Now that we’ve let Xander have his fun it’s time for me to have a go. Wednesday was fairly uneventfull, but still busy. After waking up from our first night at vampire camping it was quickly decided that it was time to go for a group trip around bran castle.
Once we reached the entry gate to the castle it was a short walk up to the castle itself. Where Lewis and Craig found a great way to entertain themselves, by making mock ups of all the paintings they could. Strangely enough though, despite having a reputation for being Dracula’s castle, it focuses much more on the history of the castle and area of itself, and barely touched upon the legend.
Afterwards we took a short walk around the market, with some buying gifts for those at home. Xander then decided that going through the haunted house would be fun. Quickly realised it wasn’t, as a single man in a mask nearly gave him a heart attack.
Then it was back to the campsite to stash our purchases and get the bus back in to Brasov.
Once we had arrived in Brasov it was a short walk to a lovely burger restaurant where we met up with team takka. After a lovely lunch we were off to the Black Church.
We arrived at the Black Chuch to a guided tour from one of the scouts who works there as a guide, named Karina. It was very interesting and informative. We were able to learn much more than would have been possible through the information cards and signs throughout the church.
After the church it was off to the the gate of St. Catherine for another small tour, which was also very interesting and informative.
Then it was off to the brassov sign, now joined by mara, another scout from Karina’s group. It was a great walk up filed with laughs, and after a rather nice view from the top, we had an even better walk down.
And after that it was a short trip on the bus we were back at the campsite for dinner at a nearbye pizzaria before bed
I think it’s only fitting that I finish my mini series on the same bus that I started it on. So for my final blog it’s
Upon the morning of the 9th we left behind our little apparent/hostel and we headed to the bus for Braşov which was the exact bus where Lewis had his incident. No issues this time btw (oh thank god). ‘Twas the back of the bus we claimed for our home 🏴 and whilst my comrades ( Alex and Lewis) were in nap nap land I caught a few pictures of the happy couple.
But that was not the best thing that came out of that bus journey, the views of the mountains/hills were almost as beautiful as the rolling and towering peaks of Scotland herself.
Once we arrive in Braşov, it was off to the second bus station and without a minute to spare as we raced across the city and charged onto the bus (after allowing a water break and time to get snacks for some). Unfortunately nothing happened on this trip well we did get a cracken view
Which wasn’t to bad how ever this is when we entered the home, of. 🌩 DRACULA 🌩
Yet this did not concern us as like every scout came prepared not with crosses, bibles, wooden streaks or garlic, but with a monster of our own.
DISCRETION IS ADVISED
Sorry Liam it’s just a prank bro
(Btw Liam was not with us at the time)
Now with our crusade in full motion we plunged in to the heart of the vampire nation the vampire campsite unfortunately it appeared the beasts had fled the area out of the fear of our legends. But this gave way for us to claim this land for humanity. And twas here that we stayed for the night.
Now with the area cleared of the vampire threat we celebrated with pizza for dinner because why not.
With our hunger satiated we wander back to the campsite where we rest our weary heads for tomorrow we tackled Dracula’s castle it’s self.
A nice long lie and a hearty breakfast what a way to start the day. We bid Troon farewell (till Thursday hopefully) and made our way to meet the Sibiu scouts for a day out with me and Peter armed with neckies and badges to swap. First we met Radu who took us to the bus and the others. Alex ever in a generous mood payed the 40p bus fair for us ( what a legend). This was for us to go the a historical park and lake which was the perfect place for a photo shot of Craig and Peter stepped up and got the lads a magnum each ( haha 76 lei about £15.20 down the drain. Well Luis does prefer the bus floor.)
The Sibiu scouts took us to see a communist era class room and a 1:1 scale model farming and fishing village. As well as seeing Lewis turn into a bird and taking on all walks of Romanian village life and this day really wouldn’t be complete without Craig being, well, Craig.
All of this before lunch where we tryout some more traditional Romanian foods and a swapping session with them where a few gems were claimed. After the most stressful bill splitting in history ( thick accents and barley any English on both sides is not a good combo but we got there eventually.
On wards we headed back to Sibiu square for our noble quest. Where we had to concur challenges to gain our prize magnets and a framed picture of the clock tower in Sibiu square. During this challenge we met a lot of people some stranger than others. Also Alex got a new toy sword.
And now we had to say goodbye once again to more new scout friends but fortunately only until the James BBQ
Let me tell you going to bed at 00:30 and getting up at 4 for a train is not fun. But after Troon made a change to their plans we all set off and hit the train at 6 for a 4 hour journey that was peppered with smoke breaks. How lovely. But on the train whilst the other were passed out jammy bams. I met this lovely elderly Romania couple in their 70s that would put Scottish couples in their 50s to shame by how much they loved each other so a hopeful start to the day.
Finally we made it Sibiu at last and to the square for a (be-) coffee ( hold on what were you thinking) to waken up and to kill time until our hostel check in time. Whilst we refuel we met team Cosmo as they taken around the city buy the scouts there. After Tom and Liam not so discreetly removed a few of Peters neckies we headed to our construction sight… Sorry hostel.
