Gidday all,

Got word from Mulders they would be in Bulgaria soon, so decided being so close we would meet them. Headed for Hungary then through Romania into Bulgaria. Took fastest route, only two days through Romania, very crowded and crazy drivers. Stopped at a truck resting stop for the night in Romania , lovely lady who sells drinks and snacks in attached little shop/bar. Gave her a few euros to camp up, she was very happy.

In Grabovo Bulgaria waiting to meet up, booked into hotel 3star with breakfast, $30.00 a night.  Horse and carts everywhere even on the hiways, and dogs. Weather still hot in 30s.            

 

 

 

    

 

                                                            decorated houses in Romania

                                                         church spires in the village

                                                         haystacks in the paddock

                                                       passing through Romanian villages

                                                  boarder control Hungary Romania

                                                                    more haystacks

                                                        people live there. Romania

                                                                    small village

                                                            over the river lies Serbia

                                                         the rest stop we camped at

Horse and cart on hiway

Gidday all,

From Poland into Czech Republic, a colourful pretty country. Stopped for lunch at a little village, intricately cobbled streets and neat colourful buildings. Very cheap here to. Still have a few weeks before we have to be back in Switzerland so will slip through Slovakia and into Hungary, the bits we didn’t do last time.

 

                  

 

   

 

 

 

    

 

                                                     Churches and castles everywhere

                                                          don't know which this one is

                                                         Chateaux de Kermit's granddad

                                          village we lunched in, intricately cobbled streets

                                                         ancient buildings on the roadway

                                                      giant eagle on the hillside

 

 

Map ran out

Now traveling through Poland, the roads didn't get better for a while, but are good again now. You can see the difference from Latvia, a bit brighter. In a small village somewhere, decided to splash out and got a hotel room for the night, cost all of $30.00,ten went to restaurant, had meal and couple of beers coffee and spent $20.00. Might stick around
Poland is beautiful and friendly, when we can communicate.

And hey Jonny yes we saw your comment, must be working ok now.

                                                 camped near this back yard, very colourful

                                               one of Polands weird and wonderful buildings

                                                               roadworks everywhere

                                                       this cobbled road went for12ks

                                                          windmills on the roadside

                                                      another wonderful Polish building

                                                          beautiful timber work

                                                  there are Russians over that fence

                              the corner point of Russia Lithuania and Poland, Din in Russia

                                       one of the few remaining really old bridges in Poland

Gidday all,

Latvia, what can I say, a bit depressing in some parts, their cities and towns could do with a makeover, very concrete and colourless. The people seem stand offish, won’t wave back or it could be just us. Nice countryside though, took a larger road but had roadwork for about 60k so was a bit slow.

 The temps been in the 30s for about a week, thought we would escape summer temps like that but no.

 

                  

 

   

 

 

 

    

 

                                                           old border crossing at Latvia

                                                         on the edge of the Baltic sea

                                                                      map update

                                                        old campground in Latvia

                                                             another abandoned mansion

                                                                  great stonework

                                                             toilets are basic in Latvia

                                                            restoration in progress

Great old cart

Gidday all,

Down through the middle of Finland all the way to Helsinki, where we looked into ferrying across to Estonia. The one leaving that afternoon had no car spaces left so we booked on for the next morning. Also booked a room, only two and half hour journey but much more comfortable, and only 20 euro more. Then went looking for a place to camp for the night, not easy in Helsinki city. Found a non metered car park near the ferry terminal so parked there and watched the harbour and boats pass by.

So now half way through Estonia and heading to Latvia, then Lithuania ,Poland, Czech or Slovakia then Austria and Switzerland maybe, things may change as they often do. Look thing is, who t f knows where we are because we don’t even know what day it is.

                                                                         route update

                                                            waiting to board in Helsinki

                                                         just off the road Estonia

                                                           nest with a view Estonia

                                                                  wonderful old churches

                                                              decaying mansions

                                                             complete with ghosts

                                                             buildings in Estonian city

                                                                          typical house

 

 

Estonia, full of desolate, decaying 17^th century mansions and Russian like industrial buildings, very interesting.

 

       

        

 

 

 

                  

 

   

 

 

 

    

 

                  

 

   

 

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

    

 

Gidday all,

Crossing over the Arctic Circle line again, we called in to see Santa, who took some time out from his busy silly season preparations to have a chat. Wanted to mention the grandkids, but in the excitement, forgot.

Saw our first Moose on the road today. He took off before we could get a photo, big as a horse. Still 24hrs daylight, quite warm, in the 30s today.

                  

 

   

 

 

 

    

 

                                                                          our route

                                                             both sides of the circle

                                                                   Santa lives here

                                                           north pole planking

                                                             told you Santa was here

                                                                 in Santa's living room

                                                 this website tells you what it thinks of you

                                                             reindeer antlers anyone?

All sorts of stuff for sale