After spending five days in Prague, I am pretty confident we were the last team to leave Praha and the Czech republic. We did a bit of sight seeing. Had a go on a go-kart, saw some old bones and looked at an old castle.
Friday 5th September 2008, the day before leaving prague the alternator on the car died. Lucky for us Lukas and Petr were very helpful and managed to find us a new replacement. Bad news was it wasn't in stock, and we would have to pay extra for overnight delivery. We were cutting it fine. Met up with Petr at 8 am on Saturday. He took us to pick up the alterator, then we drove to where the car was parked. It took about an hour to fit the new alternator. Start up the engine. The battery warning light went out. We were good to go. Thanked Petr, then drove the car to the Corinthia towers hotel for Ginge to check out.
Then we drove out of Praha for lunch before dropping Ginge off at the airport.
Three Kippers and I headed towards Karlovy Vary, then crossed the German border. Heading towards Mitterteich. The Sat nav had a lot of problem locating the autobahn from here. But we read the road signs and navigated through. We stopped off in Frankfurt am Main for the night. It was about 800 km from the German - Czech border.
The next day. Three Kippers drove all 600 Km from Frankfurt to Calais.
Being a Sunday, all the shops were shut, so no shopping for us! We had a late lunch at the Buffalo Grill near Auchans before going to the ferry port to change our return ticket. It cost us 28 Euro to change the ferry return date from Monday to Sunday. We were in Dover by 6:40pm. The rest is very uneventful. Though we did get a lot of stares from other cars on the road and the customs guy in the UK couldn't stop laughing and waived us through when he saw our car and had read the team name.
Thua
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
The Arival day in Praha!!!
Righty ho then, since I am still fairly compus mentus (Loads'a caffeine) I thought I'd get on here and start posting. Please excuse my typing if goes off a bit, I’m on a serious espresso high and have yet to find my bed! And yes, I know it’s now 18:30 the following day, damn those all night bars!!
The Mary Hinge Shavers Society makes it to Prague after 100 or so km of winding country lanes (Got some great videos of that) with the shat-nav attempting to guide us up drive ways, down dead ends and short cuts up pathways and through farmers fields!. We made it to the city and joined on the major roads. (The shat-nav works great in the big cities never letting us down when it came to precise hotel locations :shock: )
We very quickly found our hostel and parked up in the police parking over the road (not really the best idea especially with our car!) to unload the baggage and prepare for the Parade (Ahhem!) in the square. After the car had attracted some attention from the gavers I decided to circle the block and find parking (lol, parking - as if!). While going around I saw the fellas in the Mat Black Carlton estate and to my surprise they offered me their car (time to trade up :wink: ) So I took them back to the hostel and "created" some parking on the pavement to chat to the others about taking 2 cars back to the UK. Done deal!
All we needed to do now was park 2 cars!
Myself and the "long haired hippy" headed out with a vague location to find free parking, sadly this did not go very well and while I was following him his SPAK-NAV was losing the plot! The
After some time of waiting expecting to see the Czechalier return and feeling very lost in a new country I’ve never been to before 200 krona in my pocket (~£6) and just a mobile phone! After a couple of attempts to call my team mate who really realy badly needs to buy a new handset and get out of the dark ages; going to voice mail and getting cut off I started to panic a little (big city, strange lingo = scary time). I sent a text "Come back you git!" I was totally lost and looking at a bridge in the distance not knowing this one didn’t span water!!! Arggggghh!! No hope working that one out then, lol! I walked around and found some parking for the flamin
By now I was feeling fairly cheesed off and was ignoring the beeping phone in favour of getting to the square, with some help from several English speakers and with me only knowing 2 Czech words (Dekuju ti = thank you and Prosim = please!). I made it to the square at 7~ish a tad late and then found the lads in the Graffiti Golf; jumped in with them and all was well.
Justin presenting the winners
Everyone bundling into the bar
The winning team
All problems aside, clashing personalities left at the door etc. I have to say that the long haired hippy really is a nice chap and hope we (now that we have 2 cars) will be signing up for the home to
So please join me in thanking my team mates who did a blinding job of driving in difficult and sometimes heated moments. A big thank you for helping to make this trip happen!