Team Troon and us idiots decided on the sleeping arrangements with me on the couch Luis and Craig taking the ground as well as team Troon being condemned to the ground and Peter, Andrew and Alex getting the double beds.
Scran time “sorry again Zak”
At 3 we all set out to meet the Sibiu scouts and to get lunch (the first proper meal we had since dinner the night before.) And had blether getting to know them. Then to the shop to get dinner and back to the hostel where peter and Andrew (one from team Troon) went for an run whilst the rest of listened to music. Time for bed but don’t be blue I’ll be back soon with Xander’s go part 3
After packing up camp with our friends from Bacău, we trekked…well more like slid…down the hill and joyfully bounced down the river banks. We then slung our kit into the cars and were off to the bus station.
We said our fair wells to Patriciu and Damian, and were Brasov-bound. All seemed well for about 30 minutes… When of course all hell broke loose.
The bus’ swerving and swaying caused Lewis’ travel sickness to act up, and well… he was a little, ya know 🤮. Let’s just say he got to see his breakfast twice. The people on the bus rallied to his aid. After Xander and Lewis took a quick power nap, Peter brought some more bad news. By chance he’d messaged the hostel to make sure everything was okay for the night. It turned out they had CANCELLED on us.
So we called in the cavalry – James – who sorted us out.
Another nap and we were in Braşov, where we found out we were staying in…. The Evil Clown Hostel. Yyyeeeaaahhh. “ sarcasm much”
However we did meet up with team Troon who were also staying there ( by choice btw) and went out for dinner after meeting the the cavalry units in person. Back to the hotel for an early night.
Back in a bit, with part 2 of Xander’s go
We aw awakened for Peter to unfortunately destroy Damian’s rubix cube but did pay for it
As well as getting owned by xander and the 3x3x1 rubix square
We then had breakfast and met the other scouts we were told stories of bears and wolves in the forests near the camp sites to try and freak us out not particularly effective. This was told to when they told us to the Sibiu dam and river where the water looked a bit iffy but the locals seemed to enjoy the water but a bit brown for us. Whilst we were looking for food for dinner Lewis needed to go however when he found a Lidl he failed to find the toilet located next to the tills as per usual but to his credit he did try to communicate with a Romanian security guard to find his porcelain throne. Next Eugene took us to his flat where we made a special blog O’clock intro. Next it was the ruins that he took us to, these were ruins of ancient churches that had collapsed in. Then caught the bus to the base of the hill where the campsite was located and played a few weird games. Whilst we waited on Damian who had our kit. Dam
When he arrived we adorned our bags and practically walked vertically up this hill to get there and quickly set up the tents and gathered fire wood further up this mountain and practically slid down it on the way back. Once we had the fire a blaze and had dinner being cooked this was the prime opportunity trade neckies and badges and by the time we were done dinner was ready and Peter took a fair crack and ate most of the meat. (What a boy) but this was made better by the fact he and Lewis thought it was a good idea it stick crisps on their heads and be come unicorns ( “sigh” ). And just to round out the night was the fact xander got another nosebleed meaning that at the time he had had more nosebleeds than blogs posted. Night all
Ps tomorrow’s will be made buy the greatest person in this patrol.
Well you’ve had 4 days where blog o’clock hasn’t come around once but you’ve now got two in two days, we’re just spoiling you guys!
Morning number 2 in the Art Hostel, and it was time to hit the road, which sadly meant an emotional goodbye to our dear friend David. We’d been through so much together; the cereal incident; the other cereal incident; the weird guy that kept showing us his cool jug of water that was full of floaters; and sadly for David the time we abandoned him for 3 hours while Alex and Xander taught him the history of Scotland. We sat for hours crying with David, begging him to come with us but eventually we had to leave… without David😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Off to the bus stop in Brasov, and because we got there 40 minutes early we had plenty of time to sit and bask in the sunshine. Sadly this wasn’t the case, as soon as we sat down we started getting circled by a lady with a glass bottle of lemonade in each hand. She came over and told us we couldn’t deny ‘the touch of a woman’ and that her price was only 50 lei (£10, an absolute bargain). We declined but Lewis had caught her eye, she danced for him and told him that they could ‘change the world together’, an offer too good to turn down for most but tragically we had a bus to catch so he declined again.
The bus journey was long, we all slept on and off… there was just one stop, but don’t worry, it was a good one. There was a toilet at the service station that Lewis, Xander and Alex trekked up to and it was not worth the walk, or the 20p. An inch of pee covering the floor meant Xander and Lewis came back to the bus quickly, but Alex, being the people’s champion, decided to persevere.
We were just waiting on the bus for Alex to come back when we saw him coming around the corner.
He’s just walking towards us.
Oh, he’s turning left.
He must just be going for a wander.
Yeah he’ll just be seeing the dogs.
Wait a minute…
Is that Alex that’s just got onto that random bus?
