Finding out about Romania via home #1

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK in order to reduce our impact on climate change. Ever since I read Dracula I've been intrigued by what Romania might be like, so here's how I'm finding out. Words by Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

Duolingo Romanian and books - starting the Romania discovery.

The thing about travel is that it takes time, costs more than the budget and stops me working. But I love to travel and I want to see the world... As regular readers of this blog will know I've found a way to see the sights without leaving home much by seeking out what's here in the UK that links to somewhere else. During 2018 I want to ramp up my travel knowledge and find out more about Romania. If that means one day I'll visit (via train) so much the better, but I doubt it will be this year that I see the painted monasteries, agrarian society in action, salt mines, Danube Delta or the famous Palace of the Parliament.

Besides finding out more is going to be easy because all I know so far is that Dracula is a fun read and Nadia Comāneci was the first gymnast to get a perfect 10 score (in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal).

New Year's resolutions are tricky because they are so tempting to break. But this year I did download Duolingo's learn Romanian and have been reasonably diligent plodding through the lessons. I've got form with Duolingo - I like the way it is quick to use, mixes listening, writing and games and has a clear structure. I've managed to get through the whole of the French Duolingo. Duolingo declared me 54% fluent in French which is a fair estimate as I do understand about half of what's said to me. As for replying, oh my...

I've always been a big admirer of anyone who can speak more than one language.Now, I know that's not hard, especially if you have a mother tongue and a different education language and you start as a child, and/or you have years to improve. But I found language at secondary school much harder. It was fun at primary school and gave me a French and Latin base. Fortunately this has turned out to be very useful when it comes to Romanian, which like French is a Romance language. For years I thought this meant it had a sort of frisky frisson (well French has a particular accent), but at last I've realised that it means it has its roots in Latin.

About a week after writing this I've now discovered from a hairdresser (Polish) that Romania has some good music festivals which are also well attended by mosquitoes and that Romanian sounds Italian. The next day I had my first conversation (I don't think we can grace it with that word conversation actually) with a Romanian Big Issue seller. All I could think of was "I am woman". She thought I was clearly mad, hoping I'd buy the mag or just move on swiftly. However I enjoyed our "chat" and it was fantastic to at last have a chance to hear - and speak - Romanian.

Besides the language learning I'm going to get cultural. On my list will be books, films and a lightbulb in my brain which will either switch on when it notices something about Romania or will oblige me to ask "have you ever been to Romania' when embroiled in a conversation I'm not really sure I want to be having and isn't about work.

Romanian books to read

• Dracula by Bram Stoker isn't really Romanian, but it does give a bit of a hint about Transylvania. Under Communism the stories of vampires disappeared. Now they are back again and it seems Romanians have conflicted feelings about Count Dracula and the rest of the world's obsession for Transyvlanian weird stuff. Searching for Dracula in Romania by Catalin Gruia looks like dealing with these issues.
• Herta Müller has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Her best known work are novels about the poor treatment of Germans in Communist Romania, eg, The Hunger Angel (2009) but I'm also thinking of reading Passport which explores Romania under Nicolae Ceausescu as does The Fox Was Ever the Hunter.   
• Judging by the internet most Romanians are poets...

Famous Romanians

• Nelly Miricioiu - opera singer (born 1952) who has starred worldwide, including Salzburg and London.
• Nadia Comāneci - gymnast
• Nicolāe Paulescu - discovered insulin
• Mihai Eminescu - 19th century national poet
• Romanian gypsies - who've suffered terrible racism especially in the 20th an 21st centuries.

Next steps - besides reading

The plan is to visit a Romanian restaurant/coffee shop - Restaurant Noroc at 147-149 Green Lanes, N13 by the North Circular open from midday to 9pm. Not sure what to expect, but I do know that Romania is the world's ninth largest producer of wine, an exciting fact for a wine lover. Expect a Romanian recipe soon.

Over to you
What do you know about Romania? Where in the UK can I learn more about this place and its history? Have you visited? Any tips?

