[Romania]

No problem, I will keep you posted.

You are right about respecting the bears. Looked after two shepherds at my time at the local hospital after being mauled by bears. Keep a big distance when they have cubs! They don't have the best eye sight, so clap every 200 meters when walking along forest trails. When they hear this they leave the path and into the forest. Most of the time they prefer to avoid trouble.

Paul

Bears with cubs are dangerous to put it mildly. In BC the advice was to have a bell on your rucksack which tinkled with every step that you took. The rangers there had problems with campsites and bears as the bears found ready supplies of food there. Sometimes they had to relocate the bears and in extrme circumstances had to kll the bears to protect people.. That was a sad situation.

Animals can become dependent on walkers for food which can cause difficulties for the animals concerned.

Regards

Leeds

[Romania]

Yes, I will keep you up to speed. There is a good chance I will be there in September, and any help at all would be welcomed. It will be important to put together trips that are balanced with driving and interesting sites and things to do. What may be interesting to me may not be so to others. If you are in the area you could try them out, or help me put together some from your previous experiences.

One of my most memorable trips was a long drive into the mountains with a local friend that I worked with. We met up with a ranger, and carried on into the forest by foot. We sat in a little wooden hut and waited for bears to venture from the forest at dusk into a meadow. It was the first time I had seen a bear in the wild and really was one of the most memorable events in my life. These are the sort of trips I would like to plan for others.

Cheers, Paul.

PS Didn't bother waiting for him to disappear to make a cuppa this time actually signed in on my own.

Yes but she pinched my laptop to do it. [tongue]

Wait for the excuses to come now!!

The only place I have seen bears in the wild is in the Rockies in BC Canada. Fascinating creatures. Need to give them lots of respect.

Keep us up to speed about when you intend doing recces etc.

Regards

Leeds

[Romania]

Kezdi-Szentlelek (Sanzieni) is where I have my land. A village close to Targu Secuiesc in Jud Covasna. For map purposes refer to the name in brackets which is the Romanian spelling, the former being the Hungarian version. Predominantly Hungarian population in that area. I am aiming at starting the business within the next twelve months. Just setting up web site at the moment, which is fun when you consider how cr*p I am with IT. The most important thing is that I get out there and research the routes, which I hope to do next spring.

How do you get 2/3 months off work? You must have a dream employer, that lets you go for such long periods.

Cheers,

Paul.

Will you be in Romania in Sept/Oct 07?

Keep us all informed about your research. Do you need any help?

As for employers, that is on a need to know basis. You don't need to know. IF I told you I would have to KILL you. LOL

Regards

Leeds

[standing cars]

I'll look after it for you

In the motorcycle world I have heard of the following (just perm any from the list per your own thoughts):

Change the oil (old oil is acidic aparently)

Change the anti-freeze (to gain max anti-corrosion properties)

Clean and spray everything with WD40

Do the tyres with one of those rubber preserver sprays (don't do the tread though!) As an asside on tyres - and OTT for a 4x4 - bikers will also emery the tread after a layup to remove the oxide layer before use.

Once it's off the ground, pry out the brake pads just a little (make sure you have room in the fluid reservoir)

Remover the plugs and put a SMALL spray of WD40 in each, turn the engine over and then replace the plugs.

Drain the fuel system (old petrol forms a gum on anything it's in contact with - although this is unlikely to cause any problems in a single six month layup, if you are going to do it every year then it may be worth the effort.)

Alternatively to all of the above, all I do is run the engine for about an hour once a month to get it thoroughly hot, at the end of which I turn the RRC around to move it on the tyres and brakes. Oh and of course I leave the handbrake off and condition/charge the battery.

or....

I'll look after it for you

Rog

Thanks Rog.

Whereabouts is LS26

By the way the URL's on your website are invalid!!! Will go get my coat

Regards

Leeds

[Romania]

That is a big trip. How long will it take you? Will you be going to a different area of Romania this time?

Cheers, Paul

That trip will probbly be split into two. The midnight sun/Arctic circle/Nord Kapp will be May/June time. The Swedish 20th is in August so am hoping to leave the 110 in Sweden with a mod on another foum. Fly back to Sweden to collect it July/August, attend the Scandiavian events then head down towards Eastern Europe. That section will be 2/3 months

Note how plans are set in stone??

What part of Romania will you be based in? When do yo think you will be settled there?

Regards

Leeds

[standing cars]

Going to leave a vehicle standing for about 4-6 months. It's in a dry secure garage. Besides battery being on a trickle charge what else is sensible to do?

Thinking of putting it on axle stands, with handbrake off.

Any other precautions recomended?

It's a 3.9 EFi V8 hybrid if that makes any difference.

Regards

Leeds

[Romania]

Asturias - Northern Spain.

Ferry is booked and we escape as soon as I break up for Christmas. Got a few contacts for off roading in that neck of the woods via the Spanish Land Rover Club forum. We shall be going to stay with friends in Oviedo but getting out into the countryside as much as possible. The people on the Spanish Land Rover forum have been very helpful, it's a shame they don't have an English language section like the Swedish one, we are fortunate that I speak it. Though I have had to learn some new vocabulary in both English and Spanish. Some how thingy, doobry firkin and the Spanish equivalent don't always do.

