After a very short night's sleep, a 5hr plus drive was looking to be a challenge. I stayed up late trying to help with Em's travel plans next week, and then the animals started around 4am with the cockerels next door, and the myriad of local dogs continued an early twilight barking practise until we got up.
It turns out we were spoilt on the drive the day before from Budapest, with a lot of dual carriageway. Today put us on several hours' worth of single carriageway roads, and we found out how bad driving in Romania really is.
Out of town, the speed limits are 90kph, and in town it's generally 50kph. It seems the locals agree with the 90, and you rarely get overtaken. Try doing 50 in town though, and there will be a procession of cars overtaking you. Surprising, not safe, but at least they pass quickly. The lorries have the same idea. They trundle past, whether its safe or not. Generally not. As I was unprepared to speed through the towns, this meant keeping close eye out for lorries coming up behind, and trying to find a pull in to stop until they had gone past. Then they hold you up as they don't get up to 90! Other hazards to look out for are people, people on bikes, people pushing carts, horses pulling carts, and obviously the crazy people driving towards you on your side of the road, sometimes overtaking people, sometimes for no apparent reason. Also potholes feature widely, as do many railway crossings, where you have to stop and look both ways. There are no level crossing gates, sometimes there are lights, and no indication if the tracks are abandoned or not.
The day was pretty warm, and travelling in 30° with no aircon meant a noisy journey with windows open, and a new layer of tan for me on the sunny side of the car as we travelled east. It almost makes me look forward to leaving here, as heading homewards over the next month should put me on the shady side!
Romania has some of my favourite scenery though. The road followed a river a lot of the way, so the journey was fairly flat, with the hills and mountains off to the sides. We have been through a lot of flat countries since Scandinavia, and Romania highlights that.
Eventually reaching Odorheiu-Secuiesc, a new problem arose, with the main road through being closed. It turns out 2 days of a big rallycar event had taken over, with the main street being the pit area. Taking a detour, we headed up through the town back into countryside. Our accommodation is on a high hill overlooking the town, and high enough to look over the hills and valleys for a long way. Luckily it doesn't feel too remote, as this area holds 20-25% of Romania's bear population. Unfortunately this is preventing Felix and I going biking in the hills nearby - we can see there are good trails around, but the advice is not to go without a guide! Doing some research, Felix has found a bike park near Brașov, with a gondola uplift, so hopefully Monday's biking will be without any wildlife incidents...
Published on Sunday 15 July 2018
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