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Romania 2016 - Comarnic visit in September

We've had a good run out today along the ridge between Seceria and Azuga. Weather fine, warm and no rain, so no complaints. Went to fuel up this morning and my "dead for the last 3 weeks" fuel gauge started working again!

We took the scratchy narrow Offroad Lane up to the start of the ridge run, and I lost one of the rear air-vent trims.

Luckily, Helen remembered seeing it hanging from a bush, so before it went dark, we took a ride back up the track and found it!

All's well that.... :clap:

Photos to come, but not too many....
 
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OK, a bit of an update, with some photos this time (if I can get them to show in something like the right order).

Starting from the beginning, Brendan Lally gave me a call on Sunday (4th September) to say he was in Brasov and had missed the train down to our village, so I popped up there to collect him, and we took a little ride out to Bolboc reservoir.

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We moved on to the Pestera Monastery... this is the approach by foot up to the entrance gate to a cave in the cliff-face...

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Inside the cave is this cute little church

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Brendan's no slouch when it comes to overlanding, in 2014 he made his way back from Alaska to the UK via the USA, South America, and after shipping his 80 to the Cape, back up through South Africa, Eastern Africa, Syria and across Europe from East to West. 30,000 miles across 4 continents with 3 kids in a year!

Nice guy, thanks Brendan for sharing your experiences and popping by.

Next to show (on Monday 5th) was Shayne & Helen in the mighty 90, with Chas in his "characteristic" 80. Welcome back guys!!

We weren't home when they arrived late in the afternoon, we were dropping Brendan back to Brasov. That meant that they'd had time for a shower and they'd put the kettle on, so there was a brew waiting for us when we got home!

Next day (Tuesday 6th) we went up on the ridge. It was fine, dry and sunny. We stopped just outside Seceria on the start of the track and Chas & Shayne aired down a bit to shed the motorway economy pressures in their Cooper SSTs.

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I didn't bother, so I sat having a ciggy while they sorted themselves out. The climb up to the ridge was waiting for us patiently....

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The going was effortless, perfect weather and good visibility. We stopped at the first natural vantage point at 1,550 m or so, for the obligatory line-up shots.

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... and from the good side... :whistle:

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I'm not posting too many photos because there's already a plethora of pics from similar runs along this ridge on other posts, but I did notice a "new" memorial stone on the way...

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Apparently, a 34 year old 4 x 4 driver was doing a multi-point turn on this narrow track, lost control and his truck rolled down the mountain. Luckily his wife and 2 young kids jumped or were thrown clear unhurt, but sadly he lost his life to the incident. Another reminder that the mountain is not forgiving and the slightest error can end in disaster. RIP Marius Georgescu.

Thankfully, our trip was without incident and back at base-camp we all settled down to a cuppa, a well earned meal (thanks to Aura) and a few bevvies...

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Next day (Wednesday 7th), we ventured to the Seven Springs cascade, not far from home, at the back of the Bucegi range of the Carpathian Mountains. This pic is taken from the top, but it's been so dry since June, the falls were not very impressive at all.

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Looking up towards the power-house ...

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A bit further on was the hydro reservoir, Lacul Scropoasa where our 8 year-old daughter Ana enjoyed the ducks...

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In the heart of the mountains, every view was pine and rocks, and occasional foreigners out for a stroll, mentioning no names Chas...

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This was actually a nostalgia trip for my wife Aura, she'd last been here on a school trip when she was about 11 years old :icon-biggrin:.

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... and some classic views of the mountains as we got back onto tarmac for the descent back down to civilisation...

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On Thursday 8th, we took the forest road up Valea Doftane which eventually comes out at a village called Secele, on the outskirts of Brasov.

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The blue skies continued with temps around 25C which was rather pleasant. It was still dry so Shayne's truck was gathering dust as he was the "sweeper" taking up the rear of the trio.

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Chas' 80 wasn't much different as he was following me...
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We found a hill track going back into the forest, quite irresistible as it was quite a steep one, well, you have to don't you...? Shayne's 90 romped it, as you'd imagine, up....

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... and down...

