Goodbye Bulgaria, Hello Romania…

It’s funny how you can have preconceived ideas about a place you’ve never visited, mainly I guess from what one reads, whether in guide books, on the internet or indeed by talking friends and acquaintances. In my case Romania certainly comes into that category, In my mind it was distinctly third world, ranking alongside places like Bulgaria, Albania and parts of Africa that I had visited… what a mistake!





The fully loaded ferry ready to cross the Danube!

Having crossed from Bulgaria by ferry, even first impressions were definitely not what I had expected. For a start, there were people everywhere, and cars, and buildings; no not the semi-derelict abandoned houses that I had become used to over the last few weeks in Bulgaria, these were peoples homes and work places. OK, they may not be what we are used to seeing in the UK and parts of Europe somewhat closer to home, but they were still buildings that were “alive”. There were cars everywhere, nose to tail as I left the little border town of Zimnicea and headed north for Alexander. I reflected on the town from which

Svistov Town Square

I had embarqued, Svistov. A town probably of a similar size but seemingly full of nothing but bars, all eagerly awaiting the next, very scarce customer. Few shops seemed to have survived in the buildings surrounding the huge and quite pretty, town square, yet just the other side of the Danube life seemed, on the surface at least to be flourishing. I must admit to a twinge of almost disappointment!!It’s not that I like to see people struggling, but this was little different to France, Spain or Italy and I was looking for something more, something  that had an awful lot to live up to after the delights dished up by France, Italy, Greece and, most recently Bulgaria on this trip so far.

I rode on to Alexandria, a sprawling town far larger than I had been expecting. Here I managed to buy a new road map at a road side kiosk as my map of Bulgaria didn’t cover much further north, and I was heading ultimately for Sighisoara via Pitesti and the Transfagarassen Pass. It was getting late as the ferry hadn’t departed until 4pm for the 30 minute crossing and I was looking to get just north of Pitesti before camping up, leaving a relatively short run for the pass in the morning. For tomorrow is Saturday and I had been warned that under no circumstances was it sensible to ride the pass road over the weekend due to amount of nutters on the road on both 2 and 4 wheels… Listening to tails of doom and gloom is not one of my strong points, so of course I was completely ignoring it; well perhaps not completely ignoring it, as I reckoned that I would be at the top if not halfway down before most of them had eaten their breakfasts. Also, with a huge bike show in Veiliko Tarnovo expected to attract about 25,000 bikers, plus the Bruno Grand Prix taking about the same number off the roads, I reasoned that  I’d be OK.

6.45am and ready to roll!

So 6am and a new dawn saw me already up and packing my kit in the little orchard where I had wild camped in the last light of Friday evening. In view of my desire to get moving , breakfast was a nice juicy peach washed down with a glass or two of sparking water ! It didn’t quite hit the spot like a cup of tea and sultana pancake which was my norm but it would suffice. A quick, cold shower under an apple tree and I was back on the busy highway by 6.45am. Yes the traffic was already quite heavy in both directions. In Bulgaria I was lucky (unlucky?) to see more that a couple of dozen vehicles all day most days, but Romania was abuzzing. Once I cleared Curtea de Arges the traffic thinned a lot and it seemed that my plan was going to pay off.  And indeed it did, the run to the top was virtually traffic free with many bleary eyed people just sticking their heads out of their tents where they had been wild camping amongst the heaps of rubbish ! I am so glad I got the late ferry on Friday and had to camp up before I reached the main road to the pass.

The lower reaches of the pass were a bit like riding around the Elan valley back home in Wales. Nothing really to see except pine trees and bends, oh yes, there were certainly plenty of bends! I passed a couple of cars but that was about it. No doom and gloom, no near death experiences, not even too many idiots really. However in view ,I guess of the all the hype it receives, I found the Transfagaressen Pass a little disappointing. Then you get to the top and are confronted with all the tackiest of souvenir and food stalls you’ll ever come across and that I’m afraid just finishes it for me. I stopped just long enough to take a couple of photos and I was on my way down. Once again I realized how right my early start had been, the traffic was certainly starting to build up, with line after line of bikes of all shapes and sizes heading rapidly for the summit.

 

It was now time to try to catch those pesky Canadians once more, so the medieval town of Sighisoara was to be my next stop, where my good friends, Taz and Joel had forsaken the joys of wild camping for the luxury of the Pensiona Phonix at 100 Lei per night.

Once more I wondered why the GPS wouldn’t take me the way I wanted to go !!! Then once again I found out!!! The road I wanted was just a loose gravel surface for about 10km, but hey that was fine, I’ve ridden enough dirt roads over the last few months for the feeling of dread that used to ensue when confronted with gravel whilst riding a fully laden, make that overladen, GS, to leave me once and for all. Enroute, I stopped for some food supplies at a small town only to be accosted as I left the shop by a man asking for money. Needless to say he didn’t get any, but this is the first time on the entire trip that this has happened to me in any of the countries I have visited. Anyway, town, hotel and wayward Canadians have all been successfully located and I’m now also installed in the luxury of the Pensiona Phonix for the night

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