I know I was off on one last night a said some things that shouldn’t have been said (please excuse my drunken stuper and lack of knowledge about the afore mentioned [sounds a bit legal! Lmfao] technological disaster in
TTFN
Spangles. AKA - Ginge, familia bloke and lucky legs!
PS. Home to
Alan
Day Four. Salzburg - Praha
We made the 6 o'clock news http://www.streetsafari.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=172&Itemid=9
Alan
Challenge for today: Spot the Trabant.
It was quite bland driving on the Austrian motorway. We were one of the first few cars to drive out, so we cruised on the motorway waiting for other Czech Wreck cars to go by so that we can film them. It will be our last chance to do so.
When we got the few minutes of footage of other wreckers passing us. We decided to test the czechalier's top speed.
We did well and made it to the Czech border around lunch time. There was no one at border control so we drove straight pass. We did stop off to ask a man in a cigarette kiosk if he sold a tax pass for the motorway, but he didn't seem too interested. We continued to a petrol station, stopped to ask the cashier about a motorway pass. She didn't speak English and none of us spoke Czech. We decided to push on. We found a nice little truck stop in the Czech republic and decided to stop for lunch. The food was very cheap and quite good.
After lunch we decided that it was about time we started the challenge. We drove past a DavoCar lot, but didn't see a Trabant. We even stopped off at a car dealer and asked them, but they didn't have any.
The sat nav must have been set to avoid motorways because we were driving around on small village roads, thinking we're lost again. Then almost instantly we saw the skyline of a city. Yes we made it to the outskirts of Praha. And not one Trabant in sight.
[The annoying thing was : the days after the the challenge we kept seeing loads of Trabants]
Followed the sat nav to the hostel. Then.... well read the next post!
Thua
Alan
Challenge for today: Spot the Trabant.
It was quite bland driving on the Austrian motorway. We were one of the first few cars to drive out, so we cruised on the motorway waiting for other Czech Wreck cars to go by so that we can film them. It will be our last chance to do so.
When we got the few minutes of footage of other wreckers passing us. We decided to test the czechalier's top speed.
We did well and made it to the Czech border around lunch time. There was no one at border control so we drove straight pass. We did stop off to ask a man in a cigarette kiosk if he sold a tax pass for the motorway, but he didn't seem too interested. We continued to a petrol station, stopped to ask the cashier about a motorway pass. She didn't speak English and none of us spoke Czech. We decided to push on. We found a nice little truck stop in the Czech republic and decided to stop for lunch. The food was very cheap and quite good.
After lunch we decided that it was about time we started the challenge. We drove past a DavoCar lot, but didn't see a Trabant. We even stopped off at a car dealer and asked them, but they didn't have any.
The sat nav must have been set to avoid motorways because we were driving around on small village roads, thinking we're lost again. Then almost instantly we saw the skyline of a city. Yes we made it to the outskirts of Praha. And not one Trabant in sight.
[The annoying thing was : the days after the the challenge we kept seeing loads of Trabants]
Followed the sat nav to the hostel. Then.... well read the next post!
Thua
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Day Three. Bormio - Salzburg
It's the day we've all been waiting for...it's Superman Day. Thats right we all had to dress up as superman for the day, even the women. But that's not all, there will also be a water pistol fight at the top of Stelvio pass.
I tell a lie, we started using the water pistol as soon as we set off from the start point. Soaked the team ahead of us as they were easy targets, stradling the sun roof portal. This didn't last long as they sped off and left us for dust.
On Stelvio pass. Ginge got soaked to the bone. Well he was trying to take everyone on, and some of them were using super sized cups.
The hairy one was filming the event with his camcorder, though some footage he shot are a bit questionable: Why are you recording the crotch and legs of the blokes?
We had a scream (mainly at one another) coming down stelvio pass. Then pulled up with where there was a few teams to have lunch.
After lunch the Mazda boys left us their rubbish in our open sunroof. We owe you one lads!
