Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Well it's been a while since I last wrote anything but so much has gone on.
We're finally here in Hungary :o)
I sold my Lada Niva and bought a Ducati 900ss to take to Hungary.
We moved out of our house in Rossendale on May 30th, put the cats into a cattery and ourselves at my Mother's and Erika's mother's. Things dragged on a little longer than we expected due to getting totally ripped off with a people carrier that we bought... a £2,000 repair bill later and we were ready to go on May 30th. Thankyou to all those who helped in any way they could. It's been really hard to leave everyone behind and we're missing people very much.
We set off at 4.15am and headed for the 12 o'clock sailing from Dover to Dunkerque. Just before we boarded the ferry a warning light came on but I ignored it and it bother us again until we reached Brussels and the most horrendous traffic jam when the light re-appeared. To cut a long story short, we spent 2 hours on the hard shoulder waiting for everything to cool down and find out what the warning light was. It turned out to probably be the oil thinning due to excessive strain on the engine.
Instead of reaching Wurzburg for an overnight stay on the 1st night we only made it as far as a motel near Aachen. This was the 1st taste of freedom for the cats who'd been stuck in a large cage in the back of the car for over 20 hours.
The next morning I checked the oil level and realised that I'd slightly overfilled it the day before so we drove a few miles up the motorway then pulled in at a service stop. My intention was to slacken the drain bolt in the sump and let a small amount of oil out. Unfortunately the oil wouldn't drip out and before I knew what was happenining the bolt had come out completely and my hand was being covered in extremely hot oil so I had to watch 5 litres of oil pour all over the floor. After asking a few people for help with no success, I came across a friendly German who didn't speak English but understood that I needed to get some oil and he drove me to the next town then returned me to the layby. I filled the sump and we were off once again.
Later that day I contacted my insurance company to confirm some details with them only to find that they'd cancelled my insurance earlier that day due to a minor technicality. They said there was nothing they could do but I could re-instate it via the internet!!! Great when you're in a lay-by in Germany. Anyway I phoned the AA and sorted insurance out with them (I'm dreading my mobile phone bill).
We stopped that night at a motel near Linz in Austria having travelled the length of Germany and part of Austria that day. The next day there were no problems and we reached Erika's cousin's house in Maklar near Eger at around 4pm. We left the trailer there and headed home to our little house in Almar.
The following day we collected the trailer and drove it to Sirok to unload it. I managed to bend the towbar on the car as I reversed the trailer and it got stuck! Then rode the bike back to Maklar where it's stayed so far.
Since arriving we've arranged a plumber to finish off the work that Joe and I started last August so we now have flushing toilets and running water. We've also got an electrician to re-wire part of the house to suit our needs and he should be finished in the next couple of days. Joe, Anne and family have been over for a week and it was great to see them and drive around looking for a house for them. We've been introduced to the owner of a school teaching English to children and Erika starts her training in August ready to start work in September. Hopefully I'll also be able to get some work there.
The Hungarian Bike Week started In Sirok yesterday and w ewere due to go down today and pitch our tent but the weather's turned cold and very wet so we may not go, which is a shame as we were looking forward to it. Hopefully it'll pick up by the weekend as up to now we've had some ridiculously hot days.
Anyway that's enough for now. I'll try not to leave it so long next time.