Romania - Clive's House and Excursions

[clivehorridge]

Your very lucky mate we are babysitting tonight so Helen's happy and i'm thinking she will agree to a move when the midgets are married

It's my piece of heaven Shayne. I'm in my element at this time of the year.

Moving here is something else, but maybe you'll take to it. I came by chance and I love it here, but I'm lucky having Aura and the lingo

 

[Gary820]

Nice bit of colour coming through. Got daffodils and moss in our garden lol

 

[clivehorridge]

Nice bit of colour coming through. Got daffodils and moss in our garden lol

Yep, we've had our daffs, it's tulips now. No shame Gary, we've got plenty of moss too!

Thankfully, with hot summers, it gets burned off every year so it doesn't take over.

 

[clivehorridge]

Sunday 17 April 2016

Did a bit in the garden yesterday, planted 7 standard roses a sweet cherry tree and a peach tree, cut the grass, well most of it and watched the apple blossom falling like snow in the breeze.











At mid-day it was about 22C and dry, so I thought a little trip out would be nice. Nothing new to anyone, if you've followed any of these posts, so it was up the track from my place to the village of Secaria, and then along the horse and cart track up, up and up some more, all the way to Azuga, about 35 km of mountain top offroad.

First stop was at about 1,540 m (so my compass AP tells me)



So I stood on the roof rack and did a pirouette ... (Turn the volume down because it was a bit breezy, and all these vids & photos are only iPhone & iPad, guess who left the camera bag at home again )

the truck



the view across to Sinaia and Bucegi



A 7 yr old, with attitude...



And, about 7 short video clips took us to about 1,750 m



So, here we go... (Again, turn off the sound, it's only Swimbo yapping, or her 95 yr old father... or my daughter, all in foreign...)

Vid 1

Vid 2


Some mountain flowers in last year's dead grass








Some snow


Even a a very poor attempt at a snow man (correction, very small child)


Viws galore




Vid 3

Vid 4

After having a few snow moments, I asked the better-half to run ahead with the iPad....

Vid 5

Then it was the decent down to the top of Azuga's ski slopes...

Vid 6











Next is the decent down to the village, but it's quite narrow and with a sheer drop on the left, at one point, where there was a lot of snow, the missus said no! You know what that means

Vid 7

So after a 5 point turn on a track the same width as the length of my wheelbase, we went back to find another way down. Now here you get no photos, it was that bad. You know, when you're busy, too busy to photo it, well that's how busy I was.

We got stuck.

Yes, I know, it's an 80, but I was stuck. A steep decent, very deep wash-out on the right, and all covered with old snow. Yep, the right rear slid into the wash-out, the front did the same, and the front axle diff buried itself into the edge of the track. We were rocking, left to right, with none of the wheels with any weight on them, to speak of.

Bugger, out came the ground anchor, because there was not a single tree in sight. It ripped out. And again, in fact, the ground was so soft it tore out 5 times. By now, I'm getting bothered. Then, as my Father in law described it, we were recused by Martians...

7 leather-clad bikers and quadders, with full face helmets, stopped to help, and they did the trick! Sitting on the bank on my low side, level with the roof rack, all together on a count of three, they pushed sideways and gave all the weight to the Tera-firma wheels.

Yippee, off we went like a bobsleigh, and the track was great after that!

So it was down, down, down through the forest next, and out onto Tarmac, for a 2 hrs traffic jam ride home (bloody weekend traffic, a 30 minute ride taking 2 hrs, not happy).

All in all, a great afternoon out, and the old truck didn't miss a beat as usual.

 

[Shayne]

Vids just don't do the place justice do they mate . I remember thinking while there that i could take a photo every couple of seconds and still not capture a true glimpse of the place . I think i recognize that bit where you turned around on the failed descent iirc I was trying to encourage Helen to take a look at the drop on the left (i couldn't see anything but the edge from the drivers seat) and instead she convinced me that she would go through me to get out the driver side window

 

[clivehorridge]

Vids just don't do the place justice do they mate . I remember thinking while there that i could take a photo every couple of seconds and still not capture a true glimpse of the place . I think i recognize that bit where you turned around on the failed descent iirc I was trying to encourage Helen to take a look at the drop on the left (i couldn't see anything but the edge from the drivers seat) and instead she convinced me that she would go through me to get out the driver side window

Thats the place!

Had the iPad vertically to get less vibration, and that narrowed the view too much in the vids. I'm knackered TBH, it was hard work for an hour trying to free the truck, we owe our escape to the Martians, great bunch of lads!

 

[StarCruiser]

I bet those bikers felt ten feet tall after rescuing a stuck 80.

What was the mood with your passengers during this teetering?

 

[Shayne]

Ah i wasn't commenting on your camera skills Clive i'm sure you know what i mean when i say the essence of the place just can't be caught on film , when we see a photo showing miles of sand dunes its easy to sort of mentally transport yourself there , your "plains of heaven" mountain has the same sort of majestic feel but i think maybe only a flyover video would show it for what it is .

 

[Chas]

Some good stuff there, thanks Clive, vid 5 looked a bit slippy slidey.

 

[clivehorridge]

I bet those bikers felt ten feet tall after rescuing a stuck 80.

What was the mood with your passengers during this teetering?

Strangely calm and collected Rich, TBH.

