May Update 30/5/08 Zakopane, Poland (5,054 km) 
The last update saw us waving goodbye to Jan, Clara and the Czech Republic. We loved the country with its friendly people, good beer and terrific scenery. We trundled towards Wrocław checking the diesel prices along the way in the ever decreasing expectation that it would be cheaper than the last country... it isn’t!
It is at this point that I would like to tell you about the wonders of Wrocław; of its lovely architecture, interesting museums and relaxing street cafes... but I can’t. We never actually saw any of the above. The reason – well that’s a bit of a story! Most of the bridges in the south of the city were less than 3.8 metres high (and therefore too low for us to get underneath) all except one which allowed us into town but then eluded us on the way out!! We drove round and round and round... I could go on at this point about how many times we drove around the town but I fear you will find it as boring as we did! The roads appear to have been surfaced sometime around 1930 and patched in various degrees of successfulness and in a lot of cases over cobblestones which peak out in the form of potholes. Dealing with the state of the roads as well as trying to read the map, find non-existent road signs, avoiding trams, buses, cars and the like all of whom frustratingly appear to know the way, was exhausting.
At the end of the first afternoon the city spat us out (again) onto a country lane heading north and we decided to look for a wild camp for the night. We ended up in a forest and had a lovely night’s sleep.The following day we were totally lost in the small lanes and villages and returned to the same village square about six times! In desperation I ended up with the laptop on my knee looking at the Garmin maps which were loaded onto it. Combining this with a handheld GPS to pinpoint where we were and we thought we were good to go at this point! Garmin directed us to what seemed on the map to be a large(ish) road and we headed down it only to discover that it ended up at a track. At this point our humour was beginning to elude us and we decided that the track was only about a kilometre long so we’d go for it (there was the holy grail of a decent road at the other end!). Ploughing forward (almost literally) in our “go anywhere” Unimog(!!) we drove through thick pine forest along a muddy, undulating tracks - we thought that the fairly fresh tyre tracks were a good sign until we realised there was no way of passing if we did meet someone! One track lead to another, then another and so on until they stopped abruptly. Fortunately there was a small siding where we six-point-turned and returned the way we came for the full five kilometres! Still it was a bit of practice for Africa!
Back on the blacktop, Oz suddenly pulled the Mog over and shouted over his shoulder as he leapt from the cab “I can smell petrol”. Confused for a few moments as the Mog is a diesel it dawned on me that he must mean the metal jerry can we keep to run the generator... trouble is we store it on the roof. We discovered that the jerry can lid had been knocked open by one of the many low hanging branches and the whole can had emptied itself onto the roof and subsequently poured down the back and one side of the Mog. To say that we stank was an understatement but there was nothing we could do until we found a place to stop and try to wash some of it off our only concern was that someone would discard a lit cigarette in our general direction!
Eventually we arrived back in the city, we consulted the Lonely Planet map which was up to its usual low standard and the one campsite listed eluded again! Finally we did find it, after at least an hour of driving and were slightly surprised to find that it is now a travellers and gypsy site! We enquired at the chained gate if we could camp the night (in total desperation at this point!) but despite being told we were ok for one night we opted to dive back into the city’s one way system. Finally we pulled into a petrol station and, at great expense, purchased a detailed map of Poland. Having consulted this and asked the three bored cashiers we discovered that there was a campsite less that a kilometre away! Safely tucked up into the campsite we then provided the other inmates with an evening show entitled “wash the petrol off the big lorry”. Fortunately none of the petrol had made it past the roof lights so the inside just needed venting. Suffice to say, after all our adventures and frustration we decided to skip seeing the city and move on to Krakow the next morning.
Now, I messed up in another way in Wrocław! We were very much looking forward to catching up with Dave in Poland and I kept telling Oz that he lived in Krakow and how brilliant it would be to have someone local who knows what the best sights are... this is all great except for the small fact that Dave actually lives in Wrocław and not Krakow!! That, plus the fact that I didn’t look up his address until we had already arrived in Krakow... hmm... I think I’m being just a little disorganised at the moment! Sorry Dave... still owe you a beer... fancy meeting up in Africa??!!