wind ceased to be as much of a problem as it was then blowing from behind us rather than from the side. When we stopped at a garage to see if they had any suitable gas bottles, which they did not, we found the wind had half blown off the big Hymer badge from our bonnet so I had to remove it fully and stow it in the cab.

The rest of the journey down to Gyula was reasonable other than we came to a junction which was marked as a crossroads on the map but there was no road straight on and we had to make a quick decision as that was the one that we wanted. We turned left and found we only had to go about 5 Km until we picked up the correct road. We were now travelling on secondary roads for quite a distance and they were a little bit rough in some places which also slowed us down considerably. We found the campsite and pulled in to the entrance and the first words the woman said was goulash. After we paid for a nights camping everybody there kept mentioning goulash and there was a big pan full simmering away so we asked what time it was ready. The answer was fear hour, which we was not sure whether it was ready in four hours or at four o clock. Then a lot of people started drifting up to where it was cooking around four o clock and sitting at a big table there so we went and joined them. I then had to pop back and fetch our own dishes and spoons as well as a couple of cans of beer as that was same as all the others had done. We were all given small glasses of home made rocket fuel which came from a 25 litre container and I had to drink Sharon’s as well as my own as it was way too strong for her. We then tucked into the goulash around 5 o clock along with some brown bread supplied by a German couple and it was so tasty I had another bowl full. Besides the eight of us sat around the table plus our hostess some of the other campers came up with their dishes and took some back to their caravans. She said she made it with 10 Kg of meat and 5 Kg of sauerkraut plus all the extra spices and things.

We had a quick look around the town and decided to stay an extra night as the bits we saw looked very nice.

SUN 14^TH SEPT COSTS-BEERS 1000 Ft

Gyula

Warm and sunny, cloudy later. We had a lazy start to the day with a coffee and a sit around before a late breakfast, then sat reading, knitting and playing the guitar before deciding to go for a walk around. We were very pleased we decided to stay an extra night as we found the town was extremely pretty and ranks among the best places we have seen on this trip and we only picked to stay here as it is very close to the Romanian border. Sharon needed a toilet so we went to a bar and sat and had a beer for an hour, and the waiter brought it along with slices of lemon on a plate and a small pot full of rice. I have had beer along with lemon or lime before but did not know what the rice was for so we left that alone. The beer was very nice with just the lemon in it anyway. I started to make a stew for our evening meal but our gas ran out completely so I had to finish cooking it on the cooker supplied on the campsite for the use of guests. Hopefully we will be able to find a suitable gas supply in Romania. We are not completely stuck without gas as we have a spare camping stove, plenty of charcoal and can use our generator to power the electric kettle and microwave if we are not on a campsite with electricity.

We are not sure completely what to expect in Romania as it is supposed to be a very poor country, there are only 49 campsites in the whole of the country and now it is past the tourist season anyway most of them are likely to be closed so we may have to go back to wild camping, which has been illegal in all of the countries we have visited since Finland.

Hungary has been another country with beautiful countryside and very friendly people and has a very welcoming feel to it. The roads have been very good apart from the B roads we used towards the end of our stay here and they were not as bad as some of the A roads in other countries we have recently visited.

Prices are not too high but are not quite as cheap as Slovakia and Lithuania. We looked in the estate agents window in Gyula and house prices were extremely low, with three or four bedroom houses from as little as the equivalent of £15 000.

CURRENCIES £1 = 38 SK (SLOVAKIAN KORUNS)

£1 = 1.24 EUROS £1 = 4.2 ZLOTY

SUN 31^ST AUG DAILY 57 Km TOTAL 9686 Km

COSTS-FUEL 180 ZL

CAMPING 450 SK MAP 160 SK

MOTORWAY VIGNETTE 150 SK

Zakopane to Tatra Lomnica

Sunny spells, warm. We had a very enjoyable drive through the mountains and into Slovakia and pulled in just across the border to go and take some pictures as the border had appeared sooner than expected. We were unable to do this as a young man appeared and wanted some money for parking and as we had not had access to a cash machine yet we did not have any, we also needed to buy a pass to use the main highways in Slovakia. A few kilometres further on we came to a village called Zdiar, where we managed to park, get some cash and then buy a vignette from the garage, so we then felt more comfortable as we were driving legally now. The Tatra mountains in the north of Slovakia contain the highest peaks in the Carpathian range and the scenery there is absolutely gorgeous. We pulled into Tatra Lomnica with the intention of having our lunch and a walk around but all the car parks were to pay for so we turned around and went back to a lay-by we had seen a couple of Km back and had our lunch there then walked back into the village, where we managed to get a map of Slovakia with all the camp sites on. One of the sites was not very far away so we went there and as it was quiet we finally got around to changing the oil and filter on the motor home. From our pitch we had a view of Gerlachevsy Spit with a summit at 2654 m, the highest of the range.

MON 1^ST SEPT DAILY 117 Km TOTAL 9803 Km

COSTS-CAMPING 480 SK SHOPPING 1868 SK

BEERS 46 SK

Tatra Lomnica to 30 Km before Zilina

Hot and sunny. Enjoyed a steady drive through the lovely scenery and stopped overnight at a site about a Km away from the main road. Checking in was a major procedure as we both had to fill in separate forms with personal details and show our passports. After we had settled in we fetched some hot water from the kitchen area and caught up with our washing as it was such a good drying day. After an evening walk we called in the bar on site for a couple of large beers which only cost us the equivalent of 60 pence each. Beer in Slovakia is cheaper than bottled water.

