The Trip, photos, and reports

Plan and chat about this joint meeting with the Russian Bongo owners club.

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helen&tony
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The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by helen&tony » Mon Aug 01, 2011 6:56 am

Hi
What a nice "Do"!!!!...Eventually everyone arrived, and so far no casualties save one Bongo having a fluid loss from the auto-trans...more later when they get home, I expect!!! Nine of us turned up, and I expect there will be more snapshots later!...Dmitri has posted a few pictures of the early arrivals. What a lovely family "Dmitri" they are!!!!...wonderful to put a face to a name!
The campsite was smashing, and as clean as a whistle....The new swimming pool was superb, and apparently lovely and warm. The views were pretty nice, and it was quiet...(until "Family Bongo" arrived for a noisy evening :lol: :lol: )
Saturday night, Tony and I risked a night in the Bongo (I have a few issues with pain) It actually went well, and Wolfgang and Willow behaved perfectly 8) 8)
In Bongo Tradition, we had a Saturday night Booze and Barbie, and Dmitri plied everyone with a brace of gorgeous Russian vodkas, one served traditionally iced from the freezer!!!...Spike brought Slovenian wine, and with a variety of Bulgarian and Australian wines from the supermart, plus draught lager from the Camp Bar, the evening was loud...and the Site owners did us proud, and apparently enjoyed the company of the Bongonauts!...
Food on Saturday night was a nice Barbie supper, and plenty of it, and the young barman was attentive all night...nobody was seen with an empty glass!!!!
In the morning, the owners made breakfasts for us, even though we didn't order the night before!....I enjoyed a "diet" small "Full English" of bacon, egg, sausage, mushroom, tomato, toast and coffee...NICE SNACK!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
The crew will be soon on their way home, with some taking the long way back via Greece and Italy, so pictures will be up in 4 or 5 days. I wish everyone a safe journey home, and hope that they will return, as a few said they want to do it again, with a longer break
Cheers
Helen
In the beginning there was nothing , then God said "Let there be Light".....There was still nothing , but ,by crikey, you could see it better.
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by Doone » Mon Aug 01, 2011 9:06 am

Helen that sounded amazing, definitely a Bongo meet that will go down in history : ))
Allan's closed. We recommend PGS (Plymouth Garage Services) or Mayflower Auto Services in Plymouth.
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by widdowson2008 » Mon Aug 01, 2011 9:48 am

Pics - pics - pics. :lol:
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by helen&tony » Mon Aug 01, 2011 12:16 pm

Hi
Pics will be forthcoming when they get home, and some are going the long way back ...around 5 days, maybe...Cambriabongobulls has a lot of pictures, so I've asked him to post those of the journey, as well...looking forward to see them all
Mrs Spikethorne has some piccies, and I believe there are plenty more to come.
Regarding the camping, everyone said it was fantastic, and they'd like to do it again, but I'll let them tell of their trip. I can only say that we came here the long way round, and it was a stupendous adventure...I'm hoping to do a similar trip in future, but in something like a "C" class if my health improves...
As they are rather keen on keeping a dialogue going with all the party members, they had hoped to keep the Bulgaria section going...so maybe once it has been locked, we could keep a "Bulgaria" section going as a separate entity, and I'll be only to pleased to help anyone organising a journey here.
The campsite proved to be fantastic, and those who had a mild trepidation about it being an "English (sort of Brit)" campsite were delighted...everyone felt totally relaxed, and the owners went overboard to make guests feel welcome...The loo / shower blocks were spotless, and the whole package was praised as being the best they've seen!
Watch this space!
Cheers
Helen
In the beginning there was nothing , then God said "Let there be Light".....There was still nothing , but ,by crikey, you could see it better.
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by Bob » Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:05 pm

Sounds fantastic. =D>

Really sorry we couldn't make it. :(
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by DemonAV » Fri Aug 05, 2011 12:54 pm

It was a wonderful meeting!
Nice to meet you all.
Thanks to Nick and Nicky (owners of campsite).
Thanks Tony for good BBQ. My daughter very likes chicken wings :-)
Thanks all new British, Slovenian and Bulgarian friends for good time in the campsite.
We now in home, arrived last night. All our trip is 7800 km. 8 countries: Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria and back to home.
Very disappointed, that we can stayed in Bulgaria only 48 hours.
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by DemonAV » Fri Aug 05, 2011 2:05 pm

All my photo here http://www.demonav.ru/Bulgaria
Some photo:
Campsite
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Chicken wings from master Tony
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Na zdorov'e
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Who wants Vodka?
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Beautiful pool
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Jump, jump, jump...
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by widdowson2008 » Fri Aug 05, 2011 2:41 pm

=D> =D> =D>
MORE!!!!!!!!!!!
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by DemonAV » Sat Aug 06, 2011 5:59 pm

At the meeting, I promised to give partnumber for mosquito nets for the front door, installed in my car.
That page from a catalog of accessories
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Traslate:
Screen door (front door)
A lot of useful insects in the field camp.
Easily removable lever operation.
Body Set Price Yen 21,000 [L, R)
S09AV3520A [FU6B]
※ When driving, please remove it.
(Limited RF-V · RS-V)
* RF-V-Campers are standard
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by Bongoplod » Sat Aug 06, 2011 11:00 pm

Great Photos Demon,is that your bongo towing that huge twin axle caravan??