When the rubbish was cleared, everyone had left. We had to stop a cyclist to ask him for directions. We gave up the task for the day, identify and photograph of the missing picture clues. The Sat nav went ga ga at Andermatt. It kept telling us to turn left onto people's driveways. When we ignore it's direction, it directed us to the train stop and told us to board teh ferry. OK. Low tech time...read the road signs.
Thua
I tell a lie, we started using the water pistol as soon as we set off from the start point. Soaked the team ahead of us as they were easy targets, stradling the sun roof portal. This didn't last long as they sped off and left us for dust.
On Stelvio pass. Ginge got soaked to the bone. Well he was trying to take everyone on, and some of them were using super sized cups.
The hairy one was filming the event with his camcorder, though some footage he shot are a bit questionable: Why are you recording the crotch and legs of the blokes?
We had a scream (mainly at one another) coming down stelvio pass. Then pulled up with where there was a few teams to have lunch.
After lunch the Mazda boys left us their rubbish in our open sunroof. We owe you one lads!
When the rubbish was cleared, everyone had left. We had to stop a cyclist to ask him for directions. We gave up the task for the day, identify and photograph of the missing picture clues. The Sat nav went ga ga at Andermatt. It kept telling us to turn left onto people's driveways. When we ignore it's direction, it directed us to the train stop and told us to board teh ferry. OK. Low tech time...read the road signs.
Thua
Monday, 1 September 2008
Day Two. Interlaken - Bormio
Interlaken to Bormio.
Yesterday was just about motorway driving. Today we get a taste of the hills. Our task for the day is to spot as many American cars or vans as possible.
We went on three passes with narrow lanes and tight twists. The road is also very hilly. A couple of teams cooked their brakes by constantly applying the stop pedal.
There is nothing like the smell of burning brakes. We took the Bernadina pass and went onto Bormio, after ony spotting 3 American made/ branded vehicles.
We crossed over into Italy. The border controls took no notice of us.
The sat nav managed to find the hotel without any problem. The landlady was not impressed with our car when we pulled up in front of the hotel. The look on her face could turn milk into sour cream.
[Edit: Thua, tell everyone how you crashed the car after driving just 2 feet next morning! lol (Ginge)]
It was early in the morning I was not fully awake. Hadn't noticed, that the car had been moved forward from its spot. When I turned the car, I had the intention of clipping the signage, but I ran out of road and hit the signage and the log barrier full on. My-bad.
Thua
Yesterday was just about motorway driving. Today we get a taste of the hills. Our task for the day is to spot as many American cars or vans as possible.
We went on three passes with narrow lanes and tight twists. The road is also very hilly. A couple of teams cooked their brakes by constantly applying the stop pedal.
There is nothing like the smell of burning brakes. We took the Bernadina pass and went onto Bormio, after ony spotting 3 American made/ branded vehicles.
We crossed over into Italy. The border controls took no notice of us.
The sat nav managed to find the hotel without any problem. The landlady was not impressed with our car when we pulled up in front of the hotel. The look on her face could turn milk into sour cream.
[Edit: Thua, tell everyone how you crashed the car after driving just 2 feet next morning! lol (Ginge)]
It was early in the morning I was not fully awake. Hadn't noticed, that the car had been moved forward from its spot. When I turned the car, I had the intention of clipping the signage, but I ran out of road and hit the signage and the log barrier full on. My-bad.
Thua
Day One. Calais - Interlarken
We got to the gathering point quite early and thought is this the right place. No one was there. Then we saw some vehicles which were similarly decorated as ours and decided to follow them. The sight of so many personalised cars was a sight to behold.
After last minute decorations were added to the cars. The clackson sounded announcing the start of the rally, erm I mean trip.
Challenge for today, Take photo´s of foreign national license plates en-route to Interlaken.
We saw lots of fellow wreckers driving up real close to the big lorries to take a picture and then speeding off. After a while the lorry drivers got annoyed as five or six cars would get close behind them then pull away. The lorries would swerve out to scare the wreckers. We played this game too, but our camera took so long to focus that more often than not we got blurred pictures or pictures of our vehicle´s interior. We gave up the challenge, but still managed to get 17 different nationality plates.
