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Transfagarasan!

One of the very few things I had planned to definately do on the trip was the Transfagarasan Highway, which according to that tall wanker on Top Gear is "the best road in the world".

look up top gear romania on you tube if you want to see it.

It is a big climb on a loaded touring rig, going from 500m elevation to 2,050m over about 25km. I'd been seeing big electrical storms in the evenings on the days leading up to the range and woke up to this weather which was totally disappointing as it killed the visability.

I made the decision to kill a day in the base village and hope the weather improved the next day. Had dinner with some greek guys who were motorcycling and gave me some good tips for greece if I go there.

The next morning wasn't perfect but better.

I hit the road at the perfect time as there was a group of 5 Polish cyclists who were doing the climb. They werent carrying gear so I was ready to try and keep up with them.

But they were pretty slow and I killed them despite my loaded rig. Just as we got to half way up and got some lunch, the weather came in. Fast. 

The rain started and it just got heavier and I could see in their faces they were thinking about bailing. They had a goddamn support vehicle at the bottom of the mtns. They claimed they were just waiting 30mins for the rain to stop but as I didn't know where I was going to sleep that night I needed to get moving. I knew the weather was only going to go bad the longer we waited.

So I ditched them and the weather surely came in.

The base of the final section of the climb.

longest and hardest 5km I've ridden.

The final section of the climb is absolutely incredible. Crazy switchbacks and the weather and altitude just made it that much more tougher and exciting. I've actually taken video of some of the climb so I will tjry and find time to edit it together, but it was awesome.

Got to the top where there is a hotel. overpriced but with the constant rain, my numb feet and comp,etely soaked to the bone, there was no question. The above photo was taken the following morning with clear weather.

I met a german couple, Maxim and Sarah, who had also done the climb and were in the same position. They were on a month long bike trip so we hung out that night and had a great evening, hoping the next morning would be dry for the decent.

lake at the top

cool truck from Dakar

Maxim, Sarah and I.

the morning after was perfect, but the rain did add to the challenge so I'm kinda happy the way it turned out

tunnel that cuts through the very peak of mtn.

More great views for the decent

water refill

much warmer once we got back down

massive dam on the way down

Up until Cluj then trip had started getting alot tougher and I was really starting to get a bit over travelling alone, but the last couple weeks in Romania have been awesome. Especially the last few days with the climb and spending the day riding with Maxim and Sarah. Last night we found a great camp ground and had an awesome barbecue with many beers. Maxim is half Romanian so he knows the good Romanian meat. They  have 2 days left of their trip and heading to bucharest (im heading west to serbia). just to top it off the owner of the camp ground also does dirt bike tours so he's  taking me out this arvo. the terrain here will be awesome for it.

Romania 2

So I realised the text and photos got a bit out of sync last post. I ended up staying in Cluj-Napoca for 6 nights as it was such a great town. The hostel was particularly great and the owner had really made an effort to create a awesome atmosphere for the travellers to meet and see the town. I also hit it off with one of the Romanian girls that worked in the hostel so I was in no rush to leave.

One camp spot after I had used my shower bag for a wash I came to the realisation, as I stood there wet and bare-arsed on top of this massive hill, that I have left my travel towel in the hostel....All my clothes were filthy so just had to wait and enjoy the scenery...

In the last post the people in this little village who were trying to give me directions, (I was the highlight of their day for sure), anyway one of the guys insisted on showing me the road out of town, then he insisted on pushing my bike for me.....I tried telling him he need not, but he was adamant. I really dont know how long he was going to walk my bike for me but about 500m out of town I had to pretty much take the bike back off him so I could get on and ride. The Romanians get a bad reputation around Europe due to the gypsies moving to parts of western europe, but I've received nothing but generocity. Even most of the businesses, either resturants or accomodation, they seem to actually care more about their customers and not just focus on getting as much of your cash as possible.

Hit a town called Sighisoara, which is where the ruler that ended up being known as "Dracula" was born. There was also a medieval festival on at the time and this town was very well kept to original medieval style so was was cool to see.

from the Sighisoara clock tower museum.

Romanian rural infrastructure. just cap the old telephone lines off with drink cans and job done.

Road traffic out of Sighisoara

Standard Romanian village

Ewok dog tried to elude me..... 

but I got a clear shot to prove the existance.

