V8 goes East

V8 goes East - 11
Gordon and Jennifer Hesketh-Jones have been making their way through France and Italy, and have now moved on after attending the MG Italia event in Greece. This is the second report from Romania just as they are about to cross into Hungary. (19.5.05)

What a country of fabulous contrasts! So much to be delighted about, but also a few serious problems. First of all some good points.

The border crossing from Bulgaria was across the extremy high bridge over the Danube and the border station was almost deserted - there were 6 booths at each of the 5 check points and the officers from the empty booths all came across to marvel at our strange and exotic car. They were all totally friendly, welcoming and helpful whereas the Bulgarian guards etc had been rather dour and saturnine. In addition the Romanian computer recognised MG as a make of car!

Yesterday we covered some 290 miles on Romanian roads - probably double what I would recommend now! My car has always been rattle and squeak-free but after yesterday it needed some attention - for my piece of mind really. We had had trouble finding the hotel last night so the receptionist, speaking with Jennifer on our mobile phone, guided us through the city whilst I drove. As he was so helpful and spoke good English, I explained my need for a serious greasing session on the suspension - this caused some thought as he said that modern mechanics and cars do not use grease guns, however he would make enquiries and phone me in the morning. He did phone so we drove out to what turned out to be a large DACIA dealership.

As we entered the courtyard of the garage, the twelve DACIAs being serviced on the lifts were immediately deserted, the MG acting as a mighty magnet for motor mechanics. They were professional mechanics but had never seen anything like the MG V8 and of course I had to open the bonnet. After ten minutes or so my new friend's contact finished his task on a DACIA and I drove in and on to a lift - as soon as it went up all of the mechanics all clustered underneath exploring and excitedly commenting on different points. They spotted the petrol tank leak of course but also found that one of the new rear brake cylinders fitted just before our trip was leaking slightly. Many helped to smear grease on the springs and to force more grease into the king-pins etc. One commented that the only time he saw such clean oil on dipsticks was when DACIAs arrived brand new from the factory - a nice compliment to Duckhams 20/50. When the work was finished I went over to the workshop manager and apologised for the way in which so many DACIAs had been neglected due to my visit. Not at all was his reply - for my boys it is very motivational to be looking at or to be working on a film star car, a real life JAMES BOND CAR! WOW!

On Tuesday our journey had been to Miercurea-Cuic, which meant traversing Bucharest. Here the Ring Road is very close to the town centre (Sofia's being a few miles out) but although the traffic was of course dense, it moved far more freely in the 30C heat. Like Sofia, Bucharest still has huge numbers of Soviet-era blocks of flats, visibly rusting away - particularly the reinforced concrete balconies!

Later we stopped off at Sinaia where there are two castles said to be the models and inspiration for the Dracula stories and as we drove further north into the Carpathian mountains we saw more and more snow, but just as in the Norwegian Tundra, the snow causes continuous damage to the roads so speeds were low. We actually arrived at the FENYO hotel in daylight and how nice it was to have a porter to help with our baggage. Again we were astonished at the incredibly low price of top-class food, the meal this time being veal stroganoff, expertly produced by our table with all the flourishes. We explained to the waitress that we wanted a really dry wine but, by our standards, the champagne was still demi-sec rather than sec as per their wine list. Al Barnett had mentioned that the local wines were all on the sweet side and now we can see what he meant. This top-class meal with all the trimmings still cost less than £25 including VAT at 19%.

Yesterday my plan was to visit the D12C from Patra-Neampt to Bicaz (as there is a section of road that makes Stelvio look like the M1) and to take photos, but sadly the trees had grown (as they do) and I could not get the perfect shot I desired. This road climbs up some 3,000ft with continuous hairpins then drops down again. In theory a fabulous driving road but here we come to the bad news about Romania. Basically it is still a poor country so whilst there is far more evidence of private business investment and building of really attractive new

houses than in Bulgaria, there just is not the money in central or local government to repair things like buses or roads. Later we would tackle the section of the A17 from Vatra Dornei to Bistrita (in the books known as Dracula's home town). Now this A17 has been designated by Brussels as the E576 but I bet that none of the b*****s from Brussels have ever driven along this road. Huge holes the size of a dust-bin lid and 3" to! 8" deep (I measured one) are common and normal holes and cracks are every few feet. Frequently you have to travel on the other side of the road to find the smoothest bits, and to note where other people swerve to avoid a bad hole. Sometimes you have to drive more than a mile in first or second gear at 5 to 15mph patiently trying to avoid the worst holes. On the so-called smooth sections there are still multiple holes and cracks every yard or so but I argued that it was better to try to fly over them at 60 to 70mph to minimise the discomfort and Jennifer eventually accepted this. Nevertheless the car (and its occupants) took a terrible battering and it really is a great credit to the engineers at Abingdon that the basic GT structure is so strong - but as above more than just a few squeaks and rattles developed. Lawrence Wood has made a number of charity-work trips to Romania and had warned me about the road conditions but as an ex-rally driver I was not worried about rough roads - but now his words were clearly very correct - even understated!

Currently we are at the four-star Carpati Hotel at Baia Mare, a sort of French Spa town with wide boulevards well planted with shrubs and plenty of shops and hotels. Much of the town centre and the flats have been rebuilt in modern but very attractive designs. The currency here is the LEI which you cannot buy in England, but after I produced my passport a bank gave me just over 4 MILLION LEI in exchange for 115 Euros - so roughly 1 million LEI equals £20 pounds sterling. Happily the hotel has just had a huge refurbishment which must have cost billions of LEI and not only has porters but also a same-day laundry service - very welcome on this sort of long trip! Our plan for today had originally to go to visit yet another palace but I felt that a day of rest for both ourselves and the car would be advisable before we go to Hungary tomorrow.

The economy in the country-side seems to be even more basic than in Bulgaria. Yesterday we started to count the number of horse-drawn vehicles we saw and gave up counting once we got to 150 but the total would have been close to 200. These are not the fine animals drawing smart traps which Jennifer used to judge in our equitation days - they are strictly working horses and carts - the carts usually being home-made and with car wheels/tyres. Most carts were drawn by two horses and often a foal of no more than a few weeks old would be trotting alongside - remember that foals can explode into a full gallop when only a day or so old so this trotting is no problem for the foals. We also counted the number of tractors - 12 - and the carts drawn by oxen - 14. In some of the huge open fields near to the villages you could see up to 50 or 100 people working with 10 or 12 horses.

There is a huge timber industry but it is not a regimented system like Sweden or Scotland where you see vast expanses of one species. I am not sure whether there is a proper planting regime or not, but the effect is a mixture of coniferous and deciduous all at differing stages of growth and absolutely delightful to look at - if you can take your eyes off the road and the continual search for cracks and dangerous holes. Most central heating is by wood-burning stoves or furnaces so we saw many pallets made up ready for delivery, with all the timber split and cut into half metre lengths

Yet again we drove through the dark to this hotel but this time the headlights worked OK. We saw numerous cars, motorbikes and cyclists without any lights at all. Also of course the carts do not have lights and if you crash into one it is the car driver's fault irrespective of what happened in real life.

So - tomorrow Hungary.