Frustrated At Every Turn.

HARKANY.

The mini digger starts about 8 am but appears content to work around us. Still, it's an effective alarm call.

There are plenty of Lidl stores in the vicinity, unfortunately the car park of the nearest is full, a fact we discover only after I'd committed to the turn. Cue a number of 3 point turns before we can exit. Further along we find the next one and purchase the Ruminy Muskat.

The first petrol station we encounter is selling cheap fuel but only as I pull into it do I realise that the place isn't open yet. The next one is beyond the turning to the motorway leading to a couple of miles detour. Still fuel is only £1.10 a litre.

Head into Hungary where we need another vignette. Several miles before encounter a sign advertising sales. It's in a hotel, the staff are all surly when they realise what we want. The attendant tells us that we can pay in euro but cash only. The exchange rate is really poor we discover later. The 30 euro charged should been nearer 22! Shortly after the purchase we leave the motorway.

Our trip takes us through lots of little villages, all built similarly. The house fronts onto the road but there are sheds then barns attached as the buildings go backwards. Each village seems to have a stork nesting on a telegraph pole. Several have young ones with them. We stop at one to use the ATM. Immediately, a local pounced asking how long we will be.

Rosie has found a cheap site at a thermal spa. We arrive at 3:30 with plenty of time to enjoy. Except, it isn't open and doesn't look like it will be any time soon. It definitely reminds us of Maplins from Hi de Hi.

Undeterred, Rosie finds another spa about 50 miles away. We drive through sunshine and temperatures of 19 degrees Centigrade before hitting thunder, lightning and torrential rain. At one point, a large deer leaps across the road just ahead of us. She obviously had a sesnse of humour because she crossed 50 metres before a sign warning us of deer for the next kilometre.

We find the town but turn off down a narrow lane where hedges scratch the van. We reach a dead end. Later, we realise that we were on the fenced edge of the site. But not before we end up in front of another site undergoing renovation. This very odd because we checked their website earlier and it definitely looked operational. Rosie asks at a local bar and learns that there is one at the other end of the street. The reception is in a local hotel and finally we can relax. Except that the rain returns with a vengeance just as I'm connecting the electricity etc.

It relents at 9pm in time for a walk around town which has some life to it even this early in the season. 5 minutes after returning to the van, heavy rain reappears. A photo of the site will have to wait until tomorrow.