Tucuci, Romania

Tues 10th May

If there was any doubt that we were on an adventure and not a tour it was
dispelled once and for all at the Ukraine/Romanian border.

We all arrived at the border mid afternoon with bikes and Lizzy the Lada.
Earlier, customs had turned back the first nine bikes to attempt the
crossing. Lang with Sasha and Nadia on arrival went to state our case.
Apparently new laws have been introduced in the last week and the Ukraine
customs not being to sure what they were, tried several scams to block our
way. In the end they came up with the problem of how and what did we pay
for the bikes and the great worry, did we spend any money in Ukraine.
Everyone had to produce all their documents and receipts of purchases etc.

These were taken by Sasha in to the inner sanctum where they would raise
documents for each bike which would then be signed by the owners and of
course a payment made. This process was to take all night as they would
call us one at a time and it could take two hours to process each person.

At this point all tents were erected on a grassy area outside the border
gate. After the first few were called we all got excited thinking it might
take less time so, down came all the tents. The rules then changed and
the remaining contingent outside the gate were told nothing would resume
until morning, so up with the tents again. Just to fool everyone they
started taking people again at 4am. From then it was an ad hock process.

The last lot consisting of Dan, Lee Myles and Lang were not allowed in
the first gate until 8pm on the second day and were finally through the
two border checks at 3am the next morning- 36 hours after arrival at the
gate!. They then got on their bikes and rode two hours to Falticeni where
the rest of us were staying overnight.

I have been through some memorable border crossings but I think this takes
the cake.

Just to make things more interesting they refused Nadia and Sasha's
passports as a document had not been signed by a very "important' person.
They believe they can clear this up by going back to Kiev and hopefully
catching us up in 4-5 days time. Apparently it was something to do with
their marriage documents.

We are still having lots of small problems with the bikes but somehow we
are managing to progress every day and get all the chickens home to roost,
even like today when Dan put his bike on a tow truck for the last 100kms.

We are reliant on Hub with his mechanical knowledge to work on the bikes.
His role has changed from participant to being a member of our admin team,
and to help him out our group's mechanical knowledge is on a steep incline
upwards.

Also since being in Romania as soon as we pull into our accommodation the
local bikers are out in force offering spares and lots of practical help.
The locals here are a lot more friendly than the Ukranians. We also can
now read the signs easily without dealing with cyrilic script.

The troops are all very upbeat and enjoying the continuous new adventures
being presented on seemingly an hourly basis!

Tomorrow we are heading for the Danube Delta area.

Bev