Barbara

Leeds is in the kitchen on teamaking duty!

See what happens when you leave your pc for a few minutes

2007, midnight sun, Norwegian national, Swedish 20th and thenhead down towards Hugary d Romania.

Regards

Leed

PS Maybe we should get this thread renamed?/ LOL

[Romania]

Where are you going next?

Asturias - Northern Spain.

Ferry is booked and we escape as soon as I break up for Christmas. Got a few contacts for off roading in that neck of the woods via the Spanish Land Rover Club forum. We shall be going to stay with friends in Oviedo but getting out into the countryside as much as possible. The people on the Spanish Land Rover forum have been very helpful, it's a shame they don't have an English language section like the Swedish one, we are fortunate that I speak it. Though I have had to learn some new vocabulary in both English and Spanish. Some how thingy, doobry firkin and the Spanish equivalent don't always do.

Barbara

Leeds is in the kitchen on teamaking duty!

[Romania]

Great photos! And by the way your truck looks great.

What do you mean about the improper attention?

Paul

Thanks Paul

Improper attention??? Let's just say that I would get more then my wrist slapped. When stopping in the small villages the locals could be helpful with directions. Stopped once to check directions on leaving a large town. Got approached by this errrrr female. Covered in amateurish tattoos and small brusies. Could'nt understand a word she said until she said SEX! Let's face it a dose of the clap would have been a minor concern looking at the other possibilities!!

Regards

Leeds

PS 110 getting some further mods ready for the next trip

[Romania]

Hi Paul, when I was in Romania it was outside the normal camping season there. The Lonely Planet guide does not give good reviews to Romanian camp sites. Security appeared to be an issue and improper attention from some of the camp site staff

I camped once at the Darwin Initiative HQ. Otherwise it was small hotels at about £10-£15 per night. Breakfast extra.

Some more piccies

Typical road

Locals at work

My 110

Described by locals as a bad road!

Described by locals as a good road!!

On coming traffic!

Dictators highway

Regards

Leeds

[STOLEN 110 CSW]

Sorry to hear about your lost Keith.

Its about time that the law/society dealt with scrots properly. Stuff the do gooders!

Regards

Leeds

[Sat Nav/GPS Eastern Europe]

you can get Garmin maps for Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland etc but I gave up with them as it proved more of a pain to fiddle about loading and reloading, the route planning is almost always "off" Im sure the roads have been programmed "offside" as it permenantly thinks you are driving alongside the road by at least 100m. We stick with Ozi Explorer, a laptop and a mouse, much cheaper, and IME much more reliable, with maps available for just about everywhere on the planet.

Even an old CF27 Mk1 will outperform a 276 in terms of speed, size of display and flexibility, (not to mention price), HTH?

ONLY 100 metres? Try Scandinavia and you will be 5-8 km off the road.

Garmin mapping in Scandinavia and easternEurope leaves a lot to be desired

Regards

Leeds

[Transylvania]

Have you heard of anyone organising tours within Transyvania by Landrover?

I have seen this company that does so

http://www.beyondtheforest.com/Pages/RR1.html

I think this will be a great area to exploit as Romania will soon be joining the EU. There is a lot of British interest in property and holidays over there. Soon the flights will be down in price too.

The huge forests have the highest population of bears in Europe and they still have a healthy wolf population too. It really is wild country with large areas to explore.

Hi Paul, if you want to explore Romania, there is no need to do it as part of an organised group. I was there this summer at the end of a long trip through Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. When I was in Romania I wa travelling solo in a solo vehicle as my partner could only join me for part of the trip. Romania is a great place.

See the Romania thread I have started

Regards

Leeds

PS Back to Sat/Nav, can you borrow various units and try some of them out side by side??

[Romania]

Romania, has been described as the Wild East of Europe but is an incredibly friendly place to visit in a Land Rover. The country escaped from the clutches of the communist dictator Ceausecu in about 1990. It joins the EU early next year. It is a country trying to modernise rapidly after the communist era but is struggling as it is not a rich country. A lot of it’s national services are well behind western Europe standards but its industry and agriculture is a mixture of the 19th and 21st century standards.

To get there from the UK is about a 1,500 mile drive but is well worth the visit. Food accommodation and beer is cheap by UK standards. Diesel is about 60-65 p per litre. Accommodation is about £12-15 per night in good modern small hotels. The people are friendly and helpful and it is amazing who you can find who speaks English

Give way to crossing traffic

The countryside is also dotted with Soviet style monuments.

Rural Traffic

Ceausecu Highway

WWF have ongoing projects in Romania

End of this particular road

Mining in Romania

Romania and the other Eastern European countries are well worth a visit if you want a slightly different country in your Land Rover.

Regards

Leeds

[Sat Nav/GPS Eastern Europe]

Hi Paul, have posted on your other post.

I have recently used both the garmin 276C and the Tom Tom 910 in Eastern Europe.

The Garmin street maps are poor in comparison to the Tom Tom 910 The Tom Tom 910 certainly has good street mapping as far as Hungary. I believe the street mapping also extends to Romania.