TUES 2^ND SEPT DAILY 131 Km TOTAL 9934 Km

COSTS-CAMPING 800 SK MEAL OUT 380 SK

Near Zilina to Trencin

Sunny and very hot. Travelled further west to Trencin and left the mountains behind although the scenery is still lovely. The campsite is only a short walk from the city so after we pitched we went to have a walk around and sat down in the square to watch the unusual fountain and to decide where to eat as we wanted to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We engaged in conversation with a local man called Milan, who was on the same bench as us, even though he could not speak much English and we have virtually no Slovakian. He ended up taking us on a tour of the city and every time we arrived at a place of interest he would ask all the passers by until he found one who could speak English and then get them to translate. He even took us into different parts of the hotel to show us items of interest in there and got the staff to translate. One place he took us was the old synagogue where he introduced us to a lady there who spoke reasonable English and she showed us around an art exhibition which gave an insight into autism, and afterwards we were surprised when she said her name was Mrs Higgins. She had spent some time studying in England and ended up marrying an Englishman. By the time he left us it was getting a little late and the only meal we could get by then was a pizza to share, although we did have a desert so that made it special enough to be our anniversary treat. We had agreed to meet Milan again the next morning at our campsite.

WED 3^RD SEPT COSTS-CASTLE 180 SK BEERS 157 SK

Trencin

Sunny and scorching hot. Set the alarm for 7:30 to give us time to have breakfast and clean up before the guests arrived, and we were just ready for about 8:45 when Milan and his wife, Eva turned up. They brought us a bottle of wine and some flowers for our anniversary present and we spent an hour and a half looking at some photos they had brought and at the photos we had taken on our trip and of our family and the area we live in Spain. Eva had an appointment at 11.00 and Milan asked us to their flat for a cup of coffee, so we lifted our bikes down and cycled with him there as it was 2 Km away. When we got there he showed us around and asked if we wanted a bite to eat with our coffee so we said yes, expecting a biscuit or a bun but instead we got some home made vegetable broth and sausage and bread, which was very nice. I had a little play on their piano while he was in the kitchen. Before we left he gave us some more presents and we exchanged addresses, then he cycled back almost to our campsite with us before we said our goodbyes.

In the afternoon we visited the castle which was a bit of an effort as it is on a big hill and the weather was scorching hot, and climbed right to the top of the tower which has lovely views of the city and the surrounding countryside. After our evening meal which we cooked in the open fire area of the campsite, we took the computer in to the city and sat outside an internet café and talked to as many people as we could on Skype. By the time we had finished the café had closed and we ended up sitting on the floor as they were packing all the chairs and tables away.

THURS 4^TH SEPT DAILY 122 Km TOTAL 10056 Km

COSTS-FUEL 2000 SK SHOPPING 267 SK

TRAM 72 SK BEER + INTERNET 206 SK

CAMPING 1100 SK

Trencin to Bratislava

Sunny and very hot. We called at a Tesco Hypermarket which are very popular in this part of the world just after we topped the 10000 Km point on our trip, and carried on to Bratislava for early afternoon. We decided to go into the city, mainly to catch up with banking, following the end of August, and to upload my diary at an internet café. We managed to do all the important financial work but for some reason the computer would not bring up the documents I had loaded on to a CD, although it showed some other picture files which were on it. We then had a little walk into the city square where a few musicians were performing and went back to the campsite which although 7 Km from the city was an easy journey by tram.

FRI 5^TH SEPT COSTS-TRAM 72 SK DRINKS 145 SK

Bratislava

Sunny and a scorching 34 degrees. As it was a lovely day we did all our washing in the morning, had an early lunch then went into the city to have a good look around. When we got off the tram, we walked along a street market, sat and had a beer and then had a quick look at the river Danube before walking through the city and up to the palace. Two guards were stood outside the door and they must have been really uncomfortable standing perfectly still in hot sun in their full uniform. Bratislava is yet another beautiful city and is full of interesting people. A group of cyclists on route from Beijing to Paris were sat playing various instruments and singing to earn a bit of money to fund their travelling. We went back to the campsite around 6:00 pm to find three old vans parked outside and some youngsters from Australia who were also on a major tour of Europe. We started talking to them and were invited in for a beer and spent the next hour with them talking and messing around a bit. They were part of a group of around 200 people in 50 old vans which they had bought in London and then ripped the insides out to put some makeshift beds and old fridges and other bits in, and they were all travelling a similar route but not sticking together and often met up with each other. Their fridge was three quarters full of beer and a little food in the bottom. They were all very friendly and we really enjoyed their company. They were not stopping on the site but parking up on the other side of the lake as they only went on to sites around once a week for a shower, and they said some campsites loved them and others had asked them to leave as they were a little bit too lively for them. We had been asked to join them for a beer again at night but by the time we had our evening meal it was a bit late for us to be walking around to the other side of the lake. The gas bottle we bought in Estonia ran out and we are now back on to our reserve bottle.

SAT 6^TH SEPT DAILY 144 Km TOTAL 10200 Km

COSTS-VIGNETTE FOR AUSTRIA 7.7 E

CAMPING 48.8 E

Bratislava to Vienna

Another scorching day. Although it was not on our original plan we decided to take a short trip into Austria and go to Vienna as it was only a short distance from Bratislava. We bought a vignette at the border which is needed to drive on Austrian motorways and then drove through Vienna to the north side where there is cheap camping available at a vineyard. We could not find it at first even though we were on the right street, so we stopped for a sandwich and to phone our Claire as it is her birthday. We drove back along the street and managed to find it, but when we got there we decided it was too far out of the city, so drove back through to the west side where there is an expensive but very nice campsite on the edge of the Vienna woods. The site had wireless internet and everyone else apart from us logged on to it without a problem but for some unknown reason our computer could not connect despite repeated attempts, so we chilled out for the evening and had an early night ready to go into the city the next morning.

