This morning we woke up to moths and flies all over our room. It’s fair to say our hostel was very interesting. Soon after us leaving to catch the bus to Braşov for some food it began to belt down rain and hail. For most of the day it has been heavy thunderstorms. But that didnt stop us. We visited the first Romanian school.

After that we decided that our best option was to switch hostels.

As you can see it’s a very nice and cosy place. This evening Super James swooped in once again and took us out for an amazing meal at a burger house (Thanks James). Today has been 1 million times better than yesterday and this experience is looking to be an amazing one and all of us can’t wait to see what the next 8 days bring!

Meet Monica

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“We walked 10K for nothing”

https://youtu.be/9oDQ-7r8TC

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#TeamTaaka #Day1

We started our day at 10am. We set off expecting the 4 hour walk to Braşov to go smoothly not to mention our day as a whole!

About 2 hours in Dillon’s hayfever left him blinded so for the first time of the day Super James came to the rescue. After we sorted that out we decided it was best to take the bus to Braşov.

Eventually we arrived in Braşov to find It was another hours walk in the blistering heat to our hostel. 20 minutes in and our group begins to struggle which forces us to seek shade and stop. So for the 2nd time today Super James swooped in to save the day as he does. He put us in some taxis which we were expecting to take us to our hostel. WRONG!! They dropped us in the middle of a maze of streets and after consulting with google maps and a bit more walking we eventually made it to the hostel. We were move around different rooms until Super James came along and dealt with the owner firmly. We think James felt sorry for the horrendous day we were having so he kindly gave Stephen and I a lift to McDonald’s to get our groups dinner but Super James decided that mounting the kerb was a great idea and he ended up bursting the tire

Unfortunately there was no Jag dealerships about to get the tire fixed, Stephen and I were left to change the tire with the help of 2 friendly Romanians and an F1 style bolt gun.

At least our expedition can’t get any worse from here on in!

With the days of preparation behind us we made a relatively late start to Day 1 at 10:00am, heading off towards Bran, the mythical home of Dracula.

With the sun bearing down on us we continued on our journey, soon reaching the halfway point. After walking for 2.5 hours we were halted by a bus that invited us in. Taking the lead was Andrew who told the driver our destination of Vampire Camping and soon we had arrived.

• 

After pitching our tents, we headed off down the streets into the shadow of Bran Castle (Dracula’ s Castle), having a filling lunch of pizza before touring the building and learning of the history and lore of the place.

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• 

Heading into the night, we met the leaders and two of the network teams for dinner at a nearby hotel, a fitting end to our first day.

Visiting the Citadel in Râşnov

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#TeamTaaka #Day0

What an epic 1st day we have had ! We waved the teams off from 8am this morning, with minor adjustments to kit being left, packed, repacked and shouts of “where’s my neckie !”

Then the obligatory photo shoots… with the frame of course…

Just as we sat down for a quick coffee break before the final two teams departed, 1 lone poorly explorer returned to us … 2 of us nipped back to our wee house to make toast and bring healing supplies….

Once all teams had been released, we headed home, with poorly explorer in tow… a wee sleep was required… Not for us Leaders though!! We had chores… not least 22 scout shirts to be washed… All chores under control, time for a wee break, James & Debs headed to the gym, with Jackie & Eddie holding the fort…

Temperature was rising, sitting at around 35C for most of the day 🌞

As we prepared to set off, phone call came in we had another poorly explorer, so James and Eddie jump to the rescue, this time it hay fever attack, piriton and saline wash and they set off on their merry way again.

We then delivered the poorly explorer 1 back to his group, wished them well and waved them off AGAIN!! We then escaped off to Braşov for lunch and a little leader down time only to get another call about another poorly explorer. We threw our lunch down our throats and headed off to see them to see what the issue was….this time it was a little too much heat. Cold compress administered and more water we sent them off in two taxis to their accommodation.

Next on our to do list was a visit to the other group in Braşov and check up on sick explorer no 1 and glad to say his sleep had helped him – so all was well. We then drove to see sick explorer no 2 and 3 at the hostel only to be greeted by some disgruntled explorers that their original room was changed but after James had a ‘word’ on the phone with the owner they got a better room. The accommodation was quite far from the centre so James took them to pick up dinner and supplies, however on the drive back he hit the kerb and made a ‘small’ hole in the tyre which was changed with the help of a friendly Romanian, something akin to an F1 pit stop, but on a WV Golf….

Day over? Not even close, we left Braşov to go to Bran to catch up with the other 3 groups and to see Aaron on his 21st birthday. Glad to say no issues to deal with here. So we all headed off for a birthday dinner. Leaving Bran we came back to the house – a nice 15 hour day today. Holiday? Holiday? I don’t think so lol!

We are not even going to try and compete with Blog O’clock, we are not that witty and we have faces for radio not Facebook 😂

23.34 and the washing machine is still going, day in the life of the leadership team! Exhausted.com

It’s that time again,

We’ve been on our walk,

You know what’s coming…

From Rasnov – we set off,

Starting a man down.

Poor Alex was ill,

So we left him in town.

---

He had a nice morning,

Though he was feeling dire,

Touring in James’ car,

But left before the burst tire!

The rest of us were feeling good,

The day was going well.

We caught the gondola,

Riding up to the Citadel.

The views were great,

There was many a cat.

So Lewis felt in his element,

With his bejewelled hat.

It was here we first realised,

Our Romanian fame.

A family stopped us for a photo,

And used ‘Glasgow Rangers’ as our name.

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Next onto the caves,

We were stopped at the door.

“It’s really cold inside!”

… Feels like Scotland once more.

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A mere 12 degrees,

Too cold for the staff!

When we emerged to 36,

It was time for “taps aff”.

Back to collect Alex,

Singing and dancing the whole way,

The glorious sun beating down,

With us blasting YMCA!

We got on the bus,

With no one excluded.

We were Brasov bound,

And it was time to get… Fooded?

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On the way to dinner,

Disaster struck!

Craig got us lost,

Come on! What the…

heck was he doing?

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We found a pizzeria,

But for James we waited.

Finally he came,

And our hunger was sated.

Well… That was our day,

It’s now getting late.

We’ll post again tomorrow,

And it’ll be well worth the wait!