An Elemental Battle

The taxi came to take us to the airport at 3:30am. We were heading back to arctic conditions in Sarajevo and had a strong sense of foreboding.

As the aeroplane touched down our hearts sank, the whole city was covered in thick snow with biting winds and sleet that stung our eyes and froze our faces.

And when the lovely Stojana drove us back to the campsite, our first sight of BigMog made our insides freeze

When we opened him up we found it was minus 5 inside. We opened the roof window to try and air things out but quickly shut it again

It felt as though we had a mountain to climb before we could get back on the road. Our living space was freezing cold and all the water outlet pipes were frozen solid so we had no running water nor toilet. There was so much snow on BigMog’s roof that our satellite dish and solar panels were all out of action. Our spray bottle had burst, as had a few cans of drink, covering the cupboards in a sticky mess.

One of our hold bags had not made it onto the connecting flight from Frankfurt so all our UniMog parts were missing and to top it all off, one of our toiletry bottles had burst on the flight and covered everything in face wash.

Welcome back to Sarajevo!

We set about getting the priorities sorted. We turned on the diesel heater to warm up the inside and then cooked pizza in the camp kitchen. James started shovelling snow to make a path between the camp toilets and the Mog whilst I unpacked and shortly afterwards Stojana arrived with two containers of drinking water.

It seemed as though things were getting a bit easier until our living space started filling up with smoke. It was coming from the diesel heater so we quickly switched it off. What now?? We couldn’t live in these temperatures with no heater.

James looked underneath and decided to move the position of the outlet pipe. Why the cold would make it start blowing exhaust fumes into the truck we had no idea but after switching the heater back on again we had no more problems.

The next day, after a long, much needed sleep, James got our ladder out, climbed onto the roof of the Mog and cleared as much of the snow as he could off the satellite dish and solar panels. It worked, we were on line and powering up under our own steam. Step one towards returning to self-sufficiency.

Later that morning we had the message we had been hoping for – our lost bag was on its way. The poor courier had to fight his way up the treacherous path to the campsite in his saloon car but made it with a smile and good grace.

We had wondered how the bag had managed to miss the flight but when we opened it up we found out

It had never occurred to us that our blocks of coco coir might look like something entirely different to a customs officer. I would had loved to see their faces when they tested it only to find that the offending item was in fact toilet compost and not a class A drug!

Now reunited with all our UniMog parts, we could start planning the work that needed doing

It was hard to see how we could get anything done in this weather but the snow wasn’t about to disappear any time soon and we couldn’t stay on the campsite forever, lovely as it was.

There were a host of things that needed doing but only one was stopping us from getting going. We had to change the outlet pipes on the toilet, sink and shower, install a heating coil around the new pipework and then insulate everything. Once that was done we would have running water and a usable toilet, even in sub-zero temperatures, and would be up and running again.

Sounds straight forward except that all of the pipework was on the outside of the truck and most of it was currently under large snow drifts. It looked like an impossible task

But James was determined and, by the end of our second day, he had installed all the new pipework under the sink. He himself was white with cold and his fingers barely worked but we were another step closer

As the sun set, the temperatures plummeted to minus 15 and the snow started coming down yet again

It may have looked beautiful but it already felt relentless.

We woke early on our third day to temperatures of minus 12, with new snow so deep that our wifi was down again and the door had iced shut with us stuck inside.

Even once the door was open we could hardly make our way down the steps out of the truck

And we couldn’t close it again until we had thawed out the ice on the inside with our new heat gun

We had an appointment at 9am with Mercedes Sarajevo to do the only two jobs that James couldn’t do himself – brake calipers and air valve.

We started getting the truck ready to move at 6.15am hoping that would give us enough time. It didn’t – not nearly enough.

James tried starting the engine but it was just too cold and the diesel was frozen. He tried warming everything up with the heat gun but after just a few minutes it tripped the frozen inverter and we lost all our power, heat and light.

We had to empty everything out of the garage onto the snow to get to the fuse box but as soon as we flicked the switch, to our immense relief, everything powered back up

But our problems were getting worse – after repeatedly trying the engine, the main battery was now flat and the only way to recharge it was to connect it to our leisure batteries.

On the positive side, we had bought a charger to do just that. On the negative side, making cables to connect the charging unit to the battery had never made it to the top of our priorities list before we left the UK.