Lake District – so like Romanian mountains

This blog looks at ways of learning about the world without having to get on a plane. A family holiday to the Lake District was wonderful - and a way to get a little taste of Romania. Words from Nicola Baird.

Adventure on the paddleboards with Adrian from Ullswater Paddleboarding.
It's a wonderful way to travel.

“It’s so like Romania.” That’s the verdict of my friend who we’ve managed to tempt to the Lake District for a weekend. The Lakes may not have brown bears, but already we’ve had an evening watching a buzzard hunting on the way to the Travellers Rest pub; a morning paddleboarding on Ullswater (the most beautiful of the lakes in the Lake District), where her daughter impressed us all with headstands, handstands and cartwheels on her board. 

Now we’re soaking in the view at Lanty’s Tarn, an idyllic spot surrounded by a small pine wood at the top of a peculiarly picturesque walk from Glenridding through woodlands, bracken and heather that made us all think of Beatrix Potter’s Mrs Tiggywinkle.

>Enjoy more Beatrix Potter watching the film/DVD Mrs Potter or by visiting The World of Beatrix Potter in Ambleside which houses a large collection of models based on Beatrix Potter's stories of Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny and friends. It's ideal for little children and people who like bonsai-style figures. There's also a Chelsea Garden exhibit which makes good use of moss and bracken.

Our teenagers are throwing a ball into the tarn for a walker’s dog that still isn’t ready to lie down despite having been up the mountain towards Helvellyn. Helvellyn is the gorgeous 950m mountain that involves a scramble up Striding Edge to the summit and then down Swirral Edge, plus an eight mile round trip but the swimming dog could go on forever. Let that be a lesson to all border collie owners – they literally cannot stop herding things, even tennis balls in tarns. In contrast my border terrier is happy to take in the view (see photo).

>When my 16yo and I got to the top of Helvellyn we suddenly had a mobile signal (there really isn't one in the village below), so I rang my mum who'd just had an operation. She laughed when she heard that we had to climb a mountain to call her, saying that the signal had been good at the top of mountains in Romania too!

Nell at the very top of Striding Edge. Red Tarn below and far away Ullswater.

Eventually the walkers head on and Julie and I turn away from the pond for a new view. And

Looking up to Striding Edge.

that’s when her Romania comparison arrives. People spend good money to go to the Carpathian Mountains, when they could find similarly wild and glorious views, plus challenging mountains to climb all over the north west . That's what I say to myself, smugly looking at the early evening sunshine lighting up the fells.

>Go compare the tourist info: Romania's Carpathian mountains or Lake District National Park  

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There are also quite a few eastern Europeans working in this area, so if you were determined to get the Romania experience you could add in views, mountains, wildlife and some language earwigging on the bus.

VERDICT: The Lake District is a big area with lots of good places to stay. We wanted to feel rural but have a few pubs and at least two coffee shops with wifi so we stayed in Glenridding which we reached via Virgin train (London to Penrith and then took the bus to Glenridding).

That dream of cycling away via the Danube

What's the furthest you've ever cycled? And could you go further? Words from Nicola Baird  (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

Bikes with unusual loads, but the paniers have all sorts of potential
for a long journey.

About 10 years after I left university a guy in the year above had a book published about cycling across Chile, Argentina and Bolivia to raise funds for the Leukaemia Reseach Fund. I was so impressed that even another 20 years on, during a recent book clear out I decided to keep his book on my shelves. This was clearly a man who knew something secret about life and tenacity. The trail to Titicaca by Rupert Attlee is a good read too.

Long distance journeys have always been popular. It's a challenging way to grow up, get away from the old you, fit into your skin, explore etc. We all know travel's attraction dating right back to Odysseus (the Greek who gave us the wonderful word odyssey).

