My trip with DrivingUkraine

First, let me say a huge 'thank you' to all of you who so kindly donated the humongous?total of ￡2,100.00 towards my trip... I wouldn't have been able to do it without you and, yes, we fulfilled our 'dream' by delivering the 6 x 4x4's and 1 x ambulance to the Lviv Volunteer Auto Service, run under the auspices of Maksym, in Lviv on the evening of the 26th of March.? The Lviv Volunteer Auto Service then services the vehicles, re-paints them and sends them off to the front?line as CASEVAC vehicles for the wounded Ukrainian?soldiers.

We planned?to start our journey off at Greatworth Park in Oxfordshire and from there we would go East to Folkestone to take the EuroTunnel train to?cross the Channel.? On arrival in France we would head North into Belgium and on to Eindhoven where we were planning to spend our 1st night.? It was all going well until we got to within?spitting distance of Folkestone and the Ford Rangers' engine literally gave up the ghost.

I and Tim, being the drivers of the 'recovery vehicle', had to tow the Ford Ranger into the Maidstone Services, lock it up and head back to Greatworth with Si and Benny (the original drivers of the Ford Ranger) to pick up another vehicle and head off back to Folkestone. We arrived at the Hotel in Eindhoven at 1.30am, having sorted out a wonky drivers side wiper blade along the way and settled into a Leffers Beer before going up to our bedrooms for?a well-earned?rest.

The rest of the group left at 6am but we stayed until c.9.30am before setting our sights on Katowice where we were due to spend the next night of our trip.? The trip to Katowice went without a hitch until, at about 7pm, the Hilux just rumbled to a stop.? It may have been the lack of diesel but it had us confused as it only done 330 miles since the last fill.? We got hold of Si and Benny and asked them to turn around, fill up a spare tank of fuel and bring it to us - thankfully it worked and we sped on to Katowice in the knowledge that the Hilux had a very, VERY small tank.

The next day we set off from Katowice, as a group, and all got to Przemysl where we crossed the border into Ukraine.? We then drove to the Lviv Volunteer Auto Service where we were met by Maksym and his cohorts of workers.? They were the most resilient and welcoming group of people one could ever hope to meet - they gave us pizza and umpteen Ukrainian beers and we spent an hour and a half just talking to them and, wow, did they have some horrific stories but they were absolutely delighted to see us there in support of Ukraine.

The next day, after a very quick lunch with a friend, I handed over the hats and jumpers that I had brought from the UK to a church where I know they will be given to those that are less well off than ourselves.? I then arranged for a taxi to take me back to Przemysl where I crossed the border, on foot, and took a train to Krakow.? I met up with some other members of the group on the train and we got into our hotel at c.7pm.? I decided, as did the other 3 who were in the same hotel as me, to have a night ‘in’ and so had my favourite pasta Carbonara and a glass of Polish beer, before organising an early morning call for the airport the next day.

The flight home and the rest of the trip was all good and I got back to Greatworth Park at c.2pm, courtesy of Fynn who came to the station at Banbury to collect me.? I told him that I understand exactly why he does what he does and I said I would adore to do this trip again, probably in May/June, which will give me enough time to try(?) and start getting some more cash in for the Ukrainians - I really hope it works.? The rest of 'the team' need huge thanks and they are Tim, Simon, Andrew, Jonna, Oscar, David, Frank, Joel, Jonathan, Pippa, Steve, Callum and, last but not least, Jake, who ran the operation.