James was fuming, but annoyed with himself as he was, it didn’t stop him from coming up with a very clever solution. He ‘borrowed’ some cable from our new heating coils and made a set of cables

Half an hour later the battery was happily charging

And by 9:30am it was back to full strength and the heat gun had thawed out much of the pipework. We tried the engine again. It spluttered and failed, failed again and again. But on the fourth attempt it roared into life. I can’t tell you what a relief it was, with the engine running all was well with the world – we had power, we had heat, we could move.

Or could we? Back in November in Banja Luka we had been stuck in a car park for over an hour with our brakes frozen solid and the conditions back then were nothing compared with now.

We assumed that we had only got through the first test of many. But we were wrong. Sometimes the gods are on our side and so it was today. James gently tapped BigMog’s throttle and he eased forwards, ploughing through the deep snow drift like a knife through butter. When the chips are down, you want a UniMog in your corner!

We were far too late for our appointment with Mercedes but decided to go anyway, if nothing else just to talk through the work with them as what we were asking them to do was not straight forward.

We were both feeling ill with the cold and very down. But as BigMog carved his way effortlessly through the snow towards the city, his engine rumbling smoothly, our spirits lifted

Lower down in the valley it was noticeably warmer and as BigMog himself warmed up, the snow and ice that had encased him slowly trickled away. At one point we turned a corner and heard a crash as an enormous chunk of ice slid off the roof onto the road. A few minutes later another piece went then another.

We arrived at Mercedes to find that they would not be able to do the work at all – too specialist they said. A member of staff gave us the details of an independent Mercedes garage but when we went to see them they said they only worked on cars, not trucks. They called someone who did do trucks and we were invited to go and see them at their workshop on Monday morning to ‘make a plan’.

There was nothing more we could do so went off to do some shopping and then headed back to the campsite.

When we arrived back, the world felt so much better than it had that morning. BigMog was mobile again, most of the snow and ice had melted off him and, for now, no more snow was coming down

The mountain we had to climb seemed much smaller and lighter. It was due to go down to minus 12 again overnight but it didn’t seem to matter as much anymore and no-one could deny how beautiful everything was

To reward our optimism, the next day saw temperatures creeping above zero for the first time since we got back. James took full advantage of this and re-plumbed the fresh water intake allowing us to finally fill up our tank and have running water again

He also got the ladder out and cleared away around 50-80kg of ice off the solar panels. And whilst he was up there he fitted the new cover to our spare wheel

Meanwhile I spent my time planning our Serbian itinerary, although it all seemed like a pipedream at that point.

The warmer weather didn’t last, the next day was back to 10 below but James gritted his teeth and pressed on with the new pipework for the shower and toilet and then fitted the heating coils – the orange cables shown here, now twisted around the outlet pipes

And the next day, as the arctic weather continued, he fitted the insulation around the pipes

It was so cold that by mid afternoon he had to admit defeat – not because he couldn’t stand it but because the insulation he was trying to bend around the pipework was so cold it kept snapping.

It was now Monday morning with temperatures down to minus 13. We had been at the campsite for almost a week and were desperate to get going again. The campsite was lovely, Stojana was wonderful

But we wanted to be back on the road, free and independent.

So, with our new pipework, heating coils and insulation now fitted and our appointment at the workshop booked for that morning we decided the time had come to cut the apron strings and head out on our own. It was a daunting thought, giving up the safety net of the campsite facilities but we were determined.

We said our goodbyes and thank yous to Stojana, promising to stay in touch, and headed off back into the city.

When we arrived at the workshop they were having their lunch break and spoke no English at all. But with good humour on both sides, and the help of Google Translate, we managed to get our problem understood and an agreement for them to do the work on Wednesday.

We had been told that a brake caliper repair is a highly delicate and specialised job that we should not trust to anyone but an authorised Mercedes dealer. But the Mercedes dealer had said they couldn’t do it, we had no choice but to trust these guys.

After a remarkably successful supermarket sweep, where we found Marabou chocolate and real cheddar cheese, we went back to the car park at the Olympic Bobsleigh site where we had spent our last night of freedom before Christmas

We decided to stretch our legs and walk back up to the bobsleigh

The place looked very different this time, the blanket of snow making it beautiful

But that wasn’t the only difference, we were lucky enough to have chosen one of the handful of days each year when the Sarajevo smog had lifted

The view over the city was spectacular

By the time we got back to the car park we were freezing cold, despite wearing some heavyweight gear

So we decided to treat ourselves to a mug of hot chocolate at the hotel

It was surprisingly posh and the hot chocolate could well have been the best we have ever had.

