A DRIVE TO UKRAINE. PART 1

 4th - 6th May 2024

The assembled team arriving in Ukraine. Lt to Rt (for future reference): Martin, Nick 1, Rob, myself, Kate, Freddie, Ruth, Anthony (assistant organiser), Paul (our leader), Archie, Ed, Nick 2, Dick, Guy

Well, this was a trip with a difference. On the 'encouragement' of a friend I volunteered to drive an ancient SUV, along with eight other similar vehicles, from a large house and farm near Towcester, Northamptonshire, to the Ukraine city of Lviv.

Most of the party met up at the Towcester location for a departure at 6.30am prompt on the morning of the 4th. Some of the others would join us, already with loaded vehicles, at the Channel Tunnel crossing at Folkestone to board 'LeShuttle' to Calais. I and four others (Freddie, Archie, Nick 1 and Dick) had been kindly and comfortably put up for the previous night, and royally entertained by the 'leader' and 'organiser' of this expedition, Paul, and his wife in their substantial mansion. 

Left: Our leader, Paul and his wife, at the start point. They are standing in front of the vehicle I would be driving; a 2007 vintage 2.5 ltr Mitsubishi L200. All these vehicles had been filled to the 'gunnels' with various 'supplies', medical and technical etc., by arrangement with contacts in Ukraine. I had been given a brief chance the previous evening to suss-out how everything worked in the vehicle, but picked up most of it en-route!

Right: Most of us assembling at the start. The Ukrainian Oleh on the left. Two other cars would meet us at Folkestone

The procurement, financial, logistic and administrative effort and skill which had gone into preparing for this trip was most impressive. Paul is a highly inspiring, enthusiastic and competent 'organiser' with boundless energy and good humour. Just acquiring and getting these old vehicles fully roadworthy with all the necessary and copious documentation was a feat that I found incomprehensible. He was assisted by a contact in Ukraine and a charming and efficient young Ukrainian chap (Oleh) who now lives in UK, and others who were part of our group. Navigation was aided by a string of GPS 'waypoints' given to us on our 'essential' mobile phones. I got the hang of those eventually. Oleh was a bit of a technical genius and a talented 'fixer' in all respects and, of course, he spoke Ukrainian! Paul and some of the others had done this journey at least three times before; the previous one being back in January. Some effort!

The journey down to Folkestone, in a very 'loose' convoy, took about 2.5 hours along relatively clear roads and motorways. I was not entirely sure of the route (hadn't sussed out the waypoints on the phone system at this stage) so I glued myself onto the vehicle in front and followed it relentlessly.

All nine vehicles managed to RV successfully and unscathed at the Channel tunnel terminus in good time and we even had a decent amount of time for refreshments in the cafés there; in fact our 'LeShuttle' boarding time had been delayed for over an hour. (right: boarding LeShuttle...not all our cars).

There were 15 of us altogether; some rather charming and mildly eccentric characters it must be said, in the nine vehicles. Several had done this before and were friends of Paul and had recruited their friends to join in. Some paired up of course (lucky them) but I and two others (Archie and Freddie) were solo drivers. Archie, Freddie and Ed were the comparative 'youngsters'!

We arrived at Calais at about 1.30pm and headed off north, via a refuelling stop, through France via Dunkerque and into Belgium. The route took us past Bruges, all on a good motorways. However there was a major traffic jam somewhere near Antwerp and it was raining heavily by now. It was here that I had a little mishap; a minor 'prang'. In the line of nearly static cars on the entry to a tunnel under a canal I got too close to a slow moving car in front. It stopped suddenly. I braked, but my 'tank' didn't stop in time (heavy vehicle in wet conditions, but entirely my fault). A slight bump resulted! Luckily no major damage. We managed to pull in to the side and filled in an accident form (which he had). My Belgian 'victim' was rather charming about it. His rear bumper had been slightly damaged and he probably hoped to get a new car out of it. I felt a bit embarrassed. Anyway, I had been following Freddie and Archie and they had pulled off the road on the far side of the tunnel to wait for me. Thankfully! (I had been able to phone them).They then decided to take a detour to escape the ongoing traffic jam (they were competent users of their 'Google Maps' route and I was not!). We wended our way through various towns and then across the south of the Netherlands past the border town of Venlo and into Germany. I really had no idea of where we were most of the time and merely concentrated on tagging on to Archie's car in front of me. Of course this journey was not conducive to taking photos, so most of this report will just be in writing. The weather had turned very rainy so the going was arduous with much 'spray' and poor visibility and involved several more traffic jams. It was surprising that the German motorways became so waterlogged in the rain. I felt on occasions that there was a serious danger of 'aquaplaning'. Our end stop on this leg was to be in Dortmund. F & A were due to stay at a different hotel to me so we parted company at some stage. Fortunately I had by now just about got the hang of the route 'pins' on my mobile (Google maps app). I thus found the hotel I was booked into (Moods Hotel), along with most of the others. The traffic approaching and through Dortmund had been horrendous thanks, we later found out, partly due to the Borussia Dortmund football team playing a home match that evening.  Arrival time about 7.25pm. The total distance covered today: 465 miles. Phew!