SUN 7^TH SEPT COSTS-MEAL OUT 22 E SHOPPING 18.3 E

BUS/TRAM FARE 6.8 E

Hot and sunny day with a thunder storm at night. We had to catch a bus to the nearest underground station and then take a train into the centre, for which they had given us full instructions and a map at the campsite. Vienna really is a gem of a city and we were glad we made the detour to visit it. There is beauty and grandeur, so much that it cannot be fully appreciated by photos or description. There was an exhibition and stalls of local produce as well as parades and live music on all weekend and we enjoyed going around tasting all the free samples before going off to have our lunch outside one of the hundreds of restaurants in the city. It is not possible to see all the sights in one day but we covered a great deal of them and saw enough to get the feel of the city and appreciate it. By the time we returned to the campsite the sky had started to look heavy and we packed away all our table, chairs and awning before we had some thunder and heavy rain which lasted into the night.

GENERAL NOTES ON SLOVAKIA AND VIENNA

Slovakia is another absolutely beautiful country with very friendly people as well. It has a good mix of cities and countryside and along with the very reasonable prices will be on our list to revisit one day. The roads were also far better than we expected as we had read that they were quite bad, but in fact the ones we used were all good. Maybe the bad ones are in parts of the country we did not visit.

Vienna is an absolutely beautiful city and it would be easy to spend a week there without getting fed up. The prices however are a bit of a shock to the system after the other countries we have recently visited and for us it was good to go back to the more reasonably priced places.

CURRENCIES £1 = 4.2 ZLOTY £1 = 4.3 LITAS

SAT 16^TH AUG DAILY 215Km TOTAL 8243 Km

COSTS-FUEL 79 Litas CAMPING 54 ZL

MAP 12 ZL

Metelai to Mikolajki

Hot and sunny, thunder storm at night. Crossed the border into Poland without any checks of passports which surprised us as there was quite a lot of border police around the area watching the roads. Again we were travelling through beautiful countryside although there is a lot more traffic in Poland as it is a much more densely populated country. We travelled into the Polish lake district and found a very nice place to stay overnight near the shores of a lake and within easy walking distance of the town. We filled our water tank before settling onto our pitch only to find when we started using it that it was a little brown looking, so we decided to use that for washing and doing the pots and use water from our reserve container for drinking. In the evening we walked into the little town which was full of bars and restaurants and a lot of other tourist facilities, and is obviously a popular place for the Polish to go for their holidays. We could hear loud music coming from somewhere so we homed in on it and found a very good Polish band playing on a large stage complete with a video screen playing in the open air with free entry so we stayed and watched them for over an hour. As the concert came to an end we started to see flashes in the sky, so having had a big storm the previous night we walked back to the campsite and managed to get there before it started to rain, entertained on the way by a firework display which had followed the concert.

SUN 17^TH AUG DAILY 278 Km TOTAL 8521 Km

COSTS-FUEL 180 ZL

Mikolajki to Gdansk

Sunny and hot. Left the lake district and headed up to Gdansk on the Baltic coast which had recommended to us as a place to visit by a few people. There was quite a lot of traffic coming the other way as we got within the last 30 Km so it is possibly an area frequented by the Polish for weekends and holidays. The campsite is quite a distance from the city but there were tram stops very close and it was also only 150m from a beautiful beach. The facilities were adequate but not brilliant and there were not really enough for the number of people stopping there.

MON 18^TH AUG COSTS-CAMPING 108 ZL MEAL OUT 77 ZL

Gdansk TRAM FARE 9.60 ZL

Hot and sunny. Went into the old part of the city on the tram which was almost empty when we got on but very busy as we progressed towards the city. The city itself was a joy to visit with plenty to look at and a lovely town square where we had a very nice meal at lunchtime. The old crane on the riverside was particularly interesting as it could lift up to 11 tons to a great height and was driven by men walking in large wheels similar to the exercise wheels in a hamster cage. We had to push to get on the tram back to the site and were around half way back before enough people got off so we could have a seat, then it turned round and threw everybody off about 2 Km short of where it was supposed to go so we walked the rest of the way. A lot of the other passengers waited for the next tram to finish their journey as they run very frequently.

TUES 19^TH AUG DAILY 217 Km TOTAL 8738 Km

COSTS-FUEL 190 ZL SHOPPING 134 ZL

Gdansk to Torun.

Hot and sunny. After a bit of jiggery pokery to get on the right road we headed south to the ancient city of Torun through some very pretty countryside although some of the roads were a little rough. The campsite was excellent and within easy walking distance of the city although a little noisy as it is close to two busy roads and the railway which also had a lot of traffic on it. We met an Englishman travelling alone in a motor home as we were checking in, the first we had seen for a long time and we agreed to meet up later for a talk, so after we had settled in and had a cup of tea we went to the other side of the site to see him and spent an hour talking to him and a Dutch couple who were camped near to him. While we were talking we were bothered a bit by midges that seemed more prevalent in that area than where we were, and later found we had a lot of bites, so we had to put loads of after treatment on which is very effective if applied soon enough. The site had Wifi so we were able to talk to a few people on Skype although we had to go and sit outside reception so put loads of midge repellent on to make sure we were not bitten any more.

