h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is intriguing, but I feel I need a map... Where is the good Beamter headed? Out of Hungary I think: it's not a mountainous country. Romania?

Definitely - though at the time, Transylvania was part of Hungary.

Map: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meyers_b12_s0486a.jpg

If you blow this one up, you'll see Klausenburg in the grey area to the east. Lots of mountains there - hair-raising bus rides. I figure they're somewhere in the neighbourhood of Muntele Gaina (Chicken Mountains). Take your pick of mountains from this map (Cluj=Klausenburg=Kolosvar).

http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muntele_G%C4%83ina#/media/File:Apuseni_in_Romania.jpg

Sneakily, I've got them somewhere near Gheorgheni:

http://www.viamichelin.com/web/Maps/Map-Gheorgheni-535500-Harghita-Romania

Here's a road map:

http://www.viamichelin.com/web/Routes?departure=Cluj-Napoca%2C%20Romania&arrival=E578%2C%20535500%20Gheorgheni%2C%20Romania&index=0&vehicle=0&type=0&distance=km&currency=EUR&highway=false&toll=false&vignette=false&orc=false&crossing=true&caravan=false&shouldUseTraffic=false&withBreaks=false&break_frequency=7200&coffee_duration=1200&lunch_duration=3600&diner_duration=3600&night_duration=32400&car=hatchback&fuel=petrol&fuelCost=1.477&allowance=0&corridor=&departureDate=&arrivalDate=&fuelConsumption=

They don't give times for caleches, though.

Thank you, this helps. I didn't know there was a place called Gheorgheni!

Funny story, that. I got the name Gheorgheni off an atlas when I was about 14, because I needed a character name for a series of stories I was writing to entertain a school friend in return for his putting me onto 'Dracula'. Of course it's pronounced 'Gay-or-GAIN', roughly (the 'n' sounds like it has a tilde on it), but I've always pronounced it 'Gor-GAY-nee' to rhyme with the Allegheny River. How Pittsburgh of me....

Okay, so decades pass, I kid you not, and I'm in Romania one day, very sleepy, on a really battered bus, and I wake up from a bumpy nap....and there, before my eyes, is a town limits sign: Gheorgheni. I burst out laughing.

I don't think I'm going to bump into a minor Vogon poet anywhere!

Let's hope not!

Oh great story! Also loved the description of the castle.

Thanks.

I'm enjoying the story so far too

Synchronicity in chosen names is impressive - I first encountered the name 'Sasha' in a book and liked the character it was attached to. A few years later I needed a nickname in my Russian class that was easy to transliterate into Cyrillic. The teacher assigned us names by giving us a choice between two random options. 'Sasha' was offered to the person whose surname began with P and I was sure they would take it but they took the other option instead. To my delight and amazement I could choose Sasha and I've kept it ever since

A good choice, and good luck there!

Sasha is a nickname for Alexander in Russia.