The alarm woke us early on Monday morning, 23rd April 2007 and the start of a 4,100 mile trip to deliver a caravan filled with aid, to a charity organisation in Slatina in Romania, began. In fact, the work for this trip had began some weeks before hand as we scoured the local caravan dealers to find a dealer willing to donate a suitable caravan and collected the aid to fill it. It took some finding but finally I was given a 1990 Compass Shadow 4 berth in excellent condition by Blairs Caravans Ltd of Portrush, Co. Antrim.

We had the caravan serviced free of charge by Gary Dunn of Dunns Caravan Repairs in Newtownards, Co. Down, and I had two new tyres fitted. My wife Catherine cleaned the inside and I resealed some of the mastic seals and cleaned the outside. We bought new pots and pans, cooking utensils, plates and cutlery etc. The only thing we did not source for it was a battery and in hindsight we should have tried to source one as it would have made the caravan complete. We brought our own gas cylinder out with us and brought it back as Calor gas is not available out in Romania.

We had filled every available space with toilet rolls, toothpaste, toothbrushes, hand soap, face cloths, bleach, washing up liquid, shampoo, sanitary towels, pens, pencils, new clothes for children and adults etc. We made up the double bed so we had some where to sleep on the way out and left the toilet/washroom free. Bags of clothes where packed onto the bed so that at night we had to clear them down to the back of the van. This kept the nose weight rather on the heavy side but the van was well balanced and it towed very well.

We sailed from Larne in Co. Antrim to Cairnryan in Scotland early on Monday 23rd April 2007 and spent all day driving down to Dover to catch the 22.10 hrs P&O Ferry sailing to Calais. At the ferry terminal we met for the first time the other two crews who were to join us. Gordon and Andrew Blanchard, a father and son team with a Sprite Alpine towed by a Ford Focus and Fred Williamson on his own with a Land Rover 130 Camper towing another Sprite Alpine.

After spending the night in a car park in Calais we set off in convoy. We aimed to drive for two hours, have a driver change over and drive for another 2 hours before stopping for fuel and something to eat. Then drive for another 2 hours, a driver change and drive on for another 2 hours or so and find a stop for the night.

In Germany you really need to be looking for a truck stop around 6pm if you want to get a convoy of vehicles all into the same one. We were lucky and got our vehicles parked together for security but the parks are always very busy and space is tight.

I had worked out a route based on past convoy trips and we kept in touch with each other by CB radio or mobile phone. Gordon's CB could only receive not send, so when he needed to contact anyone the mobile came in handy. Our route took us from Calais to Gent, to Brussels, to Liege, to Aachen, to Koln, to Frankfurt, to Wurzburg, to Nurnberg, to Regensburg, to Passau, to Linz, to Wien, to Gyor, to Budapest and on to Oradea in Romania.

Unfortunately on the Wednesday 25th April just after lunch, near Worth in Austria, Fred's Land Rover suffered a breakdown that saw him being recovered off the motorway and taken to a garage for repairs. As it was going to be a couple of days until he got the parts to repair his vehicle it was with a heavy heart that Fred took the hard decision to retire from the trip. His aid was split between the remaining crews and we also took two of the seven bikes he had onboard his van. I wish we could have taken the rest but we simply did not have any more room.

It was a very strange feeling to have to leave Fred to make his own way home. On all of the other convoy trips I have made, no one has ever been left behind before. The three simple rules of a convoy are 1) the convoy travels at the pace of the slowest vehicle, 2) everyone looks after each other and 3) no one gets left behind. This is the first and hopefully the last time I have to leave anyone to their own devices, but Fred is very capable and got himself home safe and sound. When last head of his caravan had been given away and was on its way to Bulgaria.

This left the Blanchard team and ourselves to head on towards Romania. We were heading to Slatina in the South and the Blanchards were going to Botosani in the North Eastern part of Romania.

We arrived in Oradea on the Thursday evening and stayed in a hotel just across the border in Romania. As it was not safe to leave the outfits unattended we gave the night porter 50 euros (nearly a months wages) to look after the two cars and caravans. It was worth it just to have a restful night not worrying about our loads.

In the morning we split up as each van had a full days travel ahead just to get to their respective destinations. It was just after 6pm when Catherine and I arrived at Slatina after some of the worst roads I have ever been on. I have driven off road many times but never at speed and towing before. It seems that the faster you went the easier it was as you flew from one pot hole to another and the ride was smoother at speed.

My Hyundai Terracan handled the trip very well and the caravan was brilliant. In fact Catherine reckoned the Compass Shadow was more comfortable than our own Bailley which is more than 10 years younger.

We were met in Slatina by Vergi who works for the Wishing Well charity. This charity works in Romania under the name of Fundatia William Tyrrell and they work with the Roma children of Slatina. They aim by helping with education to improve the outlook and conditions of the Roma people. Vergi took us to deliver the caravan to the head of the foundation were we left it at his house in the front yard.

It will be safe here and the foundation members will be able in their own time to sort out where and when the aid should be used. It is intended that the caravan will be placed by the centre that the foundation uses to teach and work with the children once permission has been granted by the city authorities. This may take some time to sort out by all accounts.

Having been shown around the family garden/smallholding where all their fruit and vegetables are grown along with chickens and the family pig, called as it turned out, Jason after the Trustee of the Wishing Well Charity, Jason O'Flaherty.

We were put up in a 5th floor flat by the foundation for the duration of our stay in Slatina. It had no hot running water, the toilet did not work, the lift did not work either and there was a shortage of light bulbs. I got the toilet to work much to Catherine's delight, but the stairs would certainly have got us fit if we had been staying longer!

We spent the Saturday and Sunday looking around the area and Vergi took us to her home village to see what rural life is like. We also got to meet some of the Roma children when we went for a walk down to their part of town. All the kids are unkempt, dirty but full of smiling faces. The average wage is 100 per month, you wont starve but you will not be eating out either or run a car. A family on benefit could expect a max of 40 per month and they try to supplement their income by casual work from the city authorities when they can get it.

We were invited to a barbeque at the home of the head of the Foundation. We had pork and chicken cooked on a wood fuelled fire. We discovered that poor Jason had been culled along with one of the chickens in our honour, and very nice he tasted too.

Having spent three nights and two full days in Slatina it was time to say farewell and head for home. We travelled 620 miles on Monday getting into Austria and a hotel for the night.

Another 830 miles, plus the ferry on Tuesday - which took us to Folkestone and a Motel for the night. Then we only had the 500 odd miles up to Cairnryan for the boat home on Wednesday evening, arriving tired and exhausted, but happy that a job well done had been completed.

By all accounts the Blanchards had a good run to Botosani, though the roads were very rough, which made for slow going. After seeing around the area that their chosen charity works in, they left for home on the Sunday, arriving home on Wednesday evening.

Would I do it again? Yes most certainly. Catherine, who has done all the hard work of sorting and packing the aid for past trips but had never been on one, got her eyes opened on seeing for herself just what poverty there is. The caravan idea worked very well for my chosen charity and hopefully it will have many years of useful life in Slatina.