WED 20^TH AUG COSTS-WASHING 10 ZL OIL 92 ZL

CAMPING 92 ZL

Torun

Hot and sunny. Cleaned up and did a lot of washing in the morning as it was such a lovely day then walked over a very long bridge over the river to the city. Most of the campsites we had visited in Poland had only taken cash so the first job was to top up as we were getting a bit low. We went to three different cash machines and even went into a bank but they all refused to give money on my debit card even though they had a Visa sign on, but we then tried a Citibank cash machine and managed to get a result.

Torun is a walled city and had a very nice atmosphere as well as being pretty. We called at a garage and bought some oil on the way back as we are now due for an oil change when we get to a suitable spot. We had another night on the internet as we have to make the best of it when it is available as not a lot of sites in Poland have the facility.

THURS 21^ST AUG DAILY 355 Km TOTAL 9093 Km

COSTS- FUEL 180 ZL CAMPING 36 ZL

Torun to Czestochowa

Hot and sunny. We intended stopping in Lodz overnight just to break the journey but did not see any signs for the campsite there so as it was still fairly early we carried on to the next place we wanted to visit which was Czestochowa which is the home of the Jasna Gora where a great religious treasure called the “Black Madonna” is on show. It is a picture of Mary and Jesus which was supposedly painted by a saint but has darkened with age, hence the name. In a war with Sweden the Jasna Gora was captured and some soldiers tried to slash the picture, but they ran away as it started to bleed where they cut it. Then when some monks decided to clean up the picture a spring miraculously appeared which is still running today and piped to four taps where people can come and collect the holy water and use it for washing and drinking.

As our journey progressed in the latter part of the day I began to have major problems changing gear as the clutch was not releasing properly. I was managing to change up with a bit of a struggle but changing down was a big problem and we were often coasting for long distances trying to select a gear. Also if we came to rest still in gear it was impossible to select neutral, so driving was possible but very difficult, so we were pleased when we made it to the campsite.

FRI 22^ND AUG COSTS-SHOPPING 44 ZL

Czestochowa

Sunny and hot. Asked the young man who was in the office if he knew where we could get the clutch seen to and he very kindly phoned around and managed to get someone to come and look at it from the local Fiat dealer. Trouble was when he tried it everything seemed to be working perfectly and it was very difficult trying to explain the problem because of the language difference. Luckily a young couple came in to reception who were both bilingual as he was English and she was Polish, and they helped us sort things out and we arranged to follow the young man from reception to the Fiat garage early on Monday morning.

We then went for a walk down into the city which is dominated by a big wide pedestrian area lined with trees which leads up to the Jasna Gora which is very close to our campsite. There are a large variety of shops and restaurants down the sides of street and it was very pleasant to walk slowly down and sit on a bench every now and then to watch the world go by. We had a siesta in the afternoon as we had a long days travelling the previous day and then decided to cook our vegetables for the evening meal in a pressure cooker which we had with us but had never used. Unfortunately one of the seals leaked and it never pressurised so we had to cook them for longer anyway, so bearing in mind we had not used it before we decided to throw it away rather than bother washing it, which also freed up a large space in one of our cupboards.

SAT 23^RD AUG Czestochowa

Hot and sunny. Decided to walk back down the avenue and look at the other side as we only looked at one side on the Friday, but as we made our way down we came across a street market and decided to have a look at that which then took us in a slightly different direction. We came across a beautiful little church at the bottom of the road and behind the church was a small building which housed the magical spring where the holy water came from. We sat on a bench watching loads of people coming and washing their hands and faces, drinking it and rubbing it on their bodies in places where they had problems. Some of them were taking it away in bottles and we saw some cars driving away with so much in their boot that their suspension was bottomed out. After we watched all sorts of people come and take the water there was a slight lull so we nipped over and had a quick wash and a drink just in case it works.

SUN 24^TH AUG Czestochowa

Hot and sunny. We did some washing and tidied everything away in the motor home ready for it going to the garage on Monday morning. We had a walk around the park area by the Jasna Gora and sat and watched some pilgrims arriving as Aug 26th is a special day there and it is starting to get generally busy now. Around 4 to 5 million people make the pilgrimage to Czestochowa every year. Every night a religious service is held from a big platform overlooking the park area and is attended by hundreds of people. We had an early night as we had to be up early the next morning.

MON 25^TH AUG DAILY 35 Km TOTAL 9128 Km

COSTS-HOTEL 240 ZL MEALS/DRINKS 200 ZL

CAMPING 98 ZL HAIRCUT 20 ZL

Czestochowa

Hot and sunny. We followed the young man from reception to the Fiat garage during which the clutch was working reasonably well when it was cold but starting to get worse as it warmed up. The service manager decided that the job was not suitable for them for some reason, but he phoned to another place and arranged for them to see to it and printed us a map off the computer to show us where to go. It was in the middle of nowhere and not very easy to find and by the time we got there it was very difficult to change gear again which was a good thing as when the mechanic took it for a drive he could see what the problem was. Thankfully they had a young lad there who could speak reasonable English and they gave us a price and said it would be ready the next day. When we explained that this was our home and had nowhere to stay they booked us into a hotel back in Czestochowa and drove us there and said they would ring us when it was ready and come back and pick us up. They also said they would keep an eye on our cat which of course had to stay in the motor home. It is really satisfying when you have a problem in a strange country where you cannot speak the language that people will make a great effort to look after you and sort things out.

