Today we leave Hungary and head to Romania. The first story is about changing Hungarian Florints back into Euros before leaving Hungary. I stood in the bank for 30mins, totally ignored, I thought I was invisible, they must have been able to smell me after 11days of high temperatures in heavy motorcycle clothing.
I eventually asked the man with a gun on his hip for help, brave or what! He pointed me to machine, a closer look revealed I had to make a selection, in my case “Exchange” the machine gave a slip of paper with a number on, just like we once had at some supermarket counters. As if by magic my number appeared on a screen and I nice lady exchanged my Florints for Euros. Why did they think I stood in the bank for half an hour?
We arrived at the Romanian border, a very stern lady asked for Passport, Driving Licence and Bike document which I took to be the V5, all in order we were waved on.
Stopped at the bank in Romania this time to get some Lei, a queue, one hour later and several forms signed I exited with cash.
The next 50 miles were fantastic stood up on the pegs for a mixture of heavily potholed roads and unpaved gravel. On the gravel bits speeds of 50mph were easily achieved, on the potholed sections selecting a line with the least or the shallowest potholes was difficult.
We lost another hour so it was a short day, we found Hotel Transilvania at Zalau, good value at £15.00 for a modern hotel.
