Europe by van Day 15

We had a bit of a drama this morning. Heading back for Vidin and the Romanian border the oil warning light came on. Mr C bought oil at a service station and filled it. It took a lot and the light stayed on. He contacted his chum Colin who said if we had no leaks, the garage where it got its service probably hadn’t zeroed the miles. But now there was too much oil which was bad for the engine and we’d need a complete oil change. Google found me an oil change place in Vidin so we limped there. They left the current jobs they were doing and agreed to change the oil. Although it wasn’t a shiny place they were very professional and even printed out a diagnostic report and set the oil change to zero. It cost €120 - €40 for the oil and €80 an hour’s labour, cash no cards accepted.

Obviously this meant we were very behind schedule with time and there was a long queue at the border, then we had to buy the road vignette - that was all another hour - but we pressed on, stopping at Lidl for urgent supplies (which of necessity included local gin and some pancetta to make Mr C a Carbonara for supper as we had no time for lunch - and he’s worth it).

We are now camped up overlooking the Danube Gorges and over to Serbia. So beautiful.

126 miles only - 9 hours on the go!