Anthony, who has been on this route on previous occasions, appeared to be the chief organiser and coordinator at these stops. He had booked us into a nearby restaurant. So, after checking-in to the hotel, we all, including those in other hotels, walked there for a very decent and convivial supper.

Left: Me and my trusty (slightly dented) steed in the car park at Dortmund.

Start time the next morning was at a relatively civilised time of 8.30am. The hotel had been a rather basic one with few facilities and crowded by a large party of Germans (football supporters?) to the extent that it was impossible even to get near the coffee machine at breakfast. I had the redoubtable Oleh in the car with me today. They probably, and sensibly, thought I needed a competent assistant, and we shared the driving. He kept a close eye on me!

After an initial refuelling stop it was onwards on motorways (sorry autobahns), past Paderborn and Dresden into Poland. I can't even remember if there was a checkpoint into Poland or where we refuelled, but there were the occasional serious roadworks and resulting traffic jams again. There was no 'convoy' involved in this leg. It seemed as if every car just made its own way at its own speed (very fast sometimes, 140 km/hr, on the clear motorways with lots of overtaking of lorries). What I do remember is the vast amount of 'wind turbines' (wind farms) which cover (blight) so much of the German countryside. At least the countryside became more hilly, forested and interesting (in south-east Germany) after the flat landscape of yesterday. One fuel stop just off the motorway in Poland somehow involved a 9km route to get back onto it! Fortunately Oleh was a most competent navigator and I think would have got lost without him. We arrived at our next night stop in the town of Gliwice (west of Krakow) at 7.15pm. Distance covered today: 603 miles.

Our hotel here, the Gliwiçe Plaza Diamante, was excellent and cheap at the price. Again, Anthony had arranged a communal supper for us at a charming restaurant (right) in the picturesque central square. He paid all the bills, but suspect he will divvy it up amongst us at some stage. After this meal I went back to the hotel. I believe that the 'younger' drivers went on a bit of a 'vodka' tasting expedition until rather late. 

Left: We were served by a delightful young waitress called Annie. A lot of wine was drunk.

The next morning (6th May), another 8.30am start, we set off initially via some very confusing 'slip roads' to get onto the motorway bypassing Krakow. Despite the route 'set' on mobiles, I believe one or two of the cars took the wrong turning. More fast motorway driving, albeit with a couple of traffic jams to contend with. There had been a major pile up on the opposing lanes travelling west which involved several fire engines, ambulances and police cars. The queue of traffic behind that 'incident' was over 10 miles long! One hoped the unsuspecting vehicles joining the end of that queue had tents, sleeping bags and rations with them.  We all met up at a filling station about 50 miles from the Ukraine border. From then on we maintained a close convoy as it had been decided that we would take the 'scenic' route for the final 30 miles or so to the border. My vehicle was the last in the convoy.

Right: Somewhere on the motorway before branching off. The sign reads Lviv 177 km.

After leaving the motorway we drove through several small towns and into the forested countryside. The roads got narrower and narrower. We passed through some delightful and pretty villages where, noticeably, in most there was a beautifully tended cemetery or church graveyard with immaculately decorated graves. They take their 'resting places' very seriously. I think it was a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson which said something along the lines of "the state of a local graveyard reflects the state of the local population".

The roads through the forest became single track in some parts with, fortunately, very little traffic on them.....oncoming vehicles towards our convoy were few and involved much shuffling into lay-byes. Left: At some point near the border we were stopped and approached by a couple of 'informally' dressed but armed (with pistols) border 'guards'. I really don't know what their purpose was, but they checked our passports and waved us on. 

We stopped in the village of Lukawiec, about 25 miles from the border. Another immaculate little place which has three notable churches. Right: The first we visited was a wooden one, originally built in 1754-1756 and renovated several times since. Expect they worry about woodworm and fire? I can't remember what any of these are called.

Left: ...and another gathering for a group photo at the church gate. The main door was locked.

Right: The church bells. There were ropes to ring them hanging down and it was tempting to pull them, but I resisted.

Left: Just down the road was another wooden church. If these were in UK they would have all been burnt down by now!

You could go inside this one. Empty, and not even any pews etc. I'm told this is normal in 'Orthodox' churches.