After booking into our hotel and watching a bit of TV to catch up on the last three months of news we have missed we walked up into the city and I decided to try and get a haircut which was a little overdue. We followed some signs which had a pair of scissors on only to end up in a tailors shop but with a little bit of sign language told him what we wanted and he pointed down the street and indicated somewhere off to the right. We eventually found what was quite a posh salon and when I asked if they did meskies hair (Polish for men’s) they pushed me into a chair and I was given a shampoo by a young lady, then I indicated I wanted it cut very short, which I got and then what was left was blow dried so I was dreading how much that was going to cost. As it happened they only charged 20 ZL which is less than £5.

We then went to one of the street side restaurants for a light lunch and watched more and more bands of pilgrims arriving, then walked up to Jasna Gora and went inside where it was extremely busy so we did not bother to queue up to see the black Madonna itself as it was far more significant to all the other people there. There were even long queues of people waiting to visit the ten confessionals in one courtyard. Religion is extremely popular here and it is nice to see their young people getting involved and enjoying it instead of standing around on street corners and making trouble, or sitting playing computer games or watching videos.

We called at the campsite and paid what we owed for the previous three nights, then walked back to the hotel and ate too much before watching a bit more news which was the only channel we could get in English, and going to bed.

TUES 26^TH AUG DAILY 219 Km TOTAL 9347 Km

COSTS-FUEL 180 ZL NEW CLUTCH 2500 ZL

MEAL/ DRINKS 56 ZL

Czestochowa to Krakow

Hot and sunny. We had a very large buffet breakfast at the hotel and were then just killing time waiting for the garage to phone, which they did around 11:00 am so we checked out and sat in the reception area for our lift. By the time we were picked up, driven back to the garage and sorted the money out we managed to leave around midday. The clutch felt better than it had ever been and it was now much easier to change gear so we were satisfied with the service we got and with the price. Our plan was to visit Auschwitz and then go to Krakow overnight but due to the late start and quite heavy traffic it was too late to do that so we went straight to Krakow and booked into a campsite. We met an English couple there who said the bar on the site did very good meals at a reasonable price and recommended the goulash soup, so we decided to eat out for a change and were not disappointed. We arrived at the bar at the same time as a Dutch couple who were camped opposite us and sat with them until closing time and had a very good evening.

WED 27^TH AUG COSTS-MEAL 50 ZL DRINKS 30 ZL

BUS FARE 10 ZL CAMPING 116 ZL

Krakow

Absolutely scorching weather. Caught the mini bus into the city then walked along the river to Wawel castle, had a look around and then carried on into the market square which is the largest in Europe. We visited the very ornate cathedral, had lunch and then hung around in the square for a few hours and had a beer as it was such a beautiful place and there was live music and dancing on as well as a craft market. Around 5:00 pm we thought we had better see some more of the city and then found our place to catch the bus back. There were a lot of people hanging around there and most of them were waiting for the same bus as us, so when it arrived there was a mad scramble to get on. Thankfully it stopped next to us so we were some of the first on and got a seat about half way down the bus which was a bit of a mistake as it stopped a few times before we got to our stop and so many people got on that they were packed solid in the aisle. When it got to our stop we had a major struggle to get past everybody to get off. We cooked our own evening meal but decided to take the computer up to the bar as there was supposed to be internet available. So we bought a couple of beers and logged on to their network but could not connect to the web, and when we asked they said it was 15 ZL for 24 hours, so as we were leaving next morning we thought that was a bit too much just for the last hour of the day so did not bother. The same Dutch couple joined us again so we had a drink with them and then retired for the night.

THURS 28^TH AUG DAILY 111 Km TOTAL 9458 Km

COSTS-SALT MINE 138 ZL OVERNIGHT 37 ZL

Krakow to Wieliczka and then Oswiecim (Auschwitz)

Scorching weather again. Drove the fairly short distance to the salt mining museum at Wieliczka which took longer than it should as there is a lot of resurfacing ongoing on the Krakow ring road and the traffic in the south of Poland is also rather heavy. The tour of the salt mine took three and a half hours and included a talk on the history and geology of the mine and a visit to the underground church carved out of the salt and a multitude of statues also carved from salt. The salt in its raw form is a dark grey colour rather than white which was not really what we expected. After a spot of lunch we made our way to Auschwitz but we were too late to do the museum tour so we enquired what time they started in a morning and went for a walk before settling down for the night in the 24 hour car park across the road from the museum. We have mixed feelings about our visit, we want to go there but are not really looking forward to it, knowing already some of the terrible things that happened there.

FRI 29^TH AUG DAILY 171 Km TOTAL 9629 Km

COSTS-CAMPING 27 ZL MUSEUM 68 ZL

SANDWICHES/DRINK 16 ZL

Oswiecim to Zakopane

Warm and cloudy with rain later. Visited the Auschwitz museums which were so horrific neither of us spoke much about it afterwards, death and cruelty on a scale beyond belief. The tour lasted for four hours which meant we wanted to get on the road as soon as possible so we were going to have a burger from a stall there, but when we saw them we decided to have a cheese and tomato sandwich each and a bottle of water instead.

The part of Poland near the Slovakian border is very mountainous and the style of housing changed to chalets similar to those in Austria and Switzerland making the scenery very pretty, and a nice change as we have not seen any mountains since Norway. By the time we got to Zakopane it was coming dark and we were also having showers, which made it difficult to find the campsite we were looking for, so after driving through the town, which was very busy we took the road back the way we came to go to one which we saw on the way in. We drove into the camp but there was no one else there and the reception looked closed so we were going to park up for the night and check in the next morning then all of a sudden a man and woman appeared and was unbelievably helpful. We have never had service to this level anywhere. He directed us to our site and when I started to get the wedges out to level us up he said “please please”, placed them in front of the wheels and guided me on to them. He then asked for our cable to connect us to the electricity and when Sharon got the water carrier out, as our tank was empty, he took it from her and went and filled it up. He then gave a tour of the facilities and gave us instructions on how to use everything. I visited the toilet a little later and he was outside when I came out, asked if everything was satisfactory and gave his weather predictions for the following day.

