I'm back.

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Yes folks I made it to Boyana!!The car proved itself worthy yet again - the weather not so and me even less !
I got through to Romania with no problem and in less than 2 days, but then things deteriorated(surprise,surprise!).Firstly I was given the wrong direction to reach my E70 route after they failed to sign it anywhere. As a result i ended up much further east than expected. having worked out that this was so using the map it was by then too late to turn round so began the negotiation of snow covered roads,adorned with ice on top.Good tyres therefore had little effect.I made it down to the next major junction and headed south on the E road to Craiova. This took me through a serious of hairpin bends on narrow snowy roads through a beautiful gorge.Some 8 ft icicles hung from the rocks and open tunnels that the train goes through.Unfortunately my camera was buried at that stage and I did not want to waste any extra time finding it.However I have decided that it's worth a long weekend visit visit sometime during the summer. Even without the ice and turbulent icy green water it would still be very spectacular. At Craiova I went to get money for petrol from my Bulgarian a/c as the english one was negative at that time! It allowed me to have 50Lei even though I knew big money had not gone in. Went to get top up but it didn't 'let me so I thought I would try to get more out later in Bulgaria. I then went to the next door shop to see why I could get no reception for my orange phone.(It was an orange store who tried to flannel me that the English phone would not receive a signal).Later proved to be rubbish when I rang Sam's from the ferry( from Calafat to Vidin.)However in among all these upsets i managed to drop my card and frantic searches in and around the area and t hat of the car yielded nothing. I put the 50 lei in and pushed on to the ferry hoping with the few euros as well that I had left i would make it to Vidin. Having moved slowly on. because it had begun snowing hard and the road was white-over, I eventually arrived at the ferry terminal.Then ensued a 3 hour wait as the snow continued to fall and we waited for a fuller load of cars/lorries. Needless to say i 'glided' in to Vidin and parked up for the night in town to lick my wounds and decide on the next actions. I knew that there was every possibility of getting some money from my pound account in Bulgaria over the counter.Unfortunately this necessitated getting to Montana over the mountain road,in order to reach an Allianz branch. My undoing was towards the top of the steepest hill with no chance of a run at it because you are coming off a hairpin bend.The car slewed sidewards into the hedgerow and only returned to the road after 4X4 engaged and 4 burly men helping push. Back on the road I took my time and with the exception of 2 other stops on hills to wait for trains I arrived a t Montana. By then Sami had contacted me and offered to put money in my bank a/c in UK. Thanks to her for that.As it turned out I was able to get money out over the counter ,put a stop on the card and arrived safely at midnight to a warm welcome from Scruffy(M's dog) and M+G who had sat up on the off chance that I would make it back that day.I slept in their house that night and then next morning went to see how my house was looking and again got a raptorous welcome from Koochie and Bottie.Had a break over the weekend and then tried to work out why internet which i had paid was not working. Still don't know but M-Tel assure me that they are ok as is my line! Also my TV would not turn on so it is in for repair today, Globul phone is back working and the 43.34lv I paid in Montana proved not to have been credited because they typed in the wrong number by one digit!!Now waiting to see result of appeal lodged yesterday. So technology apart all other aspects of jobs to be done going well so far.Long may it last and as usual all should eventually come good. I will try to post some photos of trip separately when I am back working the internet from home. Bye,bye supergran.

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