5 hours later we are at the Romanian border and have to show our passports but not the dogs passports, still nobody has given the dogs a second glance even though they are sat in the cab with us. We are questioned why we are going to Romania and when we explain that we are moving to Bulgaria all the border guards tell us not to as it is so dangerous in Bulgaria. This is a recurring point of view with all Romanians we meet.
Through the border and we carrying on driving even though our Sat Nav does not recognise Romania anymore? I have had 24 hours rest so am keen to get to Bulgaria as quickly as possible. I want to be at our house early tomorrow morning. It is soon dark but we are making good progress. Fuel stops are few and far between in Romania but a kindly attendant lets us park behind his garage to get some sleep even though we bought nothing from him. We stop and grab a couple of hours sleep before starting off again in the middle of the night
The roads are not nearly as good as we have had in the rest of Europe and Hungarian roads were far better and well serviced than we expected. But we are now heading along the Serbian border heading for Bulgaria. The route would have been spectacular by daylight I am sure as we could see all the bays lit up and as we climbed ever higher through very steep hills our headlights picked up some lovely views.
As we neared the summit of a very long, steep hill the engine died. It was dead. No electrics. Hi Viz jackets on and warning triangles out, we are used to the drill by now. But this is a really dangerous place to break down, right on a bend on the direct route to the Bulgarian border. It will be light in a few hours and lorries will soon fill these roads. I call the Police who thankfully had an English speaking officer there. She was amazing and promised that she would organise a recovery truck, pointless contacting our insurer as we now know they will not help us, and she tells us that the local Police will soon arrive to make sure we are safe. Two hours later and no Police or recovery truck. We are slightly concerned as we are in the middle of nowhere and seemingly have no way out of this mess.
Then a Romanian lorry stops. He speaks English and we explain that the Police and recovery are on the way. He smirks and tells us not to believe anything they have told us. He will tow us back to the main town. Me being cynical now have visions of us being towed to a backstreet where we will be murdered and our van liberated of its cargo. But what choice do we have? As he uncouples his trailer and fixes a towrope to our van I call the Police again. I ask them to speak to our rescuer to find out where he is taking us so that at least they will know where to find our murdered bodies in the morning. But this guy was just doing a decent thing for somebody in need. He towed us back into town, stopped at a truck repair garage, checked with the Security guard that they would be able to help us when they opened in the morning, gave us his mobile phone number and said that if ever we needed any help whilst in Romania to call him. And off he drove. What a saviour.
We grabbed a few hours sleep and when I woke I trundled off to find some coffee. We had not intended to stop in Romania so had no local currency. But a local café owner must have taken pity on me as she took my euros in exchange for two cups of coffee which in our previous experience would never happen. At nine that morning I went to the garage to see if they could fix the van. Amazingly the security guard had stayed on until the garage manager came in to tell him what had happened to us. How kind were all these people? Again the garage manager spoke English so was able to tell us that his staff knew exactly what the problem was and would have us on our way in no time. Quite a gathering of men had formed around our van and the garage owner told me that they were the Secret Police who had come to check us out. He was concerned that they would beat us for no reason so he did not want us hanging around!! The area was full of wild dogs so we could not even take out our dogs for a walk. The garage manager even offered us coffee and the use of his office whilst we waited, then took us to the next town to use the ATM so that we could pay him. The repairs were incredibly cheap and we were so grateful to all the Romanians we met. An hour later and the alternator, alternator pulley and fan belt had all been replaced and we were off.
Bulgaria here we come, only a few more hours and we will be home........................
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