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acrossRomania

Cycling from Timișoara in the West of Romania, to Constanța, on the cost of the Black Sea Read more
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  • Trip start
    June 21, 2018
  • Journeys of a voyageracrossRomaniaJourneys of a voyager

    Exiting the city

    June 21, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Leaving Timișoara was a bit of every cyclist's nightmare, narrow road with heavy truck traffic and steep "shoulder", remained after they kept layering new asphalt on top of the old one. Once you slide off the road you cannot get immediately back up on the road.
    Luckily, most traffic ended up taking the highway so I could continue #acrossRomania and have my first baptism by rain 😅    Read more

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    Room with an 800-years old view

    June 21, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    After 70km of cycling reached Șoimoș fortress and the town of Lipova.

    I swayed off the main road just a bit and decided to camp and have a view of the fortress from my tent.

    It's an 800-year old fortress, used to guard Mureș river valley back in the day.Read more

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    How to fight village dogs chasing you

    June 22, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Country roads, take me home...or just away from the village dogs.

    So, how do you fight them? You DON'T. They are just following you and warning about your presence.

    If you have to react, then I usually advise to dismount and scare it away by pretending you're grabbing a stone from the ground. Oh, they get the message clearly. Generally, they stop barking as soon as they see your legs on the ground.

    An alternative approach is to spray them with water from your water bottle, ie. If you can spare it. It confuses them.    Read more

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    When you're thirsty - milk a camel

    June 22, 2018 in Romania ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    Bear Grylls milking a dromedary the other day. He was walking across Kenya and he was thirsty. Coincidentally, I cycled 100 km #acrossRomania today, and I too was thirsty, so I decided I'll milk a camel...camel bag. I milked it twice. Take that Mr. Grylls!Read more

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    You saw it on Discovery channel first!

    June 22, 2018 in Romania ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    These two decided to copulate on my saddlebags. Gently blowing AT them did not distract them at all. So, I waited. I always liked flies, but after 15 minutes of waiting for the gentleman on top to wrap it up, it's a whole new level of respect for them.

    And just 30m from the exhibitionist couple, there was this mess. The area is rich with bees and beehives, but this here is a telephone pole, it looks nothing like a flower. One of them though I'm a threat, but my bike was faster in the end.    Read more

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    Drinking water from the ground

    June 22, 2018 in Romania ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    I was used to finding water fountains and clean streams #acrossRomania, but for the last 2 days and 150 km, this was the first one, almost hidden. Right next to it, there's most likely a grave with XC (could be HC in Cyrillic) and what looks like a WW1 medal.

    And only once before have I seen this type of sheltered spring. There are 2 chalices next to it used for scooping water from the well. The spring is covered with a wooden door that protects it from the elements, although the surplus of water is flowing away anyway, making what's inside always clean.

    The chance to drink clean water directly from the ground seems like such a luxury in this century.    Read more

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    Bad weather helps making bad decisions

    June 22, 2018 in Romania

    I managed to run away from the rain and avoid it for the most part of yesterday. At the very end of the track for the day, just a couple of kilometers away from the place I wanted to reach the rain caught up with me and I made a mistake in choosing which way to go.

    Let's play with maps: Follow the blue track #acrossRomania
    1) turn left, the wrong way, go back
    2) go straight on... The sign says that it's a dead-end towards #5
    3) This is not a way, this is a swamp!
    4) and this is a cornfield, let me go around it, how big can it be...
    It was a big cornfield and not in squarish shape, so I ended up going wide
    5) still no sign of the path that matches the track.

    Even worse, the new unopened highway cut whatever path was there
    6) oh, look if I continued straight I could have gone this way in the first place!    Read more

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    Marshes, bogs, swamps and lack of canoes

    June 22, 2018 in Romania ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    The little path on the right was the third time the charm #acrossRomania. The charm that quickly turned into a bog.

    As I stopped in hesitation the lady on the navigation says "go straight". Sure, let me just unpack my canoe!

    Water to the left, I'll skip it. Water to the right, I'll skip it. The middle looks clear! Nope. It's turning into a swamp after 20m, just when I thought I can rush through.

    The lukewarm water reminded me of marshes in Latvia. Only, in those, I entered because I wanted to.

    So, the idea of me going on dry and the bike in water didn't work. Mostly because I ran out of dry land. Let's think out of the box. What if I go in and the bike stays out as much as possible?