Daughter Ana was running around enjoying herself, father in law was sunbathing, and our other guest, a middle aged woman was helping with fetching and carrying along with my wife.

I was the one quietly panicking because all efforts were failing till the Martians landed !!

 

[clivehorridge]

Ah i wasn't commenting on your camera skills Clive i'm sure you know what i mean when i say the essence of the place just can't be caught on film , when we see a photo showing miles of sand dunes its easy to sort of mentally transport yourself there , your "plains of heaven" mountain has the same sort of majestic feel but i think maybe only a flyover video would show it for what it is .

Sure Shayne, I know. The only way to experience it is to, well, experience it! See you in September (if not before).

Actually, one of those Lily "follow-me" type drones would be excellent.

 

[clivehorridge]

Some good stuff there, thanks Clive, vid 5 looked a bit slippy slidey.

Where the track was wide enough, it was a bit of fun to "have a go" but on the narrow parts, it was a bit "iffy"...

 

[StarCruiser]

Strangely calm and collected Rich, TBH.

Daughter Ana was running around enjoying herself, father in law was sunbathing, and our other guest, a middle aged woman was helping with fetching and carrying along with my wife.

I was the one quietly panicking because all efforts were failing till the Martians landed !!

I was wondering if you had got a hard time or whether your good lady was keeping quiet as it was because of her not wanting to go through the snow that you ended up in that situation.

Girlies of course sometimes don't see things in this sort of way … [emoji4]

 

[Shayne]

Part of the beauty of the place is the casual and friendly indifference of the locals , before we got to Clive's i asked in a shop if there any public toilets nearby and without so much as a blink the lady led Helen behind the counter to the door into her house and returned to her work without thought for the stranger upstairs in her home . Another time i pulled into someones garden (about the size of Clive's) because i had taken a wrong turn and needed to turn around , there was a bunch of people sat on the patio so i put my hands up in apology and they just laughed at my mistake and gave me a happy wave .

Even the martians i bet took no specific pride in Clive's rescue , its just the done thing .

 

[StarCruiser]

It's things like this is Brits miss as it has been gradually and brutally eroded from our society and only isolated pockets of it remain. It is much the same in Canada as you describe but we sometimes encounter it here too. Gladdens the heart when it happens.

 

[clivehorridge]

It's things like this is Brits miss as it has been gradually and brutally eroded from our society and only isolated pockets of it remain. It is much the same in Canada as you describe but we sometimes encounter it here too. Gladdens the heart when it happens.

Now you guys mention it, I realize that it's true and it's one of the things that makes the place a pleasure to live and be part of. Kids of all ages including teenagers say hello to you when you pass in the street, in fact most people will greet you as you pass, even though they're complete strangers.

Helping out someone in trouble is common place, it would be frowned upon to pass without offering. I remember a BMW parked on the hard shoulder of the motorway and we weren't in a hurry. We pulled over and the guy said the clutch had completely gone, totally mobile. But, he'd phoned his brother and he was on the way to tow him home. However, they were worried because he hadn't shown up and their phone battery had died to give him directions. Aura thought nothing of it, gave the lady her phone that was fully charged, gave her our address and said pop it in whenever is convenient. Aura had 2 phones BTW, but there was nothing stopping the woman from absconding with an iPhone.

Aura's also lost her phone 4 times now (you'd think she'd learn) in the snow on various occasions. Every time, someone has found it and called one of the numbers to trace the owner.

Aura's main problem with the truck and offroad related things is her lack of understanding of mechanics or rather the physics. She was insisting to dig snow out from under the wheels in the ditch, and I knew very well that the problem was the diff casing buried in the track. Yes, I understand, she said, but it will help if we can shift this snow Aaarrrggghh!

Bless 'em.

 

[clivehorridge]

Part of the beauty of the place is the casual and friendly indifference of the locals , before we got to Clive's i asked in a shop if there any public toilets nearby and without so much as a blink the lady led Helen behind the counter to the door into her house and returned to her work without thought for the stranger upstairs in her home . Another time i pulled into someones garden (about the size of Clive's) because i had taken a wrong turn and needed to turn around , there was a bunch of people sat on the patio so i put my hands up in apology and they just laughed at my mistake and gave me a happy wave .

Even the martians i bet took no specific pride in Clive's rescue , its just the done thing .

They let up a big cheer when the truck took off, that's for sure Oh, and one of the bikes reccied the track further down to be sure there was no more deep snow, that was well worth knowing and he did it without asking or even telling us, till he returned. I thought he'd gone on his way.

 

[SpinDrift]

Great vids, beautiful country and nice house Clive.

 

[Shayne]

On our first morning in Romania camping before reaching your house i went off in search of a shop needing tobacco , i met a young lad walking the opposite way so i stopped and asked for directions . He did not speak English so with a bit of miming he produced his cigarettes and offered me one . I'm sure he was chuffed to beans that there was a crowd sat outside the shop drinking coffee to see him arrive standing on my sidestep

Then there was that morning at your house when i nipped down to that tiny little shop that sells every motor oil you can think of , again the language barrier was there but i did begin to wonder if i might have to stay for a cuppa so as not to be impolite before i left . I probably forgot to mention that when you guys eventually got out of your beds

 

[clivehorridge]

Great vids, beautiful country and nice house Clive.

Thanks Reinhard, you know you're welcome to pass by if you're in the locale, always beer in the fridge