Arrived at Interlaken. The sat nav got us lost again, when we told it to take us to our hotel. There were 3 haupstrasse´s in Interlaken. And it took us to the wrong one. We had to stop and ask a local gentleman who took ages to direct us. Eventually we found our hotel, but it was 2 km from the meeting place.
The trek to Hooters wasn't very eventful, though the night turned out to be more then a certain MHSS crew can handle. "Rock-a-bye-baby, on the tree top..."
Met a few more teams and swapped stories. At the end of the evening, we had a long walk back to the hotel.
Thua
After last minute decorations were added to the cars. The clackson sounded announcing the start of the rally, erm I mean trip.
Challenge for today, Take photo´s of foreign national license plates en-route to Interlaken.
We saw lots of fellow wreckers driving up real close to the big lorries to take a picture and then speeding off. After a while the lorry drivers got annoyed as five or six cars would get close behind them then pull away. The lorries would swerve out to scare the wreckers. We played this game too, but our camera took so long to focus that more often than not we got blurred pictures or pictures of our vehicle´s interior. We gave up the challenge, but still managed to get 17 different nationality plates.
Arrived at Interlaken. The sat nav got us lost again, when we told it to take us to our hotel. There were 3 haupstrasse´s in Interlaken. And it took us to the wrong one. We had to stop and ask a local gentleman who took ages to direct us. Eventually we found our hotel, but it was 2 km from the meeting place.
The trek to Hooters wasn't very eventful, though the night turned out to be more then a certain MHSS crew can handle. "Rock-a-bye-baby, on the tree top..."
Met a few more teams and swapped stories. At the end of the evening, we had a long walk back to the hotel.
Thua
Day Zero. WGC - Calais
Hey everyone. Finally found a place to get on the net!
After spending a few hours on the M25, M11, A13 and M20 due to road closures, We got to Dover in the nick of time for our ferry. We were stopped at customs. They took one look in our packed boot, gave up and waived us into the queue.
We met the Shark team on the ferry and the Rover 214 team. The shark team in their Mondeo was putting some finishes to their fins after having lost one under the wheels of a transit van coming down to Dover.
Sat nav lost the plot in Dover and kept telling us to head away from the ferry terminals. So we resorted to low tech and read the sign posts.
After just over an hour on the ferry, we were risking life and limb on the French roads. The sat nav redeemed itself in it's effort to guide us to the hotel.
but our adventure is not yet over for the day.
We drove to the meet point to register for the event. Got excited when we saw lots of cars in the parking lot of Auchans that we did not realise we had forgtten to take all the correct paper works required. Luckily it was back in the hotel. So off we went in the car again. Grabbed the papers and drove to Auchan. By the time we registered, the shops in Auchans had shut and locked tighter then Chen's wallet.
So we consigned ourselves to the pub for sustanance (of the solid and liquid variety). We met a few teams, but it was getting late and so we called it a night.
Thua
After spending a few hours on the M25, M11, A13 and M20 due to road closures, We got to Dover in the nick of time for our ferry. We were stopped at customs. They took one look in our packed boot, gave up and waived us into the queue.
We met the Shark team on the ferry and the Rover 214 team. The shark team in their Mondeo was putting some finishes to their fins after having lost one under the wheels of a transit van coming down to Dover.
Sat nav lost the plot in Dover and kept telling us to head away from the ferry terminals. So we resorted to low tech and read the sign posts.
After just over an hour on the ferry, we were risking life and limb on the French roads. The sat nav redeemed itself in it's effort to guide us to the hotel.
but our adventure is not yet over for the day.
We drove to the meet point to register for the event. Got excited when we saw lots of cars in the parking lot of Auchans that we did not realise we had forgtten to take all the correct paper works required. Luckily it was back in the hotel. So off we went in the car again. Grabbed the papers and drove to Auchan. By the time we registered, the shops in Auchans had shut and locked tighter then Chen's wallet.
So we consigned ourselves to the pub for sustanance (of the solid and liquid variety). We met a few teams, but it was getting late and so we called it a night.
Thua
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