Cutting our dependence on the campsite whilst it was still so cold had felt a little like jumping off a cliff hoping for a soft landing. As it was, the landing was a little bumpy.

We switched the heating coil on and turned on the sink tap – the water went down without any problems. But then we took the front panel off the toilet so we could see what was going on and poured water down. The water came spilling out over the top of the pipe, unable to get down into the tank.

We took it all apart and looked at it carefully, surely it wasn’t frozen down there. No, it wasn’t, but the bladder that stops smells from coming back up was so cold it had gone brittle and wouldn’t let the water through. We cut a bit off the end to reduce the resistance and this time it worked.

And as at the time of writing, it has worked faultlessly. Although I have to admit, having to wait for the heating coil to warm up every morning can get a little tricky when urgent business is required!

Tuesday morning saw temperatures rising to minus 2 and I was able to train outside – albeit with very cold feet as the ground was thick with ice. We then drove back down into the city and parked up at the football stadium again

Walking down the hill into the city was a challenge – the pavements were sheet ice and I was slipping and sliding all the way down, clinging onto railings and trees for dear life.

Everything we had seen on this walk the first time looked even more beautiful in the snow

And this time we managed to find the Eternal Flame

I had bought James a piece of amber back in Mostar as an early Christmas present but when I took it into a jewellers it had proven impossible to mount without breaking. So today we headed for the Sarajevo jewellery quarter to see whether we could find another piece.

We looked in all the shop windows until we found one that had a large selection of very interesting amber. The shop was called the ‘Magic Shop’ and the owner was a lovely lady who chatted to us about our travels and was very impressed with what we were doing. We really hit it off, in fact she made our day

James chose a beautiful piece of amber shaped like a viking horn which looks perfect on him

To celebrate our success we went back to the tapas bar we had visited before Christmas and had another lovely lunch, this time indulging in cheesecake for dessert.

The walk back up to the football stadium was much easier than the walk down – the sun was out and the ice was starting to thaw underfoot. We drove down to the car park at the Tunnel of Salvation and stayed there for the night as it was close to the workshop where we were due in the morning.

We arrived there at 7:45am and, as I settled into their canteen with my book, James took the laptop with our UniMog manual on it and got stuck in

They worked all day, consulting the manual at every step to make sure they were doing everything in the right order, using the right torque settings and tolerances. I popped my head in every now and again to see how things were going and each time James was in good spirits, complimenting the professionalism and skill of the guys. This was high praise and I started to relax.

By the end of the afternoon the new seal kit was in, the caliper was back together and the wheels were back on. They had done an outstanding job and James whispered to me that we had really fallen on our feet with these people – I have rarely heard him so complimentary. The worry about how this repair would go had been weighing him down for weeks – the relief was palpable.

We decided to go back to the secluded spot near the Olympic Ski Slope that night for a peaceful evening celebrating a job well done. The dirt road up was icey and slippery but nothing BigMog couldn’t cope with. But when we arrived at the place itself we hardly recognised it – the whole meadow was six feet under untouched snow.

We tried our luck and drove into the snow but BigMog sank up to his axles and started leaning over. We reversed back out and James suggested trying again. I was having none of it, anytime either of our vehicles start leaning that far over I turn into the world’s biggest chicken.

So we turned back and aimed for the ski slope car park – the one where we had previously been surrounded by drunk men in the middle of the night. Not ideal but better than ending up on our roof!

This place was also completely different from the last time we were there. The first time it had been empty and isolated, this time there were people everywhere and entrance barriers blocked our way.

I jumped out to speak to the man in the ticket office who told me that when it snowed the site became a ski centre. I explained that we had hoped to camp there overnight and were now a bit short of options as it was already dusk. He went to speak to the manager who allowed us to enter the car park without taking a ticket and promised to lift the barrier for us to leave the next morning.

What a lovely gesture – we had been very willing to pay for our parking and were yet again amazed by the welcome and generosity of the people of this country

But our optimism was being tested. As we had driven from the workshop a warning light had come on the dash which suggested more brake problems. Once we had parked up James jumped out and put his hand on the caliper we had just repaired. It was cool, meaning all was well. But when he tried the opposite wheel it was hot.

Was this a coincidence – that a second caliper starts having problems literally as we drive out of the workshop having fixed the first? Or had we done something at the workshop to cause the problem?

Right now we didn’t care, we were getting to the end of our tethers so went to bed for an early night.