Why’s Alex on the other bus?
He’s just walking up and down the wrong bus.
Good job Alex.
So we rescued Alex from the wrong bus and when you heard his sound reasoning it was an understandable mistake; you know our bus was a big white one, the other was small and grey; our bus was full, the other bus was empty; our bus had the rest of his team on it, the other bus WAS STILL EMPTY… But Alex had used his keen perceptive eye and noticed that the other bus actually had different seats.
With a full team once more, the final leg to Bacau was under way, a nice lady sat down next to Lewis on the bus. Her English wasn’t great but she offered us some unbelievably chewy, yet delicious pastries and told us that she taught physics, so Lewis told her about his holiday to CERN, the home of physics, and she took that to mean he worked there. So he just ran with it, and accepted her applause for getting to the top of his field of study.
We met up with the Bacau scouts when we got off the bus and got some pizza together. They were all really friendly but despite their impeccable English they weren’t able to understand why we even wanted to go to Bacau. They took us to the nature museum, which was pretty much abandoned, although Peter was able to hide Lewis’ phone twice and forget that he’d hidden it twice and we got to swap neckies with one of the locals.
After the museum we had… a bit of an altercation. Somehow Alex’s glasses ended up in the fountain in the middle of the park – super scout Andrei saved us by being more than happy to wade through the water and save those poor, helpless, 60p sunglasses – a great relief to us all!
By now it was getting late so we made our way up to the observatory to see Mars, Venus, Jupiter, all the constellations you can imagine, but waiting for us at the top of the observatory… just on the other side of that telescope… miles above us… were in fact clouds. We couldn’t even see the moon. So instead we watched some videos about space and an unnamed member of the group caught some much needed sleep…
Despite it being after midnight at this point… we still had to have dinner, so it was back to Damien (the leader)’s house to get something to eat. Damien’s mother, the goddess of fire, got a massive fire roaring in her garden and had all sorts of unknown meats cooked in about 3 minutes.
Wolfing down dinner and refusing the crates of beer and wine we kept being offered meant that it was bed time. Craig point blank refused to sleep in a bed with anyone else so he was banished to the floor while Xander crawled into a tiny couch for the night.
Anyway that’s Thursday down, just Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday to post. Wish us luck with getting through that… We most certainly won’t.
Due to unforeseen technical issues there’s been something of a radio silence but finally blog o’clock has rolled round again and you know what that means…
So we awoke on Wednesday morning in Brasov, the Art Hostel was our home for the night, and despite a severe shortage of actual art we had a good sleep. After Lewis decided to accidentally fling cereal at everyone (including our good friend David from Germany), and Craig used David’s coffee as milk on his cereal, we set off on our adventure through the wilds of Brasov.
Our first port of call was the Black Church but first we had a small intermission to watch Alex skilfully and unintentionally remove a window from its hinges with his bag. Great job Alex.
Finally, we reached the black church and my god it was everything we hoped it would be. It had 4 walls, a big wooden door and a surprisingly high admission fee… but that was about all it offered. It was upon our exit from this positively riveting church experience that the rain started.
Now, to 5 scouts from Scotland, rain is no problem. We scoffed at the people running for cover and continued with our day… for about 30 seconds – at which point hail stones the size of golf balls started falling from the heavens. We were able to seek refuge in the first school in Romania and our guide, Big Ioan (who we’re pretty sure is a werewolf) sheltered us from the storm.
After we got a KFC – or in Xander’s case 2 KFCs – to refuel, it was time to head off to the street that claims to be Europe’s narrowest street… it’s not – but it was still pretty narrow. And in a ‘beautiful‘ place like that we had to take a leaf out of Team Taaka’s book and attempt to recreate the masterpiece that was the citadel vlog.
Then James came to check up on us with his posse of leaders and offered to buy us dinner with only one rule, no ribs as they’re too expensive… So we all got burgers, except Craig, who got ribs. #thuglife #YOLO #CRAIGDONTPLAYBYNOBODYSRULES
That was Wednesday finished with, our last night sleeping with German David over, but stay tuned we’ve still got Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to post today. So look forward to the quality of these blogs decreasing drastically, can’t wait!
After a long day of travel yesterday, we FINALLY got released into the wilds of Rasnov… And boy did we see some crazy stuff. We found a bear, some awesome hats, and the world’s least bouncy trampoline!
At breakfast time, we were presented with a plethora of Romanian delicacies. These included the world’s most…fragrant… olives, and sausages which resembled octopuses.
We then ‘hit the toon’, where things really got interesting…
We picked up a few day’s worth of shopping for around a tenner, only after deliberating for a while about which milk to buy.
Soon our attention was drawn from our grocery shopping by a store named “China Shop”. However, this was no place of crockery purchase, rather a world where dreams come true…where you can find mountains of imported clothing and accessories.
We were dazzled.
As fashion icons ourselves, we felt it was necessary to purchase the best hats and glasses money can buy (see image below and be stunned).
South West Scotland Explorer Belt Romania 2019 