Come on Eileen

My wife is leaving me. Fear not, it's only a temporary thing. Although she would love to do more of the trip ( it's getting hard to lever her out of the drivers seat at times), young Lucas will be wanting his mum back at home. Luckily, we happen to be camping within a couple of miles of Debrecen airport, so we can throw Jo out before we continue.

It's currently 6am and beginning to warm up again. Team Red 5 are up and about. They were hoping to get an early start, Doris the Morris is finding the stifling heat to be a little wearing. Her fuel pump coughs and splutters when she has been stopped at traffic lights and they are aware that the Carpathian Mountains may be a little hilly. Alas though, Harvey has promised to cast an eye over another vehicle and after their 35 hour trip, I'm guessing Team Trauma won't be up at the crack of dawn. Amba apparently made it in to camp last night but then dumped a load of fluid from the power steering. This might prove to make driving a little harder, with a 3.5 tonne vehicle and a few twists and turns in the mountains. 

Team Supid have also run in to problems. Billy and Sam had decided to pop in at Switzerland on their way over (why ???? It's not exactly a direct route, UK to Switzerland to Hungary. It seems their Supra didn't appreciate being ragged for 2 solid days. They are currently holed up in a hotel in Linz, Austria awaiting a recovery firm to assess their vehicle, but it's looking like a blown gear box. They may have to consider plan B. 

Team Like A Sweed have fallen foul of the law in Slovakia. They accidentally drifted on to a motorway without a vignette and got pulled over. They were told to leave the country that day. They were planning on doing so anyway. 

Our day yesterday was a pleasant one. The drive through a rustic looking Slovakia was pleasant. 

Winding roads, huge swathes of greenery. Tress and fields with the odd lake. We made good progress to Dobsinska, only to link up with Milly and the Nightmares to find out the caves we were looking for we're 25 miles back the other way. We took in the hills and the scenery once more to find the Swannies, Mowlam Mob and Team Terras vehicles already in the car park. 

A 20 minute hill climb through the heat of late morning led us to the entrance. It was odd. An extremely hot day but every so often you would get a chilly blast of air swirling around your legs. 

From 30+ degrees outside, it seemed strange seeing a build up of ice around the cave entrance. Inside was a refreshing minus 2. 

Wow. What a stunning location. It's a World Heritage site and you could see why. 

Ice formations, stalagmites and stalagtites making amazing displays. 

We returned to the sweltering heat for lunch. 

Now I'm occasionally known to try something unusual on a menu. Jim and Jo however took this to a new level. Chicken stuffed with ham in cream with fruit. It was exactly how it was described. Squirty cream from an aerosol, small cocktail sticks with olives and strawberries on, all with chicken and ham. And chips. 

I did quite fancy the 'Cornish style pies'. Aren't they pasties ?

And so on to the camp site in Debrecen. The thermal spa was a disconcerting brown colour but it was a pleasant spot to chill out after a long drive. The Windy travelling community had formed up and had been enjoying the cheap draught lager and trying to converse with the completely non English speaking owner and her voluptuous daughter. 

Today we are off again. Could be a long one, especially for those of us with no power steering. Transylvania beckons after we tackle the Carpathian Mountains. Eileen arrives too, at the airport of Turgu Meres. Real name of Steve, but we have so many, he'll just have to be called by his nickname. 

Onward !