Day 5 – Germany – Poland – The Czech Republic

The most awesome eagle in the world.

As the required parts to fix Adventure were not due to arrive at the garage until the morning, we had a later start than previous days; giving us a much appreciated lie-in followed by a swim in the local lake for Greg, Berry and Ian.

We headed to the garage prepared for a long wait, however upon arriving we spotted the other ambulance parked behind the garage. Upon closer inspection we found that the new CV joint was already fitted! Talk about german efficiency! They also replaced the upper ball joint that was kaputt! The fix was a lot more expensive than we expected, but a fix by a german mechanic almost garantees that the parts replaced will not break!

We are hugely grateful for everyone’s support, as without it the cost of the repair would have been a massive hinderance on our rally.

While Greg, Berry, Ian and Alex were off collecting Adventure, Neil, Matt and Rich headed off to town to buy a few bits and bobs. The first stop was a car parts shop to buy some grease. After gratuitous use of Google Translate we determined they didn’t have any, but with helpful directions to another parts place we finally got the grease. We also visited a German electronics parts shop and got some stuff to make a power supply for the Spot Tracker, the thing keeping the Real-Time Tracker up and running. No more worrying about finding obscure batteries for the rest of the trip!

Once the guys returned from town, Ian and Neil greased up the remaining driveshaft joints and then we headed onto Poland, all the while taking in more and more breathtaking views through Germany, now the favourite country of the rally so far.

We reached the 1,000 mile mark just before the Polish boarder at around 9 o’clock.

After crossing the boarder to Poland, with the welcome sign listing all the new drving restrictions, we were astounded to see how different the town was. Lots of degrading buildings and everyone walking about at the time was drunk. We decided it would be better to camp and eat dinner in The Czech Republic, but not after a cheeky photo by a huge war memorial eagle.

We eventually found a secluded area next to a castle near the town of Liverez. We quickly set up camp and cooked dinner, in order to get as much sleep as possible for our long day tomorrow.