SAT 30^TH AUG COSTS-BUS FARE 10ZL LUNCH 23 ZL

CAMPING 116 ZL

Zakopane

Cloudy, fresh and chilly at night. As it was such a nice place we decided to stay for two nights instead of just one. When I started to walk towards the shower block our friendly site owner came and opened the door for me then went through all the instructions to get a perfect water temperature again but thankfully did not stay to wash my back. He was there when I came out to tell me that busses ran into town every ten minutes and give another weather forecast. Every time anybody used a toilet or shower he went in and cleaned it straight away so everything was always spotlessly clean, besides which they looked like brand new household bathrooms rather than the usual campsite facilities. When we left to go to town, our friendly host walked us to the bus stop, gave us a card to show the bus driver on the way back and stood and waved us off when the bus came. The town was very busy as it was a weekend and there was some ski jumping on there, as it is a popular ski resort in the winter. There was a street market on which had a lot of good quality goods on sale at very low prices. After we had some soup in a restaurant we had added up our money and drawn just enough for what we needed to pay the campsite from an ATM, as we were leaving Poland the next day, so we did not buy anything from the market or we would not have enough to pay our site fees. They were selling St Bernard puppies there for only the equivalent of £125 and good quality sheepskin rugs for just over £10. We caught the bus back home and then spent the evening planning our route through Slovakia and reading up on places of interest there.

GENERAL NOTES ON POLAND

The roads here are fairly reasonable in most places but there are some quite bad patches. The tarmac they have used must be very soft as in places it has been pushed sideways by the traffic and left grooves in the road which do not always match the width of our vehicle and make steering hard work. There is a lot of traffic on the roads in addition to quite a lot of road works which makes progress slower than we are used to but not to the same extent as in the UK.

The countryside here is very pretty, especially in the mountains in the south and there are also plenty of interesting sights in the cities. The people here are extremely friendly and very helpful as we found when we had our clutch problem. Prices here are also very reasonable.

CURRENCY £1 = 4.3 LITAS

TUES 12^TH AUG COSTS-CAMPING 100 LT

Near Moletai

Sunny and hot. Had a lazy day starting off with a shower outside which was a bit of a novelty, as the French man went passed walking his dog and the young lady who was tidying up on the beach, finished what she was doing and came passed. We did a lot of computer work while we had the opportunity and some hand washing, then we laid in the sun for a while and I had a swim in the lake. As I was going in I noticed lots of flies were landing on the water and were only there a short while before a fish would come and swallow them up. Talked to as many people as we could in the evening on Skype, as using the mobile phone from the Baltic countries involves adding special codes to use a transfer system and then is unrealistically expensive.

WED 13^TH AUG DAILY 123 Km TOTAL 7841 Km

COSTS-FUEL 160 LT CAMPING 122 LT

BEERS 7 LT MEAL 68 LT

Moletai to Trakai

Hot and sunny. Drove through the capital city, Vilnius and went to a campsite by a lake at Trakai, recommended to us by the French couple at moletai. It is a lovely site with excellent facilities and is across the lake from the little town of Trakai which has a large red brick castle. As we were sat out having a cup of tea a motor home pulled up and pipped his horn and it was the German family we had been next to at Jurmala a week ago. We gave them time to go and set up camp then I went to visit to see where they had been and where they were going. The German travellers are usually well informed and are a very useful source of information. We went for a beer in the restaurant on site and the prices looked very reasonable so we went and got changed and then went there for our evening meal. I had seen a Harley parked outside a tent earlier, so when a man sat on his own at the table behind us I wondered if it was his, so after the meal I asked him and we spent the next hour talking to him as he had done a similar journey to us, through Norway and Finland and the Baltic countries. He was a German tax consultant though he said he never told his fellow country people that or he ended up with all their tax queries. His wife and daughter had joined him for part of the tour of Norway for which they took the Hurtigruten ferry around the coast. He went to pay his bill and came back with three Jaegermeister,s. When he went to the toilet I had to drink Sharon’s for her as she did not like it.

THURS 14^TH AUG COSTS-BOAT FARE 40 LT MEALS 70 LT

Hot and sunny. Took a boat across to the castle which does tours of the lake from Trakai and picks up by request at the campsite. We had a good walk along the shore of the lake and back through the town and visited a museum then went for a spot of lunch which only cost us 19 LT for two bowls of soup and a beer and an orange juice.

After a look around the castle we caught the boat back to camp planning to catch up on our washing, but the washroom was already in use and we had to wait two hours to use it. By the time we had done our washing it was almost 9:00 pm so we went back to the camp restaurant to eat but only had a main course this time as we had starters as well the day before and we were overfull with that. We hung the washing out when we got back, hoping that it would be dry by the time we had to leave the next day.