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My truck did too, but I think my photographer Aura was trying to suggest that it wasn't steep at all... funny though, I've not seen pine trees growing at that angle...

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Safely down. As Chas was slightly older, and somewhat wiser, he stayed on terra-firma and I guess he thought it was all a bit childish...

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A bit further on, we found a nice little spot by the stream, just right for a BBQ, some leisurely drinks and a chin-wag.

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It was a nice spot, so we chilled... while the chicken grilled.

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Eventually, we pressed on to the end of the valley where it widens and horses graze on the open grass areas...

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Then we emerged in Secele and headed home on the rather busy DN1 back to Comarnic.

Friday 9th took us to the picnic spot by the river that we've adopted, good fun for a splash in the shallow water, and more BBQ.

While I was getting the BBQ lit and some grub on, Chas decided to drive along the river to the start of the "deeper" bit just before the hydro-lake barrage. Not such a good idea, marked only by the lack of photos here. I hope Helen posts some of the video/pics she took of Chas, whilst he was crackling on the CB something about his trousers getting wet while his 80 was churning up the silt, going absolutely nowhere.

Oh bugger, so muggins hot-footed it in my 80, up behind him at a safe distance, not wanting to be anywhere that would stop me pulling him out. There I was in my undies, wading in slimy mud and silt to attach a winch-line to his up-to-my-shoulder-in-cold-river-water recovery point.

It was strange though, while pulling him, and despite loads of revs and churning bubbles coming from his zorst, his rear wheels weren't going round. In fact none of his wheels were going round as I dragged him backwards.

Mmmm, something not quite right there I thought... :think:

Back on dry land, he gave it some revs and the Auto 80 started to creep forward. Eventually he got back to our impromptu BBQ site and we started the diagnosis of what might have happened to kill his reverse gear and make the forward drive rather lazy, to say the least.

Some emergency SMS messages to Julian V and a lot of umming-'n'- ahh'ing, we decided his auto box was well and truly drowned. The ATF looked like Heinz's finest mayo and reverse gear simply didn't work. Forward gears did though (of a fashion) so we limped him back to base-camp for a dry-out and an unplanned change of ATF and some dry clothing.

Maybe more about this later...

On Saturday 10th, we visited the Salt Mine about an hour and a half's drive from us. A strange experience, as they loaded us into dodgy looking Iveco mini-busses, and set off through the village where we promptly disappeared into a tunnel and started a spiral descent.

What greeted us (even with some warning) was quite stunning. These chambers deep underground, were at the least 40-50m high.

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The biggest FO chainsaw I'll ever see ... the blade is about 2 m long and the teeth are carbide or diamond...

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A bit difficult to photograph because the light was quite low, and no photo really captures the sheer height and scale of this place.

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The strata in the rock salt was quite impressive and you can see folds both in the foreground and the background, cut-faces.
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So, after cooling down in the bowels of the earth (or rocks more-like) we stopped by our little river spot for more BBQ.....

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Some beer (Chas had another mishap shutting his can in the door...)...

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Marshmallow toasting for afters...

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Which went down well with choco-dip for one in particular...

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and the customary fireside natter till it went dark...

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More to follow....

A quick edit...

1. It's 3:15 am and I should be in bed;
2. I think I have the days mixed up a bit; and
3. Where did these photos come from?

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Correction your honor that should read I couldn't resist the hill climb challenge and Clive couldn't resist proving his truck is almost as good as mine by following :icon-wink:

Apologies to all for neglecting to update I can only explain its a consequence of where we are at . Time flies when your having fun as they say and each event sort of flows into the next until we arrive home each evening and sit on Clives veranda yawning not tired but just so relaxed that conversation seems unnecessary , too content doing nothing to even contemplate what tomorrow may bring .

I love Romania every trip short or long offers an off road short cut right where you least expect it and some roads simply run out of Tarmac and then your running on gravel and the next minute your twisting axles while looking at smooth tar just ahead . Giggle factor ludicrous :lol:
 
you guys appear to be having lots of fun......camp fires, beer, 4x4 ing :)
I hope your gear box is OK Chas
 
you guys appear to be having lots of fun......camp fires, beer, 4x4 ing :)
I hope your gear box is OK Chas

We've all got our fingers crossed. It's the only not so good event of the visit, such a shame. I know next to nothing about autos and the real puzzler for us is one minute you can dip the level and the ATF shows full, the next minute there's no sign of ATF on the dipstick.

