Balkan Bucket Bonanza

[chaseracer]

I like Bulgaria.  I shall return.

[Ben_O]

you are living the dream my man.

 

Look forward to the updates.

 

Ben

[Bucketeer]

I don't know about living the dream but I'm certainly pretty much living my dream.

 

Anyway, I was too busy catching up on much needed kip and suchlike to remember to finish the last update.

 

After the Romania - Hungary border everything seemed to go by in a blur. Hungary, Austria, Germany and Belgium were essentially a monotonous two-lane test of endurance (and patience).

 

At this point there should be a load more spots from this part of the journey, unfortunately I didn't estimate how difficult it is to drive and pap simultaneously so all I got was terrible shots like these.

 

 

 

The little Astra performed faultlessly in it's duties as 'a car'. It wasn't a great pleasure to drive but took all the punishment in it's stride. It would cruise at a decent level, where permitted, although any more than this resulted in exponentially increasing levels of juddering, shaking and rattling.

 

It took about 43 litres per fill up (so I'm guessing a 10 gallon tank) and managed about 540 miles each, so about perhaps maybe 54mpg-ish throughout the journey which I'm impressed with given my complete avoidance of economical driving in favour of just getting the job over and done with.

The steering wasn't very nice (felt like it was almost anti self centering) and the seats were uncomfortable but overall I would say that the Vauxhall Astra 1.7 CDTI/DCTI/DTCI/CTDI Life Estate is pretty good at being a car, and surprisingly capable at being a European long distance booze smuggling grand tourer.

 

Moments after I had dropped the Astra off at it's new home in London I spotted this.

 

Yesterday, safely ensconced in the welcoming bosom of the North, I grabbed my first spot of hopefully many over the next week or two.

Up close, this Talbot camper had braille bodywork and looked like it had been painted with a lawnmower. Or a hammer.

 

[dollywobbler]

Welcome back to glorious Britannia. 

[tooSavvy]

 

art [of advertising] immitates life....

 

 

 

TS

[hairnet]

i was gonna ask astra dizzle??? skoda fail??

[Slappy]

RHD Astra diseasel at that...

[Mr Lobster]

Welcome back to glorious Britannia. Accrington

 FTFY.

[Bucketeer]

Hey Mr Lobz, I hope you just recognised the camper and you haven't implanted a tracking device in me or something.

[Ghosty]

 

 

 

And one for the 'never knew it existed' thread if I could be arsed to find it.

 

 

I have stumbled across what this is elsewhere on the webs - American Crapqai equivalent.

[Jon]

Congratulations in successfully repatriating a Vauxhall to Britain - is it going to retain the Bulgarian plates? I know what you mean about modern stuff just doing its job in an un-obstructive if dull manner - my Mondeo is providing just such an experience and made towing the Visa last week a stress free journey. Still totally uninspiring though and there's loads on the roads but I can appreciate them from the perspective of someone who's totally disinterested in cars and just want reliable transport with some level of comfort. 

 

For the sake of this thread, I hope that you'll be off on further adventures soon enough! Back to Bulgaria to the missus? Or France to pick up a free car, IIRC?

[Bucketeer]

I was transporting the Astra back to the UK for an English lady who has houses in England and Bulgaria. It was originally British bought and registered (hence RHD) but got put on BG plates when it emigrated. Now it's one of the many* Bulgarian visitors to the UK. A bit like me really.

 

Further adventures will be coming soon enough hopefully. I've just got a couple of weeks in the UK and then if I can cobble together enough/some/any money I'll pop over to Finland for a couple of weeks (for the introduction to Lady_B's family) before heading back to Bulgaria. After that, I'm not sure I'll have the finances for further travel until after the winter when I will have completed my caretaker assignment in the remote mountain wilderness.

[Bucketeer]

So, I spent a couple of weeks in the UK before coming back to Bulgaria.

No visit to Finland on the way unfortunately due to fiscal restraints.

 

A (very small) mixed bag of shit spots from England before the better Balkan stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got a coach back to Bulgaria.

46 hours on a bus was a painful experience for a lanky assemblage of shortcomings like me.

All I spotted en-route was this Chevy MurderVan at a German service station.

 

 

 

And finally back in the People's Republic of Chodgaria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Skoda That Got Away keeps appearing in town, haunting me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To celebrate my ^_40th birthday I headed off on the train to the coast for a couple of weeks.

 

 

Arriving at the Black Sea I immediately cracked open the strong booze and said a hearty cheers to all shiters.

 

 

 

 

Not bad sun-rises over the Black Sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As usual, I made a feline friend.

 

 

My main reason for choosing Varna as the coastal destination was to visit the Retro Museum of Socialism.

Or if you're talking to Lady_Bucket, it was so she could enjoy the beach and sea and shops.

 

Full coverage of the museum is here - http://autoshite.com/topic/21599-retro-museum-of-socialism-bulgaria/

 

 

And that's about it for now.

FIN.