Is it a v6 or .5 diesel??

Brian
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by DemonAV » Sun Aug 07, 2011 8:20 am

Hi Brian. Thanks.
Image
Car is mine, but the caravan camping owned and leased. It has long been in this place. On my car does not towbar. This only for photo. We rented this caravan in campsite.
My car is 2,5 diesel 4wd 2003 AERO.
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by CumbriaBongoBulls » Sun Aug 07, 2011 6:12 pm

Helen,
thanks for all the organisation. It was great to meet you and all the other bongo enthusiasts who made the journey to Bulgaria. We all got on so well that we would like to meet up again. the campsite was great and the owners Nick and Nicky gave us a fab time with the help of Lee, the barman. please thank tony again for putting up with all of us bongonauts and cooking a great bbq.
hi all,
We are still on our way home (in Austria today) so our photos of the trip will have to wait for another two weeks. hil took so many photos that we had to buy another memory card.
We met some great people and visited some fantastic places on our trip. We traversed the transfagaras pass in both directions. A bit hairy coming down the north side the second time due to low flying cloud, but when we got to the old willow campsite angie & tim had the bbq on. Well worth a visit in northern romania is the narrow gauge railway at Viseu de Sus. There is a stellplatz campsite in the railway carpark. The railway staff are really friendly. The station manager drove me round the town to get my silencer boxed welded back on to the bongo (it fell off due to the bumpy roads).
In four weeks of camping we only stayed on one campsite that was not quite up to our expectations. this was in northern hungary where the site was over by Slovaks on a weekend break.
I need to get a new set of front tyres tomorrow and will try the tyre centre at Schlitters next to the McCafe that Spike mentioned.
Dimitri may not have a towbar on his bongo, but he gave us a guided tour of all the other gismos that he has fitted. Really useful was the forward view camera fitted to his left hand wing mirror for overtaking. I am not sure that the mosquito window screen is necessary in the UK, but it may be useful for Chris. Her mosquito nets were flapping in the wind as she set off from the Vt campsite.
We set off from Austria tomorrow, hopefully with new front tyres. When we get back to the UK we are straight off for a week's holiday in Devon. I am sure our son will not have cut the lawn in the 5 weeks we will have been away, so hopefully we will recongise our house.
Regards,
Phil and hil
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by tim & angie » Sun Aug 07, 2011 6:38 pm

Hi all, We have just got home after 6 days travelling back from Bulgaria. Had a great trip back and spent a few extra days in France to break the journey. Bongo took us 6100 Km and didn't once skip a beat, although the front suspension has taken a bit of a hammering from the Romanian roads. We will post photo's shortly once we have sorted them out. Thanks again to Helen and Tony for sorting the trip, its been great fun and we've made some great friends. Wishing a safe journey home to everyone.

Tim & Angie

p.s. Thanks for the pm Helen but our transmission is ok, it was one of the others who had an ATF leak but they seen to be coping with it ok by topping up and last we heard were on a dodgy ferry from Greece to Italy!
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by helen&tony » Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:12 pm

Hi Phil & Hil
Sounds like a good trip!...glad everything is going well....I haven't done northern Romania, so I'm really looking forward to the photos...We might go there some time and tour the beautiful castles!!!...was it you with the transmission leak?...I didn't think so?
Hi Tim & Angie
I'm glad things are good for the journey...Who was it with the transmission hassles?....I can't remember much these days...if it's not in an e-mail I can reference, I'm stumped :lol: :lol: ...Ah...the forward-mounted camera...INVALUABLE....I have one myself, operated by a footswitch for overtaking....when I remember to use it :lol: :lol: :lol:
Whoever it was I hope the transmission is O.K. :shock: :oops:
I think / hope Spike and Karen have some pictures to add!...and we are going camping there again with our friends from the village...We were nervous about taking Wolfgang, as he's a bit "bitey" when we walk him around here...but he was as good as gold...and Willow is just Willow :lol: :lol: :lol: ...bit like me...as daft as a box of frogs
Hope you all want to come back...I'll be glad to organise another trip.....maybe via Greece next time...and drop in on the Gods at Mount Olympus....MAGIC
Cheers
Helen
In the beginning there was nothing , then God said "Let there be Light".....There was still nothing , but ,by crikey, you could see it better.
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Re: The Trip, photos, and reports

Post by tim & angie » Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:06 pm

Finally got some photo's sorted from the trip :D

Our first meet in Linz
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A welcome beer in the campsite bar in Budepest after another long day
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Bongo's doing what they do best!
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A dodgy campsite in Romania!!!!
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Another lorry crash, a familiar site on the main roads in Romania!
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Finally crossing the friendship bridge into Bulgaria
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Nearly there, and we still cant get that bloody Bongo off our tail :lol:
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The campsite at Veliko Tarnovo at last, and 9 Bongo's together for the first time
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Thats it for now, more to come later.
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