The next morning the ground was thick with snow and ice. We were surrounded by people going skiing and it seemed strange to see a site we had assumed was an abandoned relic suddenly so full of life

Today was a big day – we were finally leaving Sarajevo, having been around the city for what seemed like a lifetime. We were heading east to the town of Visegrad and, more excitingly, the Serbian border.

We set off, trying to keep positive and not worry about UniMog problems but when we pulled into a layby half an hour later to check the rear wheel it was already very hot. With our hearts in our toes we searched for a place to park up safely so that we could investigate.

We quickly found the perfect spot – miraculously, a space behind a fuel station, exactly the right size to fit a UniMog, had been cleared of snow and the manager was happy for us to use it

Two hours later, after much investigation

Including cleaning out dirt and mud and adjusting pistons, the wheel was back on and all seemed well. James was confident that the brakes had just got full of grit and dirt from the winter roads.

He was wrong, but that is a story for another day. For today, we were back on the road.

We arrived in Visegrad late that afternoon and found a car park by the river

The town was full of smog and seemed a bit grim

We walked into town the next day to see the 16^th century, Ottoman ‘Mehmed Pasha Sokolovich’ bridge. It is said to be one of the most beautiful bridges in the country and indeed it was lovely

A group of workmen were busy clearing a path over it through the sheet ice

It looked like a very cold job

As we wandered further into town we saw many statues and murals, something which seems to be very common across BiH

We then walked to Andricgrad, an outdoor museum built in 2011 by film maker Emir Kusturica and dedicated to the famous novelist Ivo Andric

It was a strange place, probably not helped by the fact that we didn’t know anything about Emir Kusturica or Ivo Andric

The slippery, icey pavements made exploring quite difficult

And all in all it didn’t really grab us.

We went back to the truck for lunch intending to visit a railway museum in the afternoon

But the weather and the griminess of the town didn’t motivate us so instead James decided to fit the portal breathers and change the valves on the central tyre inflation system (CTIS).

The work on the portal breathers went well but when he changed the CTIS valves he found that the system was still leaking air. And to make matters worse, he discovered that the large fuel tank had started leaking again. Would this never end?

Whatever happened, we were determined to press on into Serbia the next day but that morning James wanted to see if he could figure out what was wrong with the CTIS. He removed one of the banjo bolts on the axle and disaster struck – it was so old and worn that it snapped in two

So now, not only did we have no chance of getting the CTIS working, we also had a hole in the portal axle where the banjo bolt ought to have been.

James found a rubber plug in our tool kit that he managed to squeeze into the hole as a temporary fix but where on earth were we going to find a new banjo bolt? Were we going to have to drive 2 hours back to Sarajevo? Neither of us fancied that prospect, we wanted to keep going forwards.

So we decided to cross the border as planned and worry about it later. We moved the truck to a nearby water tap to fill up our tank and as we were doing so a man came by to ask whether his children could look around the truck. We welcomed them over and I got chatting to him. He mentioned he was an engineer and I took a chance.

I showed him the broken banjo bolt and asked whether he knew anywhere that might sell one. Remarkably, he had a friend who was an HGV mechanic. He called him and an hour later the friend came with the very banjo bolt we needed

Unbelievable!

It would take a long time to fit the bolt and we hoped the rubber plug would hold for long enough to get us into Serbia. So we put it in the garage for now and headed off.

We were at the border within half an hour. To our amazement, the whole process of stamping out of BiH and then into Serbia took less than 10 minutes – not quite the border crossings we had become used to in Africa!

We high fived as we always do when entering a new country and it felt, as it always does, like shedding a heavy skin and starting afresh with optimism and excitement.

Our first stop was to be the Sargan 8 railway just a few minutes from the border and so, barely an hour after leaving the car park in Visegrad, we found ourselves parked up in a very pretty town, next to a quaint little railway station with a steam train in the sidings

We had loved everything about BiH. It is spectacularly beautiful and the people are as warm and friendly, generous and welcoming as any we have ever met. We had seen some amazing things, managed to get out into remote parts of the country and regained a freedom we thought we had lost forever.

But the freezing temperatures, snow and ice and constant UniMog problems had taken their toll and started to wear both of us down.

We were still in freezing temperatures, we still had the same UniMog problems. But we were in a whole new country with so many exciting things to see and do ahead of us. Something had changed inside us and we felt ready to face whatever challenges life threw our way. As long as we were on the road, we could deal with anything…