pics #1225 - #1396

Wednesday August 10th – Red Galactic Moon
It is a grey weather for my departure, with a strong rain shower during half an hour, but the ride is easy. I lunch in Cristuru Secuiesc, keeping an eye on the roaming gypsies. After this city I enter the Saxony land, now the Saxons are in Germany, the mother nation “bought” them to the Romanian government in the times of dictator Ceaucescu. Well, the housing are different, there is a lot of heavy stone constructions. Then it is Sighişoara, one of the seven Saxons forts, built on a hill where there is a castle, a church with sinister bell tower. It is one of the cities that claims being the place of Dracula. It is also on the UNESCO World Heritage, which explains the herds of tourists. It is actually pretty despite the contrast between newly painted facades near old ones. Getting out, I meet with two Swiss cyclists, going to Istanbul in the limited time of their holidays. I find more horse driven carets, more gypsies, and discover fortified churches. I camp away from the road, hanging my food in trees (bear security). At the time I get to sleep, I hear blast noises twice, gunshots maybe, very near.

           

          Sighişoara

          a Saxon village

Thursday August 11th – White Solar Dog
This morning a herd o sheep is around my tent, the dogs are smelling around. The shepherd stands in front, not saying a word, observing while I prepare breakfast. I share some nuts with him, take pictures and go. Now each village has its fortified church, where villagers would get safe in case of an attack. This explains why there is a granary in the fortifications. These are Saxon evangelic churches, add the Romanian orthodox, the Hungarian catholic, and the gypsies, and you will find the four cultures in Transylvania. Crossing villages I exchange more and more smiles and "Salut" with kids as well as elders. In Agnita, I offer myself a delicious pizza and finish my bread with "halva", sweet paste made out of sunflower seed. Direction south. At the top of a climb, I discover the line of the Southern Carpatians with the head in the clouds. Although it is a secondary roads, most of it is made of asphalts and the ride is pretty good. After a flat part I start the Transfăgărășan, a road built for prestige, under Ceaucescu, which cost many human lives. Having some water melon at the last village before the ascension, and then appears mountainous landscape. The climb starts very soon. Steady and very slow, around 7kmph. I stop for a moment to talk with a honey producer, staying on a parking with a truck of beehives’. He has seen bears from very near because of unconscious tourists throwing away food, the animal has a sharp sense of smell, so there he comes. A few more kilometers (about an hour cycling) and I camp near a family on holidays in Bâlea Cascada. I ask them to put my bags with food safe, in their car.

          The shepherd and his sheeps

          Agnita: Fortified church

         the river at the start of the Transfăgărășan

          6000 km is one of the meanings 

Friday August 12th – Blue Planetary Monkey
At awakening the puppy of the neighbor runs all around, very curious about the tent. There are 13km left to the top of the road. About Halfway the panorama opens in a wide circus where I can see in details the bridges, dams and serpentine route that remain ahead. While the cabin goes up and down above me, I slowly ride, passed by by bikers and cars. At the top of the road, there is a tunnel that I will not cross. I stop to relax and eat of what is offered there (cheese, corn, tomato), near the glacier lake. Some excessive touristic interests built a chalet with terrace on the water, spoiling the view. The route is a touristic attraction but not many brave using their muscles for that. While going down though, I meet a dozen of cyclists and a few with bags. For me it turns in a hand work on the handle brake rather than legs on the pedals. I stop again to talk with the wife of the honey producer whom I met yesterday. We talk around pot of honey with nuts, "miere cu nuc" in Romanian-French-English, and I leave with a pot of honey with propolis as a souvenir. Joining again the main road, I get lost in secondary road in a pointless attempt in avoiding to ride the route forbidden to cyclists. I camp in the stream of a river, where grass had time to grow. I bathe my legs in the fresh water, that was again a hot day. The river carried a lot of wood which had dried, the fire easily starts from the first sparkle.

          Transfăgărășan: about 10km from the top

          Transfăgărășan: view from up, on the right (west)

          Light my fire

Saturday August 13th – Yellow Spectral Human
I wake up several times this night, probably the influence of the high voltage line below which I camp. I take back the road and as usual in secondary roads in Romania there are not many indications and it is not easy to guess my way away from villages. I err in fields, then back on the main road, then in a forest, in the mud, and after a little village, following the stream of a river in a beautiful valley between hills. Again I am sort of lost, again this offers me to discover a calm area, where the scenery is charming. The heat is intense though, and I ride slowly. But I finally reach Sibiu, where I do groceries before visiting the city center. It is very nice, and invaded by bearded, hairy, riders: there is a metal festival on the main square. There I meet a couple of German cyclists. I go away to settle camp on the height of Ocna Sibiului. In the corn fields, there are also zucchinis and green beans growing, which adds more vegetables to my menu. I get to sleep at the sound of the crappy local bar/nightclub music.