[hairnet]

hero

 

so want to just go and get some chod but alas no

[Taff]

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you had told me this morning that I really needed a late '80's Bulgarian cop car, I would have laughed in your face.

 

Edit to add, new screen saver. That car is FUCKING AWESOME

[omegod]

Nearly 2 hrs i'll never see again but a fantastic thread!

[Bucketeer]

^^^^^  You deserve a medal for trawling through all that.

 

 

 

 

so want to just go and get some chod but alas no

 

Are you sure?

http://www.mobile.bg/pcgi/mobile.cgi?topmenu=1&act=4&adv=11440522251893092&slink=ah00xa

 

 

Are you really sure?

http://www.mobile.bg/pcgi/mobile.cgi?topmenu=1&act=4&adv=11440743309917701&slink=ah5r07

 

 

 

Really REALLY sure?

http://www.mobile.bg/pcgi/mobile.cgi?topmenu=1&act=4&adv=11439741025977591&slink=ah5r07

[hairnet]

 

 

 

Da.

[Junkman]

 

The only acceptable car for a 30 hour trip across Yeerup.

[chaseracer]

Those yellow things are quite big by Bulgo-taxi "standards".  Some jokers in Sofia seemed to consider a Hyundai Atoz or Kia Picanto to be perfectly adequate.

[Bucketeer]

The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic as I currently have many fingers and toes in many pies. I always keep the camera with me but thought I hadn't spotted much during this time. I just checked and I have about 60 or 70 spots and other crap that I need to dump, much of which I don't recall taking. My camera is experiencing the electronic equivalent of 'touching cloth'.

 

So, enjoy*.

 

Industrial Zone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been doing a bit more work out towards the mountains and I've been getting up there via the medium of train.

Which means more 'head out of window' frolics. Note the open door for smoking out of whilst on the move.

 

In keeping with the Bulgarian health* and safety* ethos, this was the back door to the train. Very safely kept shut with high tensile security string.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unsure as to whether this is a genuine 131 Supermirafiori or an aspirational Tofas.

It definitely needs un-gashing either way.

 

 

Following on from last year's drunken purchase of an old Golf from a guy I met in the woods in France, the other week I agreed to buy a sort of house. Whilst tipsy. For cash. From the neighbour of somebody I was paving over a cesspit for.

 

500 Leva or just under 200 quid gets me my first ever step on the property ladder/snake.

It needs a little bit of work.

 

 

The accompanying plot of land looks big enough for maybe 20 rusty old Ladas.

The road leads to a village of six houses and then terminates there, so the peak traffic flow is around 5 cars per day.

 

 

The view across the road isn't too bad either.

Looking left and right.

 

 

 

'My' road has some potholes you could actually go potholing in.

 

 

 

There is also an acceptable amount of tat scattered around the villages and countryside out this way.

 

 

 

 

There is also a place nearby known as the Balkan shipyard (200+ kms from the sea).

I met an Isreali guy here who is building a sailing boat to take him and his wife to Polynesia next year. The boat was tiny, I really don't envy them. He was a bit funny about me taking pictures of his boat, so I didn't.

I did get some shots outside the 'shipyard' though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty plenty much more to come very soon in a possibly slightly less dull second part.

[hairnet]

delta want

 

dont think theres a twink in that 131 so not supermira

 

horn for the green truck

[Jon]

That grey Mercedes 308 camper on the previous page is a beautiful shot and I'd have been really hard pushed to pin down which country it had been taken in; a guess would've been somewhere in Asia, I reckon. Plus I love the design of the semi derelict factory entrance above, which looks like it should be the entrance to the Industrial Zone on Crystal Maze.

 

Good luck on the house build! Just don't turn your back too long as I reckon it wouldn't take long to see that land filled with a Talbot motorhome and half a dozen Sambas.

[Vin]

Ah, Fiat Talento, the short wheel base version of the MK1 Ducato...

 

 

 

[Junkman]

The house needs a bit of wallpapering.

[Bucketeer]

Part 2

 

More spots.

 

 

 

 

First time I've seen a Charade saloon.

 

[Bucketeer]

Part 2.5 - The 'I pressed post accidentally halfway through my last post' edition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hold tight, tedium fans. More to come.

[Bucketeer]

Part 2.9

 

The 'Photobucket is a stroppy tart' edition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chaseracer commented about taxis earlier and I've been meaning to pap a load of the grimmer taxis round here. In lieu of that I grabbed a few taxi shots yesterday, not very shite but just a rough representation of what's kicking about here including, as CR mentioned, some of the littler taxis.

I did see a Smart taxi a few months back but the titchiest about generally are of the Atoz/Tico/Fiesta ilk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And for Hairnet, a Dacia Solenza ex-taxi.

 

 

 

 

And happy Bulgarian Independence Day to everyone for the day before yesterday, I know you'll all have celibrated it in your own special way.

 

 

[Junkman]

Why don't they chose cars with space for passengers as taxis?

A bit like the English when they can't afford a London cab.

[Junkman]

And when is the housewarming party?