    The plan worked, kinda. At least my shoes were clean. But the bike had kilos of mud all over itself. The tires would lift it up, the fenders and the frame would scrape it off, then the mud falls into the brakes, panniers, chain, derailer. You name the part, it had mud on it :)    Read more

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    Workers of all the sunflowers, unite!

    June 22, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Unbelievably, this little ladybug survived and reached the other side with me. I took the photo before I started going into the water and was surprised to see the little guy still roaming the bike after all the mud and water 😄

    And unaware of all the struggle in the mud #acrossRomania were these fellas, a bee, a bumblebee, and an ant, all working the same flower...    Read more

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    Wooden church from 1663

    June 23, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    I'm running very low on all batteries. Tomorrow will ride to Sibiu and merge breakfast and brunch in order to recharge the devices. But still, when I saw that there's a wooden church just 1km off my track I couldn't resist. The little wooden church of St. Dimitri, built in 1663 is hidden behind train tracks, accessible only on foot.

    The graveyard around the little church is rather new. It's dominated by a family tombstone, that's the size of a small house #acrossRomania, much like the ones found in Cemitério dos Prazeres (Pleasures Cemetery) in Lisbon.

    I couldn't peek inside but what little I could see through the window.

    This is engraved above the entrance. To the best of my knowledge, this is the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet that was used #acrossRomania before the 1860s. Later they transitioned to the Latin alphabet. The entrance is lowered, so you have to bow, symbolically bowing in front of god as well.

    It's great to see from carpentry point of view, how they brought the side planks/walls together.    Read more

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    Moment of Zen and ffwd to Eastern Russia

    June 23, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    I'm listening to this piece https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzTQ9fjforY when this scene appears before my eyes #acrossRomania. My moment of Zen.

    Grandma on a quad passed me by and I felt sorry for not being faster to snap a photo of hers. But my mind went back to trying to feed a shy dog. She was afraid to come closer. I thought I'll split my meat with her and take a risk by leaving it on the side of the road. I was happy to see her found it once I cycled 50 meters away. Then, as a karmic reward, the aforementioned granny came back on her quad. And I was ready.

    This is how I imagine eastern Russia in the summer. Fields, mountains in the distance and grannies on quads. Add perhaps a rifle strapped across their back and a hammer and a sickle tattoo on their forearms 😁

    Speaking of Russia, this photo reminded me of one of my favorite Russian songs. It starts with a man riding his horse through an endless field, just before the break of dawn.

    🎤 Любэ - Конь (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlrFEL0ZTMM@blank
    📑 translation https://lyricstranslate.com/en/kon039-kon-horse….    Read more

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    Some dogs go solar, some have no shame

    June 23, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    I try using solar power as much as I can, but unfortunately, a 28W solar panel is not enough to feed 70.000 mAh batteries that I have with me 😅
    I might need visiting that power plant in the background.
    Crossing the power plant perimeter is also a unique experience. You cannot shake off the feeling that you're at a place where you shouldn't be, even though there are no checkpoints, guards and cameras. Only dogs. Of which this one had no shame of choosing means of transportation.    Read more

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    Fortress on a volcano and vice versa

    June 23, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    The medieval fortress (or, as my phone suggests, an alternative spelling 🏰) in Deva is mentioned in 1269, but a more interesting fact is that it's built on top of a volcano.

    On another image is the notoriously famous style of residential housing, which finds inspiration in volcanic eruptions, after which all the debris is collected and glued to a house facade (just kidding). Even baroque looks Spartan compared to the number of decorations on these and similar houses.

    And just like that I breezed through Deva and went on to see what lies behind the city.

    And across the Mureș river, the scenery becomes much much more idyllic. The high plateau was hypnotizing.    Read more

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    A room with a view and free catering

    June 24, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Wild camping. Gives me the freedom to cycle as late in the evening as I want to and an opportunity to choose what I see in the morning.
    In this example, a view of the Mureș river.
    What a great way to start my day 4 of this adventure!

    So far I've come across blackberries, raspberries, apricots, apples and, pictured below, red plums.
    Catering sponsored by mother nature.

    En route Sebeș.    Read more

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    The land of fortified churches

    June 24, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    If we fast forward from the previous wooden church in Hunedoara county to town of Sebeș in Alba county (both of them in Transylvania), we start seeing more Protestant churches (of which fortified churches are a local specialty). This is the Protestant graveyard.

    All the fortified churches #acrossRomania were built by Saxons, who initially came to Transylvania to defend the borders of the Holy Roman Empire (German empire from back in the day) from the East in the 13th century and they kept coming throughout later centuries as well.