A little further into the village, there is another 'interesting' looking church. I'm no expert on churches and sorry to bore you with all these 'churchy' photos, but as I took them I might as well show them! Churches (and graveyards) obviously play a very important part of life/death in Poland, as they do in Ukraine.

We were getting close to the border and then Freddie's car broke down (right). It was some engine problem and unable to be fixed despite Oleh's expert attention. So it was towed into the nearest village and dumped outside the church. The 'cargo' was redistributed amongst the other vehicles. A local living opposite was informed and I haven't a clue what arrangements were, or have been, made to recover it. Nobody seemed in the slightest perturbed. So that left us with eight vehicles.

Left: Arriving at the border crossing at Budomierz-Hruszow (seemingly in the middle of nowhere). Despite little traffic we had been warned that these crossings can take several hours due to the 'Soviet style' and very bureaucratic and pedantic Polish procedures. They like to make work for themselves (they've got nothing else to do!) by checking all the documents with a fine tooth-combe and there is no love lost between the Polish and Ukrainian immigration services. The 'officials' are very dour and bolshy and we were warned not to be anything other than grovellingly polite and do exactly what we were told. Archie was particularly worried as he had had to forge (with great skill) a vehicle V5 registration document for his machine as he had repainted it from the original 'registered' colour (we were regaled with a long story 😖 about how he managed this with the help of a local in Gliwice). Anyway, despite much checking of documents by sullen officials, it only took about an hour to get through. Archie, indeed all of us, were much relieved. His forgery had passed muster!

Right: Another pic of us all on the Ukraine side of the border. Oleh in the foreground.

So onwards to Lviv, about another 60 miles to go.

 

We had only gone a few hundred yards when we were stopped by some police vehicles and pulled into a lay-by. It transpired that a lady had asked them to stop us so she could present us with Ukrainian Easter cake and sausages! She was very emotional about this and was thanking us tearfully and profusely! Left: Accepting a 'slab' of Easter cake. The Ukrainians celebrated Easter on Sunday 5th May as the 'Orthodox' church uses the 'Julian' calendar as opposed to us who use the more recent 'Gregorian' one. It was a very kind and unexpected gesture!

The large slab of cake was too much for me. I hope the charming and generous lady did not notice me tip half of it into a rubbish bin near my vehicle. 

Onwards to the outskirts of Lviv where, not having a clue where I was, I again latched onto one of our vehicles in front. We ended up at the 4* Leopolis Hotel in the city centre and parked the eight cars in an adjacent compound (right) at about 5.30pm. All except me were staying here. It is a very luxurious hotel with a price to match. I had chosen to stay in the lovely little (and much cheaper) place I used when here last August; the Ferenc Hotel, not far away.

Distances covered over the past 3 days (on my mileometer anyway): Towcester to Dortmund 465m, Dortmund to Gliwice 603m, Gliwice to Lviv 310m. Total: 1378 miles.

Before leaving the hotel we were introduced to an eye surgeon (left) who had been kept very busy patching up wounded soldiers from the front line. He gave us a talk about his experiences and  took us on a short visit to his surgery where we presented him with a rather expensive bit of ophthalmological equipment which had been requested in advance. Haven't a clue what it was.

Anthony had organised a supper in a 'restaurant' on the edge of the main Rynok Square (he had obviously been there before). I, being separate, was given instructions on how to get there with a 'password' to get in. I found the place which had a semi-hidden and locked door with a knocker and small closed flap in the door. I knocked, the flap opened and a wizened little face (his not mine!) peered through. I had forgotten the 'password' and just said I was looking for a group of English people. Thankfully he let me in and I descended into a series of cellars, a real maze, with people eating and drinking at various tables in half hidden corners. It was a weird underground 'restaurant'. I eventually, with the help of a waitress, found our group already well settled in at a long table.

They had been joined by a very jovial Ukrainian (the guy centre in photo) who insisted on buying us copious supplies of different flavoured vodkas. He provided an endless supply of bottles and glasses of the stuff. Incredibly generous! Some of it even tasted rather nice, and the food was also decent.

Left: We had a very jovial evening. I still hadn't paid for any of these meals! I think I drank far too much but, presumably, found my way back to my hotel...as I woke up there the next morning!

Right: Rob, one of our gang, wearing some headgear supplied by....the Ukrainian?

Rob was a big pig (can't speak for the size of the pigs) farmer. He once owned 12,000 of them. That's a lot of bacon! I believe he got rid of them and now does a bit of farming and living off the proceeds no doubt. Oink oink!

That was the journey to Lviv. The next day various visits and other 'events' had been organised. Stand-by for a report in the next edition!