FRI 15^TH AUG DAILY 187 Km TOTAL 8028 Km

COSTS-CAMPING 35 LT SHOPPING 88 LT

Trakai to Metelai

Cloudy all day, thunderstorm at night. The washing we had hung out overnight was still damp, so we folded it up with the intention of drying it when we got to the next campsite. Unfortunately less than half an hour after we arrived it started to rain and eventually this turned into a major thunderstorm which lasted well into the night. We hung some of the washing outside under the awning and the rest on a line inside. The site we were stopping at were also hosting a company outing on the Friday night and they were partying until well after midnight and then for the next hour were walking around with torches, slamming car doors and turning car alarms on and off. With that and the thunder setting alarms off we had a very noisy night. At one point a car horn stuck on and stayed on for about an hour until the battery went flat. Even though we had checked in for two nights we decided to leave the next morning and demanded money back for the unused night due to the noise.

Another beautiful country which is quickly shaking off the effects of the communist influence. As we have travelled through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, each country has seemed to have progressed further and all three countries are already looking like they are overtaking the UK very quickly.

The roads are better here than Latvia although there is still a lot of improvement going on but it must be a really big job resurfacing all the roads in a country. It must have been a very low priority having good roads under the soviet system.

We found the people to be friendly and never had any problems with communicating as a lot of the young people speak English. Prices here are also very reasonable.

SUMMER TOUR LATVIA 2008

CURRENCIES £1 = 20 EEKS (ESTONIAN KROONS)

£1 = 0.88 L (LATVIAN LATS)

MON 4^TH AUG DAILY 202 Km TOTAL 6742 Km

COSTS-FUEL 30 L SHOPPING 320 EEK

Parnu to Riga

Hot and sunny. We called at the supermarket on the way out of Parnu to spend the last of our Estonian money before leaving the country, so as we went around I was adding the prices up on a piece of paper, but when we got to the checkout it came to 320 EEK and we only had 317.20 so I had to put the balance on my card. When we checked the print out we found 3 of the prices were slightly wrong due to unclear marking on the shelves. We crossed the now unmanned border into Latvia and stopped at the first hole in the wall we saw to get some of the local currency, then followed the coast road all the way down to Riga. It was very busy in the city and some of the roads were cobbled and we had to crawl along in second gear as they were quite uneven as well. We were following signs for information but when they directed us into a street where we found all the exits were blocked by barriers and we had to turn around and go back to the main road, which is not easy in such a big vehicle, we gave it up as a bad job. As we crossed the bridge out of the other side of the city we saw a sign for camping and followed that, which was exactly what we wanted as it was within walking distance of the main tourist area.

TUES 5^TH AUG COSTS-MEAL OUT 14 L COFFEES 3 L

CAMPING 28 L

Riga

Hot and sunny but with showers, some heavy. Took the bus into Riga even though it was not too far and when I came to pay the driver, as we had not yet spent any money in Latvia I only had 20 L notes that the cash machine had dispensed, so he waved us passed and we travelled free of charge. The city is beautiful with parks, fountains and wonderful cathedrals and churches. On a bridge in one of the parks we saw hundreds of padlocks all fastened around the railings, some of which were engraved with the names of couples, and apparently this is done as a symbol of everlasting love. We went and sat outside a restaurant for lunch but undercover, just before it absolutely peed it down and thankfully we had got our order in before loads of other people filled all the other tables to get out of the rain. Prices were quite reasonable for a capital city centre as we had pizzas and chips and a couple of drinks for only 14 Lats. The weather had cleared by the time we had finished and we visited the tourist information and got a map which had a walking tour of the city marked with all the major attractions, some of which we had already seen and some we had not, and also got maps of Latvia with all the places of interest and all the camping sites, so we were able to plan other places to go in the country. We went around all the places we had not yet seen, then had a cup of coffee in the town square and then walked back to the campsite.

WED 6^TH AUG DAILY 23 Km TOTAL 6765 Km

COSTS-SHOPPING 19.50 L CAMPING 14 L

Riga to Jurmala

Hot and sunny. Moved the short distance to a site at Jurmala just west of Riga, famous for its 34 Km of white sandy beach. After a quick look at the beach we cycled along a back street which ran close to the back of the beach for about 5 Km and were amazed at the beautiful houses there. Some were fairly old and some were recently built or were currently under construction and many of them looked like they would fetch around 3 to 5 million pounds if they were in the UK being so close to the sea. After a light lunch we had a walk around the site then cycled in the other direction to a large supermarket and stocked up on fresh fruit and vegetables and meat. We had our evening meal outside as it was a lovely day, along with a nice family from Germany who were on the next pitch.

THURS 7^TH AUG DAILY 361 Km TOTAL 7126 Km

COSTS-FUEL 34 L CAMPING 12 L

Jurmala to Talsi and Kuldiga then back to Riga.

Fine at first, rain in afternoon then brightened up in the evening. Went further west to Talsi which is supposed to be the prettiest town in Latvia and although it was lovely it was slightly disappointing compared to the write up in the travel brochures. From there we went south west to Kuldiga which has the widest waterfall in Europe at 249 metres and got there just as it started to rain. We had a cup of tea, hoping the rain would subside, but it did not so we went for a walk around in our cagoules and with the umbrella, which was worth it as is a gorgeous place with a red brick bridge over the river with views of the waterfall, a sculpture park and some interesting architecture. It stopped raining just as we got back and we went off to find a campsite, but we went to three that were on our information map and they were all closed. While we were looking, we went through a village called Sabile and had to pull up quickly and get the camera out as there was a large group of artificial people all stood on a patch of ground between the houses. So as all the campsites were closed and we were going back through Riga to our next port of call we went back to the City Camping site we had stopped at before. By this time it was after 9:00 pm and we were more than ready for something to eat. The young man on reception recognised us and told us to go where we wanted and pay when we left, so we parked up and cooked sausage egg and beans as it was quick to make and satisfying. As we did not bother connecting to the electricity it saved us 2 Lats on the camping charge.

