From A to Zoo

This summer I took a lap top with me - fully intending to write a column or blog 'on the road'.... somehow it never happend but I did post regularly on Facebook....  this is an adapted and edited collection of those posts in travel blog form.

There is a steady stream of migrant and seasonal workers from Eastern Europe looking for work here in the west.
We decided it was time to reverse the trend - we took off in the opposite direction to work part-time on a campsite in Romania. Passing through Slovakia on the way and Ukraine on the way back.

Entering the Czech Republic was not a great moment - but the next day the sun did shine - and anyway we were only passing!

For the five days in Slovakia, due to the weather forecasts,  we booked an airbnb instead of camping. That  turned out to be a wise decision however the very worst weather, and there was a lot of it about, missed us.  Mostly we ignored the forecasts and pretty much go away with it, cycling in the foothills of the Tatra Mountains.
We had an apartment with a large covered patio complete with a table tennis and billiard table, so there was plenty to do during the frequent, and sometimes heavy, showers. The downside is that Yvonne can't play table tennis or billiards and the impressive collection of ice hockey sticks were no good to either of us!

No comment neccessary!

This was our home (a tent on a Romanian camp site), our work place (the campsite) and our village for the next three weeks. We were free on Sundays… we started our official working week on a Sunday..... a day off !!!

In the mornings cleaning the utilities - in the evening "..entertaining folks, singing songs and telling jokes.." !

Thursday was market day just down the road in Ocna. Alongside fruit, vegetables, clothes, kitchen utensils and hay making tools there were a selection of gravestones on offer………….    

 

'Time flies by when you are having fun'
We managed to fit in a fair number of activities between our cleaning duties and the rain (there was a lot of rain). We drank some beer and palinka, sang a few songs, tasted some good country food, cycled up to our axles in mud, visited some wooden churches and a comical graveyard....and suddenly it was market day again!!!

It was one of those days you long for when travelling… we had seen posters announcing a local event -  from what we could understand it looked like a religious festival - and so it was...... however by chance we discovered that in the afternoon there was  singing and dancing...an opportunity not to be missed.

There was plenty of music, song and dance.. and even free food! …and hardly a tourist in sight except the ones we took with us.  

 Oh, and a group of musicians we'd met briefly five years ago were there too. Surprisingly they recognised us!

Monday morning, after a weekend of singing and dancing, it was back to work for the local farmers...

 

well...first there was the monthly livestock market in Sighetu Maramatiei...we managed to resist a special
'two for the price of one' offer on piglets........... 

The first time I left the British Isles was a visit to Switzerland with a friend. While he tried to sort out his relationship with the farmer's daughter I spent most days in the fields. My time, it seems, was not wasted. When I decided to help out in Romania the farmers wife, usually either critical of, or highly amused by, outsiders efforts, was complimentary about my hay-making skills!!....  and that after forty years or more…..


Back on the road again.....apart from the unfriendly border control and a torrential rainfall, our first days in the Ukraine were pretty good. 

We found okay accomodation in an hostel where our double room  was a whole lot larger, better and cleaner than many hotels we've stayed in and a Motel where the staff were so pleased to have foreign visitors that they often joined us for a chat, the fact that we didn't understand a word they said didn't seem to matter! .  

In between we checked out as many potholes in the roads as we could manage.

Cycling in Ukraine IS gravel-grinding!

Live from L´viv… after our time in the Ukraine countryside we arrived in L´viv the only city we'd planned to visit this trip.

L´viv is a busy, bustling, vibrant city… with beautiful old building some restored, others in various states of repair or decay. Like most western cities there are plenty of trendy coffee houses, craft beers and restaurants... the contrast with the rural areas could not be greater and there is nothing to indicate that there is still a bitter struggle in a distant part of the country. Surprisingly, maybe, the background music was mostly blues and jazz.

After more than two pleasant days strolling around town, dodging the sometimes heavy showers, my feet were sore and my muscles ached.

Yes - it was time to move on. Next stop Poland.   

Something for all those ……. …...s who voted for Brexit to think about… it took us six hours to cross the border from Ukraine (a European country that is not in the EU) to Poland (a European country in the EU) !!

Every picture tells a story..... the last week of or trip was, at first, not much fun and mostly wet... but luckily there was one more surprise in store….

….yes... we ending our tour surrounded by wild, and some not so wild, animals. It was not planned but the last part of our trip took us through Poland so we decided to drop in on our friends in Wroclaw and this, in turn,  resulted in us being invited to use the guest accommodation in Wroclaw zoo.

These were some of our neighbours during our stay…….

Back in town! A holiday is a holiday, a vacation a vacation but when you are away for more than two or three weeks it becomes something different, almost a way of life. However beautiful the scenary , however impressive the architechture or however fascinating the history , it's the (sometimes small)  events and the (sometimes brief) encounters along the way that make it all worth doing... and doing again...and again.......................