Nowadays long distance travel is often more about taking a holiday to push yourself because (good) experiences are more important than possessions. I pretty much agree with that sentiment (especially if it involves low carbon travel and doesn't begin and end with a plane flight), except somehow I've never managed to cycle more than 50 miles in one day. But, I remember that journey with pride as I managed to get from London to Oxford in aid of charity. It was a total killer and at the celebration gig afterwards with the exuberant Bhundu Boys (from Zimbabwe) playing I crashed out asleep. Clearly I wasn't bicycle honed. And yet I've cycled almost every day since I was 16 years old at sixth form, and love the way a bicycle offers freedom and speedy journeys.

No surprise then that I like to read about bike journeys. At the start of 2017 I was hooked by Tim Moore's latest book The Cyclist Who Went Out In the Cold. Tim has a serious track record at pushing himself to do slightly daft - aka challenging - routes. This time he cycles 6,000 miles along the route of the old Cold War front on a tiny-wheeled, two-geared East German-made shopping bike (a MIFA 900). And he starts the journey in the Arctic Circle, in winter: you couldn't make his stories up. It's an inspiring read, often funny and good for your Cold War knowledge (well it's helped mine)...

When you see a cycle book and think
that could be me out there...

The perseverance travel bug kicks in fast.

Inspired by Tim Moore's cycle journeys up the Alps, and along historic borders I'm now looking closely at The Danube Cycleway (volume 2), published by long distance travel guide specialists Cicerone, thinking could I? Could I get on my bike and pedal from Budapest to the Black Sea (this is the end part of Europe's second longest river)?

My guidebook isn't dog-eared yet, but I've read a few of the recommended stages and feel it's possible. I think it helps having a cyclist in glasses gracing the front cover who looks rather like a government ad to get more women active ("still slow, still lapping the couch"). That woman could be me. Or it could be me when I've got just a few less childcare responsibilities. Unless of course I can talk my youngest teenager into joining me...

The Danube Cycleway (Volume 1 and 2) are extremely detailed, but not that huge. Which is why they recommend taking additional more detailed maps for Hungary, Croatia, Serbia and Romania and provide info about where to find those formal maps. I feel the Cicerone approach really works for an armchair traveller (who might well become the real thing) - as it helps you imagine (and potentially plan) every detail from what to wear to how to get your bike to the starting point. There are some great tables which show the mileage, likely timings, location of cycle shops and accommodation. This kind of info isn't in Tim Moore's book - it makes his ability to cycle such challenging routes seem extra brilliant - but it clearly saves hours of research. It's still going to be hard work doing the route planning (eg, around weather, where to stay and language).

I have real problems looking at maps and seeing their world. Guide books make it a bit easier to imagine the terrain, people and even sunlight. Nothing beats being there, but in order to decide where to be these handy Cicerone guides take me a lot closer to a 3D imagining! And perhaps it's almost a sign that the last person to cut my hair grew up in Budapest...

More tellingly both Tim Moore's book and the Danube Cycleway make Romania look the sort of country I would adore visiting, even if Romanian dogs are clearly not keen on cyclists.

The Danube Cycleway (vol 2 from Budapest to the Black Sea) by Mike Wells (Cicerone, £16.95)

Autumn is Dracula season

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. We do this in a bid to be less polluting and tackle climate change while at the same time keeping a global outlook. Dracula is one of the most popular horror stories - it definitely doesn't give Romania a good press, but it also turns Whitby and Purfleet into stars. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

The Dracula plaque at Purfleet.

A few days ago I was in the woods with two teenagers and an eight-year-old. It was dusk, very close to dark and not far off Halloween so the suggestion was "let's tell some scary stories". I insisted these were age appropriate but they ended up being scary for me, and us all. There's something about riding through twilight with the autumn leaves swishing that helps you connect with people from the past. How lucky we are to have electric light we all agreed as we rode along the darkening track back to the yard with its cosy well-lit stables.

Even with the lights on in a warmly-heated house I can get scared easily. So imagine what it must have been like to read Dracula by Bram Stoker when it first came out. You'd have used a flickering candle or a spluttering gas lamp if you were brave enough to read it before bedtime. I love the Dracula story with its twists and turns, sexuality and Victorian morals - but I associate it with Yorkshire, in particular the seaside town of Whitby. Turns out I was wrong, Purfleet in Essex has a nice link too. As does the big cemetery at Hampstead Heath.

