"Lads I've Got A Great Idea" - The Sequel

People like to celebrate New Year in many different ways. Perhaps a quiet dinner with friends, or an extravagant night out on the town in ball gowns and a tux. Or watching Celebrity Big Brother whilst eating a KFC family bucket. Whatever makes you happy.

Following the unexpected success of last year's New Year mission by Oz & Charlie to rescue the Shaguar, Oz & Nobby decided this year's mission was to get a Trabant to the top of a mountain in Transylvania.

For those of you now asking "what is a Trabant and why would you take one up a mountain?", then we can easily answer the former but perhaps not the latter. A Trabant is a car manufactured in the old East Germany. It's made of Duroplast which is a posh name for recycled cotton held together with glue which makes it the closest thing to a Lego car on the road.

Shown above is the top of the range "Flangewagon" model. Unfortunately we were taking delivery of the rather less salubrious "601 Smoker" model. Apparently there was a waiting list of around 15 years to get hold of one back in the Communist era but we think this was because people kept moving their names to the back of the queue for fear of actually having to drive it.

As we sat on the plane to Budapest we did start to question the merits of buying a 47 year old car on the strength of a photograph. Visions of being stranded in Vampire country and having to eat your co-driver to survive the frozen conditions did cross our minds.

Upon arrival we met up with friends from previous road trips and our host Karsci the chef (Hungary's equivalent of Keith Floyd) laid on a huge feast at the Silenus restaurant which we washed down with copious quantities of beer and palinka, before all going clubbing. The perfect start to a road trip, but only because the road trip hadn't actually started yet.

The next morning we found ourselves bleary-eyed standing in a frozen car park trying to push start the Trabant. Considering there is more voltage in your TV remote than under the bonnet this was not totally unexpected. Then once we were up and running it was just a matter of de-icing the car. From the inside. The doors looked like they'd been fitted by a blind cobbler. You could get a suitcase through the gaps.

Generally the next step is to make the car go forwards but unfortunately we then realised the gear stick was missing. After a search we did find what looked like the end of an umbrella handle poking out of the steering column. There was a brief moment of excitement when we thought it might have a Ferrari style paddle-shifter but unfortunately an actual paddle would still have been better than the contraption facing us.

With the tiny two stroke engine belching clouds of blue smoke in to the crisp morning air we launched ourselves into the bustling downtown traffic and eventually found all the right gears but not necessarily in the right order. Within 5 minutes we were already in love with this car.

Destination: Transylvania

We travelled in convoy. A collection of the usual suspects from Hungary, Poland and Germany. Well, when we say convoy, we actually lost everyone else in the group before leaving downtown Budapest but due to the modern day joys of sat-nav we were quickly hot on their trail at speeds approaching 80 km/h.

And then we made a schoolboy error and left the sat-nav on all day. As we crossed the border in to Romania the "Battery Low!" warning flashed up. Not normally a problem except we didn't have a cigarette lighter socket to recharge it and even if we did it would have been 6 volt not 12 volt. We still had 160km to go to the first night's meeting place and on these roads, with the snow and in darkness, that was about 5 hours away.

With the aid of some guesswork and some helpful locals we got within about 10 kms of the hotel. Then things went tits up. By now we were up in the mountains and there was no phone signal so we couldn't call the others. The hotel could not have been harder to find if you'd buried it. Two hours later we eventually picked the right route. In hindsight it was blindingly obvious that it was over the rickety bridge, up the unlit mountain road, past the monastery and left at the third snow drift.

As we stumbled into the foyer at 10.30pm though all was forgotten. No sooner had we dropped our bags than the staff were bringing out hot soup, pork and dumplings and of course the obligatory palinka. As Huba (chief un-organiser) pointed out, if we'd bothered to read the road book he had so painstakingly put together rather than leaving it in the boot, we would have arrived hours before .

Still, we were by no means last. The Germans having attempted some unscheduled off-roading in their Lada Niva found themselves stuck at such an angle that the fuel could no longer reach the pump. What followed was a 3 hour walk through mud and snow in search of more fuel. They arrived at 4am.

The next day was a much shorter journey to what would be our base for the next 3 days, a hunting lodge not far from "Killer lake". Although the distance was shorter the going was tough. The mountain roads were absolutely appalling. If you looked closely it was possible to see some tarmac amongst the potholes. With our little plastic car being bounced all over the road it wasn't so much a driving experience as a prolonged collision. But the scenery, as always didn't disappoint. Transylvania certainly has a a unique charm especially in winter. In between trying to keep the car on the road we were able to catch glimpses of the forbidding snow capped mountains amongst the deep forests.

At the hunting lodge Lazlo had made a roaring fire and had crates of cold beer chilling outside in the snow while Arpad the chef was a preparing a freshly roasted pig with all the trimmings. What is not to like.

We woke some time the next day. It was New Year's Eve. There was plenty to do around the lodge. The Hungarians of course were having palinka for breakfast. We decided to take the Trabant up a mountain. Which brings us back to that question. Why?

As we crouched shivering on the mountain-side attaching the snow chains to the front wheels of the Trabant whilst the bemused shepherd looked on, the question answered itself. Because its funny and a little bit naughty.

And so off we went. Chugging up the mountain-side puffing little plumes of blue smoke in to the atmosphere as the 28 horsepower engine tried not to die. If only we had a flag to plant at the top. Instead we settled for peeing our names in to the snow and gazing out at the amazing view. The shepherd showed his appreciation of our achievement by giving us the same bemused stare he gave us when we set off. We gave him a cheery wave and set off down the mountain, back to the lodge to celebrate a triumphant ending to 2009.

After another legendary feast we all gathered outside where the villagers had built an enormous fire which could peel skin from 50 feet away. At midnight the fireworks went off and 2010 was celebrated for the first time that night by everyone. An hour later the Hungarians, Polish and Germans celebrated midnight back in their homelands and at 2am us Brits celebrated as Big Ben clunked in to action.

So what kind of year was this going to be? Would the plucky little Trabant make it back to England or would Oz & Nobby be spending the first few days stranded on the hard shoulder of a Slovakian highway...

Watch this space...