Route Planning your Drive UK to Bulgaria
The Channel Tunnel Folkstone, the Eurotunnel France
the Autobahns Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia...
Arrival in Bulgaria!
a journey in a Toyota Hilux Surf 2.4 TD with a 26ft caravan in tow!
The Channel Tunnel Folkstone, the Eurotunnel France
the Autobahns Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia...
Arrival in Bulgaria!
a journey in a Toyota Hilux Surf 2.4 TD with a 26ft caravan in tow!
We drove from the UK to Bulgaria in our Toyota Hilux Surf 2.4 diesel turbo automatic, towing a 26ft caravan!
These are the photos from our European trip which took 7 days and no nights!
We chose to begin our journey via the Channel Tunnel at Folkstone in the UK and although we attempted to plot our journey to Bulgaria via the online route finders, at the end of the day, we found the route finders to be totally useless!
We had tried to purchase a tom-tom or similar onboard satelite navigation system, but as they don't really cover eastern Europe, decided that they also would be a waste of money!
Instead we bought an AA map of Europe and just looked for the next major town or city on route and to follow the autobahn's directions in that direction! Well, that worked fine and dandy! Only a couple of times and for only very short distances, did we lose our way!
On the whole, our journey across Europe to Bulgaria was extremely enjoyable, until at the Serbian border we were ordered ''English go home'', by a rather ratty Serbian border official! Hmm!
These are the photos from our European trip which took 7 days and no nights!
We chose to begin our journey via the Channel Tunnel at Folkstone in the UK and although we attempted to plot our journey to Bulgaria via the online route finders, at the end of the day, we found the route finders to be totally useless!
We had tried to purchase a tom-tom or similar onboard satelite navigation system, but as they don't really cover eastern Europe, decided that they also would be a waste of money!
Instead we bought an AA map of Europe and just looked for the next major town or city on route and to follow the autobahn's directions in that direction! Well, that worked fine and dandy! Only a couple of times and for only very short distances, did we lose our way!
On the whole, our journey across Europe to Bulgaria was extremely enjoyable, until at the Serbian border we were ordered ''English go home'', by a rather ratty Serbian border official! Hmm!
We drove from the UK to Bulgaria in our Toyota Hilux Surf 2.4 diesel turbo automatic, towing a 26ft caravan!
Some of the tunnels along the journey to Bulgaria were kilometres long. The worse ones seemed to go on forever and the smog from the exhaust fumes was choking thick! I found the long tunnels very frightening, they were poorly lit, dense with choking fumes, narrow lanes and the only saving grace of these tunnels was the fact that nobody was speeding!
We also found that towing the caravan, each time a large, or just tall, vehicle passed us in the opposite direction, the car seemed to swerve around a bit! Very unerving!
A lot of the roads even the toll roads were in a poor state. The last journey I drove across Europe was via Italy and I seemed to remember that the toll roads were superb, the toll roads on our journey down the east of Europe were pretty awful!
If you intend to tow a caravan across Europe, make sure you fit a really good anti snake bar before you leave the UK! Having to stick to a slow speed limit, left us in the juggernaut lanes, the juggernaut lanes have been so well used that they have grooves in the road where the juggernauts wheels have worn down the tarmac! Getting the caravan stuck in one of these grooves and the car in a different groove was terrifying as the caravan snaked violently!
One of these violent snakes happened just as the road bore left and there was an exit off to the right, the caravan begun snaking and I begun screeming!
Some of the tunnels along the journey to Bulgaria were kilometres long. The worse ones seemed to go on forever and the smog from the exhaust fumes was choking thick! I found the long tunnels very frightening, they were poorly lit, dense with choking fumes, narrow lanes and the only saving grace of these tunnels was the fact that nobody was speeding!
We also found that towing the caravan, each time a large, or just tall, vehicle passed us in the opposite direction, the car seemed to swerve around a bit! Very unerving!
A lot of the roads even the toll roads were in a poor state. The last journey I drove across Europe was via Italy and I seemed to remember that the toll roads were superb, the toll roads on our journey down the east of Europe were pretty awful!
If you intend to tow a caravan across Europe, make sure you fit a really good anti snake bar before you leave the UK! Having to stick to a slow speed limit, left us in the juggernaut lanes, the juggernaut lanes have been so well used that they have grooves in the road where the juggernauts wheels have worn down the tarmac! Getting the caravan stuck in one of these grooves and the car in a different groove was terrifying as the caravan snaked violently!
One of these violent snakes happened just as the road bore left and there was an exit off to the right, the caravan begun snaking and I begun screeming!
Channel Tunnel Folkstone - Eurotunnel France
The Autobahns Belgium, Germany & Austria
The Journey in Slovenia, Croatia & Serbia
Arrival in Bulgaria!
Costs of the Journey to Bulgaria
The Autobahns Belgium, Germany & Austria
The Journey in Slovenia, Croatia & Serbia
Arrival in Bulgaria!
Costs of the Journey to Bulgaria
we are currently finishing this Journey with our Toyota Hilux Surf 2.4TD towing a 26ft caravan from the UK to Bulgaria project please revisit as we update the site!
LADY TRANS and our Serbian Guardian Angel!
The caravan and car were snaking against each other and I thought I could see the back of the caravan coming round into my vision, the car was going absolutely berserk and I really thought I would lose control of the vehicles! We were travelling along at approximately 50 kilometres per hour when this happened, so we were not speeding! My advice? Get an anti snake bar, and a good one!
Obviously the mapping of east Europe on tom-toms and other sat navs is sporadic if not non existent, the maps I had prepared via the online site Michelin road planner, were next to useless.
The best bet is to grab a large scale map book from the UK before your journey, make sure it covers eastern Europe and just follow the signs between the main cities! It was really not worth any of the planning we had done from within the UK! Once we had discarded Michelin's instructions, we were back on the right track again!
There are plenty of cafes and stopping points along the way, it's worth taking your time and a great excuse for a needed stop when you have to plot from city to city!
Although route planning from the UK driving throo Europe into Bulgaria proved fruitless, the huge AA map was just the ticket!
One man's journey across Europe in a 2.4 turbo diesle Toyota Hilux Surf towing a huge 26ft long caravan!
Obviously the mapping of east Europe on tom-toms and other sat navs is sporadic if not non existent, the maps I had prepared via the online site Michelin road planner, were next to useless.
The best bet is to grab a large scale map book from the UK before your journey, make sure it covers eastern Europe and just follow the signs between the main cities! It was really not worth any of the planning we had done from within the UK! Once we had discarded Michelin's instructions, we were back on the right track again!
There are plenty of cafes and stopping points along the way, it's worth taking your time and a great excuse for a needed stop when you have to plot from city to city!
Although route planning from the UK driving throo Europe into Bulgaria proved fruitless, the huge AA map was just the ticket!
One man's journey across Europe in a 2.4 turbo diesle Toyota Hilux Surf towing a huge 26ft long caravan!
ROUTE PLANNING YOUR EUROPEAN JOURNEY UK - BULGARIA VIA EU AND NON EU COUNTRIES
via the EUROTUNNEL CHANNEL TUNNEL from DOVER to FRANCE
watch out for Eurotunnel Channel Tunnel special offers!
via the EUROTUNNEL CHANNEL TUNNEL from DOVER to FRANCE
watch out for Eurotunnel Channel Tunnel special offers!