Enjoy more info about Dracula by taking an atmospheric tour of the extremely creepy Hampstead Heath west cemetery on Halloween, 31 October. The last tour is at 3pm.

Or go and look at the plaque in Purfleet, just by the church. This would be a nice trip if you combined it with a visit to the RSPB's Rainham Marshes site. If the tide is out when you are by the Thames look for the skeleton hulls of wrecked ships as you head towards the striking visitor centre. See pix below:

Walking around Rainham Marshes, easily reached via Purfleet train station.
Don't look - he's behind you!

RSPB Rainham Marshes visitor centre.

But if you are Dracula-fixated maybe head to Whitby, where there's even a Dracula Experience. I know from going round it that it really is terrifying (if you want to be terrified). 

Old forests, blue skies - where am I?

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. We do this in a bid to be less polluting and tackle climate change while at the same time keeping a global outlook. The autumn bounty made me think about the blue skies, forests, plants, hearty food and fabulous wild spaces of Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Romania. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

Epping Forest lake - but on such a blue day you could be in a summery Austria if
the view had mountains (rather than clouds) and perhaps a castle atop a hill.

Just for a moment on the edge of Epping Forest which flips in and out of London and Essex I had the sense of being somewhere else - Austria maybe, by one of that country's famous lakes. Austria may boast Alpine scenery, mountains and whatnot, but in the populated valleys the plants look very similar to the ones in the UK. Golden rod and rosebay willow herb (fireweed) along the railway lines, bullrushes and reeds by the lakes, damselflies and dragonflies on the water. Plus a few crickets.

Checking fungi finds in Epping Forest. We left these.

Because Epping Forest is quite a busy place - on the morning we went there was a sponsored run for breast cancer, several Duke of Edinburgh trips, loads of kids with bikes, two girls taking it in turns to ride a little black pony, lots of small kids being introduced to the joys of holding a stick, plus the rest of us - including a huge number of dog walkers - all wanting nice coffee and ready to be tempted by breakfast, it's a good place for outdoor types who like strong coffee.

In Austria you can walk in the mountains or by a lake, thinking you are miles from anywhere and then stumble on a sweet cafe selling coffee, beer, apple streudel and ice cream. And at Chingford Plain you can do just the same at Butler's Retreat Cafe run by The Larder (and open in summer from 9am-6pm, shorter hours during the winter).

On these last sunny autumn days Epping Forest feels crowded - probably no more than popular Lipno Park in South Bohemia (the Czech Republic) with its lake and treetop platform with huge views over Sumava Forest. Epping Forest is smaller - you don't really need to dress in full hiking gear with maps, water and survival bag for a walk around it because it's broken into segments where roads cross it (and be careful as the roads here are very busy).

Autumn homemade gifts - rosehip infused vodka and crab apple/redcurrant jelly.
Both made from treasures found in Epping Forest.

To my mind East Europeans (Austria and some of its neighbours like Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Poland) always seem such capable woodsmen - able to turn anything into a feast. And in autumn London's Epping Forest offers a bounty of goodies to turn into delectable food - sloes, rosehips, crab apples, fungi and the very last of the blackberries.

In the end I made rosehip infused vodka and crab apple jelly brightened with homegrown redcurrants to give to a friend who was moving back into her home after a year away.

Rainham Marshes visitor centre is another great place for
UK wildlife spotting - we saw egrets, kestrels,
marsh frogs and loads of bullrushes.

It's fun finding unusual gifts for people - last week I passed freeze-dried mealworms (which I'd found on sale at the RSPB Bird sanctuary at Rainham Marshes) to neighbours who were having their 25th wedding anniversary. They love watching birds so it wasn't that odd a gift, the only worry was would one of the party goers accidentally think this gift was an exotic snack and tuck in?

Find an Epping Forest map, visitor centre opening hours and info here and info about Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge here.