Castle with moat, Fagaras.

Came across this looking for a camp spot.....Creepy. I went elsewhere.

again, the places you think no one will be (1km into these fields from the road), there was a group on guys living basically in straw huts with a tarp over the top. eventually got the message that I wanted to camp, they didnt seem to care.

checked in this unattended hotel with the help of an undercover cop who was there to apparently control the mafia. he found the receptionist for me  who was asleep in one of the rooms. i confirmed they had hot water and wifi.

got into room, no water at all, no wifi.

went back down to receptiom (again she'd gone back to bed), she then tells me the whole town has no water until tomorrow, and apparently the wifi would come back tomorrow too. I told her I wasnt happy and she just handed me back my cash. I think she just wanted to go back to sleep.

Hungary and Romania

I left Zagreb still feeling pretty average and remembered a girl from my hostel dorm had mentioned she was getting over tonsillitis, which is probably what I had caught...

After spending so long in the alps it has been a big contrast hitting the flats. Crossed into Hungary with a typically arrogant border guard. Hungary has been my least favourite country for cycling. Its very flat, unimpressive scenery and just not that overall interesting. Lots of sunflower fields....

Budapest on the other hand was fantastic, one fifth of the population of Hungary live there so its weird to see such a big city in such a generally small and rural country. The architecture is so grand and impressive, originally apparently from its earlier Austrian control. Didn't have much luck meeting the right people in the hostel unfortunately but stayed for 4 nights, sourced some supplies (new tyre, stove gas, gloves, etc) I needed before heading into proper eastern Europe.

The ride out of Hungary was similarly unimpressive and I was preparing for a potential showdown at the Romanian border as I had overstayed my Schengen visa time but was pretty confident I was going to bullshit my way through without coughing up any money (I did have some bribe money ready to go). The border was huge and heavily commercial with heaps of trucks so perhaps I went under the radar on my bike, but I got straight through no questions asked. Even a smile from the immigration guard which is a first. I have to admit I was kinda disappointed, I was getting excited for some potential problems and seeing how I was going to get myself out of it......

Stayed in Oradea for one night, Romania is very busy trying to get itself up to speed with Western Europe, many grand old buildings having their facades redecorated after many years of neglect. Actually Romania in general is more developed than I was expected, can even drink the tap water in cities. I'm now in a city called Cluj-Nodac where I'm spending 3 nights. Hostel is great and met great people. Spent the first night with these crazy Dutch guys in this awesome bar that just played heavy rock music all night, we raged on and didn't get out of there until 6am.........completely lost my voice from belting out epic rock all night. Great night

resevoir in croatia

hungary

got desperate for camp sites around the main lake in hungary, ended up behind this abandoned restaurant. id gone down the hill into some bush earlier and could feel something on my leg, it was hunfreds of mosquitos. my leg was black from them. luckily they stayed in the bush. 

pearl izumi - rubbish

id camped next to this creek thinking nobody would find me, in tje morning tnese dudes rocked up and just hung out 20m from my tent. thought they were gonna do something weird, so I packed up camp as quick as I could to bail, and then one of them gave me a tomato and a cucumber...... 

endless sunflower fields

budapest, very grand

the mosquitoes here were bad.

horse and mini horse

hungary roads, straight and flat

starting to lose it

both hungary amd romania are totally cool about these stork like birds nesting up on their power poles....nests everywhere

awesome derelict looking buildings in romania

oradea, romania

heaps of renos

this little guy hitched a ride

thanks, google maps

turkeys in the background pretty much attacked me.

Raging club life. complete with mangey dog out the back

this bus ejected half of everyones luggage across the highway

top camp spot

salt mine crew, Laura and Ben. (top photo)

the salt mine near Cluj-Napoca was fantastic. huge big cavity under the earth cut in great geometric angles. felt like the mountain in Total Recall. the pbotos dont do it justice

haunted forest, only danger was the dogs around the houses near the forest

then it rained all night, things got muddy trying to get out....fenders dont help with mud clearance

found a gutter to try and free up wheels. theyd locked up completely from the mud

windows background

foggy morning

top plumbing. if your're on the low side of the road, you gotta divert your stormwater overhead....

the backroads can get pretty loose in romania, id stopped for a drink here and this crew (i think) were basically trying to tell me the road ahead was not so good. 

they were right.

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