The colour and texture is good now at least.

First off we drained it as much as we could, exactly 5lt came out, grey/white mayo.

Topped up with 5lt of fresh and drove it around the block using all gears and shift positions.

Drained again, and it was the same story, 5lt and grey/white mayo. Topped up with fresh but the level looked way too high, above the top mark.

Repeated the process, but this time it was 5lt of pink mayo that drained off, and because of the level problem, we topped up with 3lt of fresh and the level looked right on the distick.

It drives fine now (generally), except for reverse, which is juddery. We then dipped again and can see nothing on the stick, so we put 2lt more in.

That's all I can say what to do?

Chas has plenty of choices.

He can drive it to Bucharest and leave it at my trusted service and go home on a plane, or stay with us till it's fixed. Or he can chance it and drive the 1300 miles home knowing he has recovery cover to get the truck back to the UK if it fails.

Trouble is, if he has it fixed here and needs a replacement gearbox, we don't have any second-hand options here.
 
Looks like you are all having a great trip (gearbox aside) some great trails and BBQ
The salt mines look absolutely amazing, being a geologist I am fascinated by the bedding patterns and folding of the layers, superb thanks for showing them!
 
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Looks like you are all having a great trip (gearbox aside) some great trails and BBQ
The salt mines look absolutely amazing, being a geologist I am fascinated by the bedding patterns and folding of the layers, superb thanks for showing them!

TBH Andy, I was thinking of you while we were down there. The strata (if that's the right word) was so obvious, whereas in some cases on cliffs and such like, there's something missing or hidden and you have to imagine the 'bit in between'.

Down there, it was like looking at history, millions of years of it all at once. It was quite breathtaking on such a massive scale.
 
Brilliant photos and write up, looks a great trip.

Sounds like what my gearbox did in the floods earlier this year, sump off might not be a bad idea, if possible pipes off for the oil cooler and make sure clear too.
 
We tried a track that runs alongside the river yesterday, but came across a landslide area of dried out heavy clay. It was too rough to cross really, but I had to have a reccy.

Anyway we decided to give it a go with Shayne in attendance.

Sadly, it doesn't look at all difficult in the videos...

Vid 1

Vid 2
 
A couple of vids of Shayne playing in the river on the last day, I think he was just bored waiting for the BBQ food to cook....

Vid #1

Vid #2
 
Home now feeling more relaxed than i have in years , must be the salt mine medicinal proprieties :whistle:

Joking aside can't thank you all enough mate your place really is a home from home :thumbup:

Would you believe Helen's truck was left open in the backyard for the whole fortnight :doh:
 
Some random pics in no particular order and apologies in advance for the quality and content

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There you go i'm not a camera person as pics i always feel tell less than half the story so it was left forgotten in the cubby for the most part I'm sure Helen has some better stuff including me stalling the engine in the first ever chance i ever had to get a vid of my truck in the rough :doh:but that's all on hateful touchscreen gadgets so will have to wait .
 
Home now feeling more relaxed than i have in years , must be the salt mine medicinal proprieties :whistle:

Joking aside can't thank you all enough mate your place really is a home from home :thumbup:

Would you believe Helen's truck was left open in the backyard for the whole fortnight :doh:
Yes!
Lynn has been known to leave hers open overnight on occasion. So have I if the truth be told. Left the Smart unlocked (as it had no ECU at the time) while we were in Iceland and came back to find it had been 'inspected' along with the neighbour's car.

Ho hum!
 
I will post a bit in the morning when I've recovered from driving about 1300 miles home with a dicky gearbox.
 
And there it was, all over. :icon-cry: I think I must have been hibernating or something as I could have sworn you had only just left.
 
Yep. Just about sums up the whole visit really, a relaxing time of play, eating, drinking and sleeping, all in moderation of course :whistle:

You all had a lot of fun,bad luck for Chas but that's life.Your home looks pretty
good to me,Clive.
 
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