FRI 8^TH AUG DAILY 72 Km TOTAL 7198 Km

COSTS-BEERS 1.20 L CAMPING 26 L

Riga to Sigulda

Hot and sunny, thunder storm at night. The next place on our list was Sigulda, which was not too far, so we went there and drove straight through the town to the campsite before lunch and checked in for two nights as we needed a rest after a long day on Thursday. We were camped by the river Gauja in a beautiful wooded valley close to a site which has ski lifts for use in the winter, but has summer activities as well, with a Tarzan slide down steel cables stretched between the trees on the hillside, and a toboggan run on little wheeled trucks running on a monorail. We walked up a steep path and steps to the town and found another gem of a place with loads of parks with block paved walkways and lovely flower displays, and sat outside a bar for a beer which was very reasonably priced. As we were looking at the street map to find a different way down an old cyclist came and started talking to us, and although his English was very limited, he managed to tell us he was 62 and how pleased he was that Latvia was now with us rather than being under Soviet occupation. We sat outside and had a BBQ as it was still 28 degrees in the evening and then I played guitar until it started to thunder and rain, which ended up as a very heavy storm as we went to bed.

SAT 9^TH AUG Sigulda

Heavy showers in the morning sunny in afternoon. Took the opportunity to bring our diary up to date and Sharon did some knitting and a bit of hand washing which was ready to hang out just as it stopped raining. We set off for a walk along the river and thankfully we had taken our cagoules as it started raining again, but it soon stopped and the sun came out again and we were dry by the time we got home. While we were in the forest we heard a loud knocking noise up in the trees and looked up to see a woodpecker hammering away. Its amazing how such a small bird can sound as loud as it does. We spent the evening planning the next part of our journey in Latvia and trying to find some places of interest in Lithuania but they seem to be in short supply. We may find out more when we get there.

SUN 10^TH AUG DAILY 309 Km TOTAL 7507 Km

COSTS-FUEL 30 L SHOPPING 24.74 L

CAMPING 10 L

Sigulda to near Aglona

Cloudy at first, sunny and warm later, Before leaving the Sigulda area we went across the bridge and drove to the next village of Turaida and had a quick look around before heading off south to meet the A6 road to the south east of the country. After the first 10 Km the tarmac ran out and we ended up driving on dirt roads for the next 30 Km before we got back to proper roads, which made for very slow progress. On the A6 we were heading for Jakebpils with the intention of stopping for the night but there was no sign of the campsite anywhere, so we called at the supermarket there and then carried on towards the next attraction on our list which was the “Aglona Basilica” and stopped at a little farm site just before there. We were the only ones staying there and after a short while their little boy brought us a bag full of apples, and then later the farmer and his wife fetched the cow up and milked it by hand. We had a lovely view from the top of a hill of a small lake and the surrounding countryside.

MON 11^TH AUG DAILY 211 Km TOTAL 7718 Km

Aglona to near Moletai

Showers. We were up early and packed away and went to find someone to pay. The farmers wife was across the road in a field picking some vegetables and after we paid her she took us to show us one of their dogs which had more puppies than we could count. We are not sure if she was telling us 15 puppies or trying to sell us one for 15 Lats. We left and went to the Aglona Basilica and took some photos and went inside to look at the wonderful artwork and decorations. While we were there the church was full of people of the catholic faith who were praying, confessing and kneeling before some of the paintings, some of them so emotional they were weeping. Being there as just tourists made us feel that in a way we were intruding into their worship. On the Friday there was a massive pilgrimage to the Basilica and major preparations were underway to cope with the large number of people expected, and during the first fifty or so Km after we left there we passed a few large groups of people walking in that direction. We went to the town of Kraslava next as it is supposedly full of Russian type architecture and you can visit there instead of having to go to the bother of getting a visa and visiting the real place. It is extremely close to the Russian border. We drove through the town towards Russia and then turned around and drove back through but did not stop as it did not look over impressive besides which it was raining. We were now heading for Lithuania and the plan was to stop at a supermarket and a filling station before the border to spend our remaining Latvian money, but even though there were some place names on the map all we went through was just open countryside. Not far across the border we came to the town of Zarasai and saw a bank and the tourist information nearby, so we changed our remaining lats into litas and got a map of Lithuania which showed all the campsites on. One of the sites was in the direction we were heading and sounded reasonable so we went there and although it was deserted a woman came out and checked us in. For the first few hours we were there alone but were later joined by a French couple. It was a beautiful location overlooking a large lake and there were plenty of facilities although some were slightly unusual, as there was only one shower and that was outside. We had a barbeque next to the beach and enjoyed the peace and tranquillity and made use of their internet facility for which we had to sit outside the reception to get a good signal.

Latvia surprised us by the beautiful countryside and the large number of parks and floral displays everywhere. There is a lot of building and improvements going on everywhere and not a lot of the old standard soviet housing left, but upgrading a whole country takes a long time.

The roads are a bit of a nightmare although there are some good sections, the majority is rough and a lot of unexpected dips in the road to watch for. A lot of the minor roads are unsurfaced and sometimes you can start out on a normal looking road then all of a sudden the tarmac disappears.

The people here are very friendly and welcoming and quite a lot speak English but not so much in the countryside. Prices are also reasonable.

There are a lot of stork roaming free and nesting at the top of the poles supporting power cables and telephone lines. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Latvia apart from the state of the roads.