          Storks in the blossomed field

          Following tractors paths is not always ideal for cycling

          Farmer harvesting hay driving his caret

          Sibiu

Sunday August 14th – Red Crystal Skywalker
In the morning the same low quality music welcomes me. Today, I have no hurry, I take my time to practice yoga and have breakfast. Filling my bottles of water from a local, then exchanging some words with a trio of Swiss cyclists. I ride a bit under a heavy sun. Doing a long morning practice gets me on the saddle in the warmest time of the day, besides I lost my hat a few days ago. Thus I stop in a wood to relax and read. After some food and a talk with cow-shepherds, I leave again, around 16.00. Asking water in a village, I become a curiosity for a moment, with a grandfather telling jokes, the mother asking me questions and her kid trying to translate in English, German or Spanish. But with simple questions and some gestures we communicate from Romanian to French, mixed with whatever sound Latin. Between two villages, I decide to camp in a quiet area. After diner, a young cow-shepherd comes to talk, he is going back to sleep near the village.

          Quiet camping spot

Monday August 15th – White Cosmic Wizard
In the morning, the young cow-shepherd turns around the tent, curiously looking at the bike and testing the bell. I practice yoga and leave for the last kilometers to Alba Iulia. I meet another couple of German cyclists, at this time of the year, there are many cyclo tourists! It is still very hot, clear sky, but now I can ask for drinkable water: "apa de băut": in villages, you must know which well is for the people, and which one is for the animals. Locals are always happy to communicate with an adventurous person. After a tough climb appears the ridge of the Apusin mounts, which separates the Transylvanian plateau from the Hungarian plain. A downhill at 10% and soon I am looking for my host Andreea in Alba Iulia. I cross the fortress “a la Vauban” being renovated for touristic purposes. My hostess sells ice creams, what a chance for me in this heat! She is working long hours, but calls her sister to guides me through the city to her place. At night, she comes back home and we go to the pub with another CouchSurfer. I have a delicious lemonade which is more expensive than beer, as usual.
          Appusins mounts in the background

          Alba Iulia, second door of the Cetate

          Alba Iuila

Tuesday July 16th – Blue Magnetic Eagle
My day off cycling is spent washing clothes, going to the bicycle store, and tasting local food at a cheap restaurant named “Bucarul Meu”. The couchsurfer of yesterday, takes me for a tour in the outskirts of the city, via a orthodox monastery, mixing his guiding with childhood souvenirs and anecdotes.

          Alba Iuila: changing of the guard in the Cetate

          Alba Iulia: monastery

          Alba Iulia: bell towers of the Cetate Cathedral

Wednesday July 17th – Yellow Lunar Warrior
I am leaving not very early to ride through the Appusins mountains. As I have seen in the region of Transylvania, mountains are well populated, with frequent villages. After a pass above 1000m, I look for a place to camp, but the valleys are very narrow: a field between the road and the river and then steep pastures. It is getting dark and I walk up high in a path to cook. Two kids come this way to bring the cows down from the pasture to the stable. Just two cows, in a very steep pasture. The steep and narrow path is not my most comfortable place to sleep.

          Hay is drying

          Farm after today's pass

Thursday July 18th – Red Electric Earth
Again I rode a good distance yesterday and nothing hurries today, so I take a side road trying to go around the city of Abrud. There is a long climb that ends up blocked at a carrier. Although I can see in the distance another road that goes in the direction I need, the guard, play his role perfectly as if he would suffer for real of a lack of neurones to be friendly and make a step to help people. Turning back, I lunch on the top of a hill. The ride down is fast and I am very soon in Abrud. Buying fruit, being asked "un leu" without politeness by a gipsy. Dude if you want my money without government's superpowers, try better. There is another climb to discover a great valley and an awesome downhill ride in narrow curves. I am very near to Brad where I have to meet the meditation center people tomorrow. I ask a farmer if I can camp in his field. As it is uneasy to communicate, he phones his daughter who translates from English to Romanian, while we handle the phone to each other. Very friendly, the man shows me the stream of drinkable water and presents me to the brave dog Bobby who guards the area at night.

          Beatniks, baba cool or hippies?

         

          The Vulkan