So we had no reverse gear and then leaving Bansko the forward gears were obviously not working well. We had enjoyed being at the top of the mountain and decide to head to the Rila monastery and hope that we got there ok. The monastery was truly stunning with the amazing paintings everywhere. We stopped in the car park beyond the monastery and because it was so big and so empty we didn't have to worry about reversing!
The next day we headed for Sofia and following an e mail from the 4x4 club we were given the address of the landrover mechanic whom every one uses.
That was Tuesday and it took him a while to find out that it was the overdrive and not the gear box . This was annoying as we had had this looked at before setting out.
As we had good breakdown cover with the caravan club we booked in at a hotel in Sofia for 2 nights and waited while peter the mechanic sorted it out for us.
Wednesday afternoon we were taken for a trip up the mountain on the edge of the city where there were amazing views.
We were good to go on the Thursday afternoon and then Peter and his partner Milena invited us to their home by the lake 30 kms from Sofia. We met them on the sat morning and spent a wonderful day with them and the children . The weather was hot and the views fabulous from the house. We had a BBQ and then a great fish meal of trout.
We left in the morning and crossed the border into Romania by about 4 pm. It was impossible to find anywhere to stay so we ended up in a park where the book said there was a campsite but it must have gone. It was a very big park and very empty.
Romania was quickly crossed as we got to Timisoara to find that the campsite was again closed so we carried on and crossed the border into Hungary . Again the campsites were all closed and we ended up by the gates of one right put in the country.
Following a long discussion we decided that we hadn't got time to continue north so we headed for lake Balaton . Here we found a wonderful campsite and sown the day walking in the forest and visiting the towns of Keszthely and Heviz.
Tomorrow we are moving on to a region with lots of castles and medieval towns before we head east on sat and start the journey home. It is much colder today for he very first time, a shock to the system!!!!!!!