    As all the empires ultimately fell apart (the last one controlling Transylvania was Austrian-Hungarian empire), local Germans and Hungarians found themselves encircled in the middle of Romania, where many of them still live.    Read more

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    With sun in my back

    June 24, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Having spent most of the day in Sebeș, recharging, in the late afternoon I moved on. So much excitement about sleeping wherever I see a nice view.
    And that feeling of freedom when you can decide you wanna stop here, move 20 m from the road and call it a day!
    Every new night spent under the open sky increases our comfort zone.    Read more

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    Ol doge go 2 heaven. Well, most of them.

    June 25, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    "See, not all of us are viciously after the cyclists #acrossRomania. At least not when you hop off the bike. Now, is that a sausage-phone?"

    Now, on a more serious topic, the sheer number of fortified churches #acrossRomania can be seen on this map. 7 of them are on the UNESCO's heritage list.

    And around Saxon churches, Saxon people built Saxon houses and ornated them in a distinguishable fashion. This detail is at the eye level, for every passerby to notice it.

    On an unrelated note, I believe that most people are inherently good, regardless of their financial or social status.    Read more

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    Sibiu - prequel

    June 25, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Not sure why this one reminded me of the western frontier. Because of the train tracks perhaps. Anyway, decided to ride into Sibiu tomorrow morning. I'm camping just outside the city, not far away from Sibiu airport. Sweet sounds of civilization.

    Mental note, do not watch Donnie Darko when sleeping in the vicinity of an airport.    Read more

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    Sibiu

    June 26, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Sibiu is a charming medieval city, but way too touristy for my taste. I tend to look down on the cities that live off tourism as I feel that they inherited a trust fund off which they live.

    I used the time spent in the city to grab a bite and recharge a dozen of different batteries as much as possible, as well as to stock up on food for the next stretch of road.

    Leaving Sibiu you pass by a wooden cross erected to commemorate 1599 battle, after which Wallachian ruler Michael the Brave became ruler of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania. Victims of the battle were buried in a mass-grave under this mound. This is a close-up fragment of it.    Read more

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    Race against the clock

    June 26, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Reaching the Red Tower fortress, built in 1360 by Saxons was easy, although I had to share the road with vehicles, but, I'm used to it. What came afterward, fortified with what's written on the sign on the side of the road just under the fortress, was a nightmare for both me and those coming up behind me.

    The sign said that the road ahead is forbidden for slow vehicles and cyclists. I was stuck. I cannot go back, yet I'm risking a lot if I continue. The road is crawling with road cruisers in both directions, going around me is not an option most of the time.
    And this is how a good stretch looks like. Half a meter of the shoulder, split between tarmac and stone support. And then, stone support would disappear and I was gliding on a foot wide piece of asphalt, looking at the tiny rear-view mirror over my shoulder, trying to recognize if that's a truck or a car coming up behind...and then sprint, go for it, just to pass the next curve, so that the drivers have more space to overtake me.
    The road goes along the valley of river Olt, and it's so busy and dangerous that there is an ambulance car on duty, stationed in the middle of the canyon, in order to minimize response time in case of an accident.

    The length of this nightmarish stretch is 25 km. One eye on the road, one in a rear-view mirror, looking for the approaching headlights, then anticipate the first gust of wind trying to push you off the road, then the next one, after the truck whizzes by, to suck you in. And I'm dancing with a fully loaded bike on a narrow strip of road, trying not to descend onto the lower lip of the older tarmac, because if I do, exiting it requires me to yank the bike onto the road, into the oncoming traffic.
    The most difficult track I ever cycled at. Psychologically draining. 5 km in, I pulled over at a little clearing that appeared out of nowhere, grateful for it, loading myself with sugar and water, seriously considering to ask one of the truck drivers who had a break, to give me a ride out.

    To paint a better picture how narrow it was, here's a photo of that road, taken from an overpass, after I've finished the stretch.

    The imaginary finish line was just after the monastery of Cornel (named after a plant). That's where a smaller road was meeting this Tron-like highway where I planned to break off and find a place to pitch up a tent. I'd sprint for 5 km, then find a ledge to stop and get back some energy, at times just leaning with my bike against...well, the mountain, to the horror of truck drivers. And amidst all that chaos I passed by the aforementioned monastery and saw a nun, reading a book while standing in a doorway, trying to catch more light, as the rainy clouds were engulfing the ceiling above us. It was another moment of zen on this trip. 200 m down the road there was a smaller road I planned to take and, for lack of a better word, I felt saved.

