Thanks Rod, we just felt we needed to get involved, give some support
Thanks thingmon, thanks for the contact, if we go back I'll try and meet up
Thanks Matt, our trip kept us a very long way from the fighting, there was no need for any significant extra precautions beyond how we normally holiday to some of the less travelled destinations we've visited.
We've visited a few countries which has local areas of 'do not travel' warnings but this was a 1st for us to travel to a country that both the UK and US Governments advise 'do not travel' for the whole country but we fully trusted the the people working for the charity who had done multiple visits
Day 3 - last day of driving but it all starts getting a bit more real!
A few hours drive on the motorway and our last service stop, didn't think much of a police van parked up but then the penny dropped when the van blocked the service exit
A couple of armed policeman jumped out and said 'no photo's', then a high speed convoy of 40 ton trucks with an armed police escort/tail gunners came roaring past???
Then we took to the back roads to the Ukraine border, queue of vehicles was long ie hours and hours long, quite suprised to see many, many damaged, newish cars on transporter trucks, guess they're being canabalised to keep exsisting cars running
As a humanitarian convoy we were given priority, so straight to the front of the queue for us, still took 2 hours to get through as both border controls were really interested in checking our vehicles weren't stolen
Most pleasant surprise of Ukraine, I know what a few of the Victoria Secret Angels fashion models do for day jobs, they're border guards, hubba, hubba, sorry no pics for the 'Beautiful Women' thread 🥰
Border formalities completed and the beginning of another new country for us!
Not many miles into Ukraine we spot a car on the side of the road that had been involved in what I can only guess was an extremely violent shoot out 😬
Was probably not the right time to say to Mrs Ahab who was taking her turn as a passenger that I'd read that RHD trucks are preferred on the frontline because Russian snipers shoot at the driver normally sat on the LHS
Then after this we came across a dismantled anti-tank road check point, ok, everything is starting to get a little more serious looking now
Time to turn off the music, wind up the windows, drop the sun visors and carry on 💪
After driving now for 30 mins in a country at war everything looked normal, as in nothing scary going on, with everyone going about there normal day, doing their normal stuff ie shopping, outdoor market, people relaxing at outside cafe's, football matches, drunk old dude staggering, dog walking, road cyclists etc
Bright church on the outside, gloomy church on the inside and visa versa depending on which religion built them
We passed DIY outlets, garden centres, car dealerships, supermarkets, petrol stations, garages, builders merchant etc, etc all looked like they were open for business
Only real giveaway that all is not well were quite a few injured military personel, a lack of fighting aged male adults and graveyards with lots of fresh tributes to loved ones 😔
To far away in the distance to show a photo but we saw a huge solar farm, like massive, a whole hillside of solar panels, all put up in a few months according to the guys that had done a previous trip 👍
Great to know as fast as parts of the country are being destroyed other parts are being built/improved just as quickly 😎
Mrs Ahab and I have enjoyed family driving holidays around countries like Romania, Serbia and Bosnia. Most of these countries looked much poorer the villages and town in the part of Ukraine we'd just driven through. In a good way, it wasn't quite what we were expecting to see
Cross roads with camo netted machine gun position, not manned which was reassuring
By mid-afternoon we'd reached out hotel, a quick freshen up and then it was time to say our good byes to our faithful old reliable truck.
I gave Mrs Ahab the honors of driving the last miles in it and this is where we and our old Toyota go our seperate ways (at least for now)
Best car I've ever owned, most reliable car I've ever owned, a car deep snow, floods and an ice storm couldn't stop, most miles I've ever driven in one car, most countries I've driven in/to in one car and the car I know I'll miss the most
Best way I can describe what driving it was like, is everytime I jumped in it, it was like putting on your comfiest pair of slippers or jeans, it fitted me perfectly!
After 3 days and 1400 miles of driving, mission accomplished, our proud moment of handing over the logbook and keys to it's new guardians
I offered a 100% money back guarantee if they didn't like it and also asked when they're finished with it I would quite like it back
Powerfully built, big army dude, jumped in, drove it off to a crack team of Ukrainian McGyver's who mechanically checked it over and gave it a camo respray, before sending it on to the frontline
I didn't have the tiniest feeling of sadness seeing our truck drive off, just a good feeling knowing we've helped in a small way
Time to let the festivities begin, our hosts gave us the warmest of welcomes and really know how to lay on a good spread, topped with lashings of local beer, vodka and wine
We didn't over indulge or stay up till the early hours as our hosts had a full day of activities lined up for us and we were both shattered 😴