The back tracking and compass on the Garmin is very good.

OK people say carry paper maps, which I do, but the problem is scale and number of maps you need. OK you want maps of 1:25,000 scale to be of any real use. The standard OS 1:25,000 map covers (if memory serves me right) 40km x 40km. On my recent trip to Scandinavia and Estern Europe I landed up using 1:300,000 maps. Would have needed a library full of 1:25,000 maps with me!

The Garmin compass and back tracking capability was useful in Romania where maps are poor. Followed some 'roads' and got told roads marked on maps were poor. Basically they just disappearred, overgrown, washed out or blocked or a combination of all 3.

So used the garmin and headed in general direction of a lake or major road following minor roads.

I have not as yet found one GPS to cover all my needs adequately.

regards

Leeds

[Transylvania]

I have been looking at some of the sat navs available. Several specify european cover, but not which countries exactly. I am sure most of them only cover western europe rather than countries like Romania?

I have been looking at the Garmin 276c. Why the hell is it so expensive, or am I looking at the wrong sites? £489 inc VAT is the cheapest I have found. Are they that good?

Paul

Hi Paul, I have used both the Garmin 276C (paid more then £489 for it LOL) and the Tom Tom 910.

They both have their advantages and disadvantages.

The Garmin mapping quality is poor in comparison to the Tom Tom but it has good back tracking capabalities. The Tom Tom 910 certainly has good mapping from Hungary back towards the UK at street level. It does not have the back tracking capabilities.

Have not found one GPS which will cover all my needs yet.

It really depends on what you want from a GPS

Regards

Leeds

[lapland want to come?]

Great photo Leeds.

When you have been in Norway, have you seen the Orcas in the Fjords? I think they are attracted there during the herring run.

Thanks Paul. Nope we didn't see any Orcas. Missed seeing one off Knivskjelloden by about 30 minutes

Will return in 07

Will try putting up a thread on our travels either tomorrow or over weekend

Regards

Leeds

[lapland want to come?]

same as the Norwegian army 10 man tents then. bloody heavy though!

Yep. But you only need one tent for the 6 vehicles

Regards

Leeds

PS Just hope no one is a bad snorer

[lapland want to come?]

re fthe cabins i reckon camping would be fine as long as decent tent and you have a good stove - peak or similar i have managed to camp through most of the winter there and its warmer by Mar anyway. decent sleeping bag would be good though! you dont need to go down though.

Thinking of camping you could always use a Scandinavia type tent. Like a wigwam with a wood burning stove in the middle. Come in various sizes up to a 20 person tent

regards

Leeds

[How far afield??]

Thanks Leeds,

Sounds great! Any photos? Did you camp on the trip? Where did you go in Romania?

Cheers, Paul

Put one pic up on Lapland thread. Got hundreds of photos.

Romania is a great place to go. Driving on their 'roads' can be fun.

If you are interested will put a thread up with photos

Regards

Leeds

[lapland want to come?]

Was in that part of the world earlier this year. Fantastic place.

On some roads they obviously do convoys when weather is bad. These convoys run at specfic times like a bus timetable but with snowploughs in front.

Nord Kapp is NOT the most northerly part of Europe. To get to the most northerly part you need to get to

Knivskjelloden which is 1 minute further north in latitude then Nord Kapp is inaccessible by road and is reached by a 9 km hike in off the E69. Not sure what that 18km round trip would be like at that time off the year though.

Nord Kapp from Norways northerly most point

Average speeds in Norway is a lot slower then in the UK. Don't expect to cover 50-60 mles in an hour. More like 50-60 kilometres in an hour

Would recommend using the cabins up north. It was cold at night time in mid August let alone March time

You wil certainly have fun

Regards

Leeds

[How far afield??]

Main Land Rover this year?

UK to Poland (via boring bits) ,Lithunia, Latvia, Estonia, Ferry to Stockholm, across to Tronheim to join Norwegian national event. Down to Denmark for the Danish 30th national. Across to Sweden or thir event. Up to Nord Kapp, down Finland back to the Baltic countries. Across Ukraine to Romania then turned back west towards UK via Hungary Slovekia etc.

Mainly as a solo vehicle. Vehicle prep is the key

Do not want to think of total fuel bill. Well worth it. If you have a dream go live it

Regards

Leeds

PS Peru is good, NZ even better, Nepal superb, SE Asia is fun

[How to fit a rear winch]

One winch?

Want a front and rear winch as well???

How about this idea then

Winch on rear plate

Front mounting plate. Note Keyhole slots

Front Anderson connectors hidden in wing

Rear Anderson connector in Ali box

This was spotted in Estonia. The rules there only allow one winch per vehicle. The keyhole slotted plate was the answer to one winch but requirement to winch front and back.

Hope that gives some people food for thought

Regards

Leeds

[The Grave yard]

No Yorkshire on your list!!!

Regards

Leeds

[Is a second (large) battery needed?]

Got Warn 9.5 on my 110. Want to reduce strain on winch then use a double line. Get a good snatch block. Extension rope means you can double line from a long distance. If you are really in the mire ability to double line is important.

Regards

Leeds