Washed dressed and ready to leave, but no woman to retrieve my 5 euro deposit I gave for the locker key. Went outside and got breakfast of coffee and croisant then returned, but still no woman so gave up on the 5 euro and left the key in the locker. Walked the 20 mins up Rakoczi Ul to the train station, and yippee the bike was still there and all intact!
On the walk to the bike I noticed that women in particular were giving me bad looks and keeping their distance. Then I realised that I looked like a wino with a sprite bottle half full and unshaven. You see drunks all along the street and they drink from these plastic bottles in which I believe they have mixed their own particular concoction.
Checked on tomtom for the nearest Suzuki dealership (there are about 10 in Budapest) and set off.
Arrived at Black Motors garage at 9:30 and all looked locked up and closed, but in fact gate was open so went inside and and an old guard dog limped over to smell me.
A man appeared and I showed him the problem of the brake handle, not surprised at all ( in fact there is a cut away in the moulding to make the ends of the handlebar break off , and I have not yet figured out why!!) and went and looked at his computer to check on the correct part number etc.
Seemed happy and told me to bring the bike inside. A mechanic called David was already taking a brake handle of a Suzuki GSX bike. The guy said the part numbers were the same, I told him that the garage in Keighley had said that the part is specific to a bike with ABS. He looked at me and smiled, and showed me on his computer all the bikes that the part number is good for and there were both ABS and non-ABS. I wsas looking a little sceptical, and so he took me to the bike they were taking the lever from and it was ABS so happy now !!
They also took out the handlebar endstop and fitted a new long screw.
Now all back together again. Cost was 15700 Ft which equates to about 50 pounds so given that the part alone in the UK costs 45 pounds it seemed a reasonable cost.
Set tomtom for Ordea in Romania distance about 260km and set off.
At the Romanian border there was a security official checking everyones passport. This is the first time my passport has been checked at a border on the whole trip! When he came to me I had to stop the bike, get all my gear off and find the passport. He looked at it and said in perfect english "thank you Geoffrey Paul" and gave me the passport back.
Town of Ordea is just about 5km over the border. First impression is of run down industry complexes on the outskirts and slums in the middle. Nice pictures of abandoned rotary calciner etc. But even the parts that were still operating were badly maintained. Made me reflect on the infrastructure issues we had at Clitheroe and they certtainly were worse here.
Thought about stopping here the night, but not for very long!!, and set tomtom for Cluj-Naboca
Romainia is another hour ahead of Hungary in it's time zone, and I estimated I wouldn't get to Cluj-Naboca till about 8:30. First 50km was just flat land with single carraigeway passing through ribbon strip villages where you are meant to slow down to 50km/hr but not many peopel do !!
On way noticed some very decorated houses and when I stopped to photograph then I asked some security guards in a factory entrance what they were, and they very desparagingly said "gypsy houses!!" I had heard that gypsies are second class citizens here in Romania and confined to the outskirts of town, but the houses are very elaborate and large !! Bit confused !!
Then suddenly we were in mountains where the road weaved it's way up one side and down the other. The countryside is much nicer here. Decideed I would stop and camp if I saw a camping sign otherwise press on and get a hotel inCluj-Naboca. Saw a sign for camping and it took me across a main railway line ( no light, no nothing), then alongside the line for about 500 metres. At the end it looked like there were just a couple of seats, no facilities, no WC etc. Thought better of it and retraced my steps and then pressed on to Cluj-Naboca.
On the way saw an attractive looking tourist hotel, and getting tired decided ti stop the night. The room is basic, but the shower works so didi washing and down to restaurant for a meal. Room 84Lei Meal including bottle of Romanian Cabernet Sauvignan 50 Lei Total cost about 25 pounds.
Romania is much poorer than Hungary. Lots of horse and carts on the road, saw one with a metal frame on the back of the traditional thin wooden cart, and in the cage was a huge pig.
More Later
TOR
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