    Definitely a combination of skill and luck for me and no accidents so far.
    Many others were not that lucky. Numerous crosses along the road mark where people lost their lives #acrossRomania. A daily reminder to pay attention while on the road.

    I doubt that anything upcoming will be able to compare to a psychological challenge of this stage. The next one will be climbing the lowest pass over the Carpathians, but from today's perspective, it will be a piece of cake.
    With the Cornet monastery in the background and a hefty treetop above me, I choose this spot to camp tonight.    Read more

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    CycloGenesis

    June 27, 2018 in Romania ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    By the seventh day, Mario had finished the cycling he had been doing; so on the seventh day, he rested from all his cycling.

    CycloGenesis 2:2

    Truth to be told, I was stuck in that same spot, for a day longer than had planned or liked, under that tree with a lush treetop, because of the rain. I need it to stop so I can dry and pack up the tent and move on.

    I went to a nearby hamlet looking for a grocery store and a power outlet. I was in luck, a young girl was working in her mom and pop store and she spoke some English, so I installed myself on their little shop porch, bought some sodas, snacks, and candies and started recharging my batteries, literally and figuratively.

    When her younger brother came around with some other kids they started drooling all over my bike.
    Seeing a built-in digital speedometer, alarm and some other sundries, they assumed it was an electric bike. The inevitable question was 'How much did it cost?' Without thinking much I sad 'One hundred thousand..' at which point their jaws dropped. Wait, shit, what did I just say?! I meant to say one thousand! However, even after I corrected myself, stating basically that it doesn't cost 200, but only 2 average monthly salaries in Romania, my brain stopped floating in sugar and caught up with my mouth talking Romanian. Too late. Wait, fret not, The Brain will take over now!

    "Where are you staying?", continued the youngster. The Brain grinned and said out loud "at the monastery", all proud of its improv. God dammit Brain, that's a nun convent! Much theme porn?! (nah, we're keeping it PG, so "The Little Hours"). But the kids were happy with the answer. I mean, it all made a perfect sense. A guy riding a bike, instead of a car, comes through their village, instead of taking the highway, paid his bicycle as much as others pay their cars...him staying in a nunnery is the least weird he uttered in his broken Romanian.
    And here I am, sleeping in the open, with my bike next to my tent, during a rainy and windy night, during which my bike alarm went off several times due to wind and vibrations...or a chubby kid was stealing my bike while I was asleep! 🤨 And definitely, no nuns checking on me! 💃🏻
    Oh, mystery solved, there was a dog wandering around, trying to eat an empty can of mackerel. Chewed through the tin lid, poor beast.    Read more

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    Crossing the Carpathians...the easy way

    June 28, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    When the rain briefly stopped in the morning I knew it will start as soon as I'm packed and ready to continue #acrossRomania. I wasn't mistaken 😅

    The slow climb to the lowest pass over the Carpathians took me by some wonderful houses. To paraphrase @cyan, it's a style invented by Ion Mincu, after the Romanian unification in 1918, and it wasn't continued after WWII, as the communists tried to distance themselves from the "bad" interwar period trends.
    I found this style really present in central Romania and not that much in western parts, where secession styles, typical architectural remnants of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, prevail. And cities have brutalism in abundance.

    It's raining constantly, so I have rain gear on, which makes me steam up easily. But the wonderful lush green scenery makes it worthwhile.

    The moss looked almost edible.

    The narrow mountain road led me by the monument of ⚔️ the battle of Posada (1330), in which Wallachian (Romanian) army defeated a much larger army of a Hungarian king. A little bit more and I should be at the top of the pass.

    After this tree, that is torn and unsure which way to grow, the track started going downhill. Muddy, rainy, had to hold the brake very often on my way down, but I was over the mountain. If it wasn't for the rain, I wouldn't find this particular climb challenging at all. After all, with its highest peak (⛰️ Moldoveanu peak) at 2544 m (8,346 ft), crossing the same mountain range at the height of roughly 900 m (3,000 ft) feels almost like cheating. 😊
    I was kinda sad though that because of the rain that was following me, I didn't see Moldoveanu in the distance, as I was only 🧭 20 km away from it.    Read more

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    Shelter from the rain

    June 28, 2018 in Romania ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    A couple of hours later I was in a clean and dry room of a pension in a town called Curtea de Argeș ("Court upon the Argesh"), after arranging with the landlady in my broken Romanian for my clothes to be washed. Actually, I've asked if they have a washing service, they said they don't, but she said she will do it for me. I guess I was very muddy and wet. This pit-stop will also give me a chance to recharge all the devices as well.Read more

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