June 30 Romania

Romanian tour 16 30 th June
Our rest day and last day in Bulgaria.
Our accommodation is very good every thing that opens and shuts in these apartments.
Our views over the Black Sea are breathtaking with the white cliffs with the sheer drops into the clear flat blue sea.
The weather is just perfect ,so after a lazy start after our breakfast we set out to the beach and have our promise of a swim in the Black sea.

First of all the beach is through this picture perfect  golf course, it is about 1 klm from the resort, so we had a driver in a golf buggy take us there.

Nothing like an Australian beach we arrived and walked on the coarse sand to find a spot to lay in the sun.Each umbrella and little cabana and hammock had a reserve sign on ,so we had to walk further along the beach until we found one.
Stripped of our outer clothes and drive  in  it was cool and not too salty the sea bottom had rocks , and a sand bar but nothing that bites or wriggles   (sharks and eels)
Pauline and I both called  " Vonderbah" a little call we had from the swim in the Adriatic. The information we have been given is on the beach they have a bar with chill out music which at nights switches to party mode ... Party Party Party ;-)

We stayed until lunch time getting redder and redder as the sun was quite strong, so we left looking like cooked lobsters got a buggy back to the resort and had lunch on the waterfront restaurant with amazing views of the sea and the white cliffs.

Lunch over we are again on the move now to swim in the "pond"  (pool) it was 4 tiered , with a spa overlooking the 6th green, the water here was very refreshing (bloody cold) .We did not have any towels but with the sun being very hot we just dripped dried.
Back to our room and have a relaxing and well deserved nanny nap until dinner
Have not seen Matej or Rozle or Kleim to day they all deserve a day off to recover from the stress of " the people".


Our last day on the road is tomorrow when we head back to Bucharest it will be a 400 kl ride and we believe that  temperature  will be in the early 30 

June 29 Romania

Romanian tour 15 29 th June
Wow what a great day.
Had a fantastic breakfast Vic ordered muesli and yogurt and he got such a big bowl that he could not eat it all then he had pancakes with honey..;-)
After such a hardy brekky we set out to explore and shop in Nessebar,
It is one of the oldest towns in Europe 1956 it also was In the list of UNESCO.
They had many little stalls selling every thing from little trinkets to high fashion clothes.The goods were mostly made in Bulgaria but are copies .Art work was in abundance,little churches dotted the rocky peninsula  some dated back 12 century it is hard to comprehend that they still  stand.
We did not have time to go for a swim as we had to leave at1 pm for our destination which was only 200 klm  away.
Bags out by 12 had a quick change and on the road.Rozle went a head to find a place in Verna so we could have a drink and stretch our legs and may even have a  couple of hours to explore this city as has the largest Roman Baths in Bulgaria and a archaeological museum.
But all good plans go hay wire
The traffic was was bumper to bumper as it was an one lane highway, and we had to pass two to four cars ,trucks and anything that moved , so we could keep the leaders in sight.But we could not as the traffic was moving to fast.
It was getting very warm again,Then we saw Matej come looking for us, we rode up on the footpath and Rozle was waiting for us.
We rode around the block to a secure parking area but nobody marked the corner and we missed it so around again we went.by this time we are very very hot.The rest of the group had left us and headed for the cafe .so we stayed in the car park and had our muesli  bars and water in the shade.
After some quick discussions Matej and Rozle decided to take us to our destination.Thracian Cliffs which was 47 kl away.
Away we go again there must have been some discussions about corner marking at the coffee stop as we , had corner markers all the way out of this city and all the way to Thracian Cliffs.
We only had dipstick who would cut Vic off .

He nearly took our front wheel not only once but twice.Yes he is on our tour we are lucky to have arrived.just missed us by inches.
Well we are now at our destination on the Black sea it is the toughest golf course in the world, park the bikes and get changed for dinner
The restaurant is down the hill a little on cobble stones, it is a real fancy place.

Had a great meal we made up our table of 6  the 5 Aussies and one great guy Steve and we had a lot of laughs, we ordered all the deserts on the menu and shared,

We have a rest day here and we hope to Swim in the black sea.

June 28 Romania

Romanian tour 14 28 June 2012
Breakfast was  @.7-30 am and we put our back out as Klem wanted to be ready for the long day to Nessebar.
Matej did the briefing and away we went two groups again the fast and not so fast. Rozle led the fast ( of course)
Leaving this picturesque town we travelled over some nice roads to start, then it got real. bumpy and again we were negotiating pot holes and deep ruts in the road, zigzagging onto the left and right dodging the holes.
There was many road works, as we travelled along these country roads through isolated villages.
It look like yesterday that many towns had just come from communist rule many houses were in need of some TLC .

Morning coffee was at a little village, and had no toilet facilities ,we crossed the road to a "state building," where. women's and men's toilets were all in one so I shared with Ivor .
Back on the road again the little horse drawn carts have changed to rotary hoes pulling carts with straw and stuff.
We stop at an very old village called Zheravna  it is a quaint village it has over 200 wooden structures  and the place just oozes with culture the women have many hand made mats and pottery for sale ,we stop here for lunch and enjoy a chicken and salad lunch.The streets are different than we had encounted the cobble stones were manly big stones and being in our motorcycle clobber it was difficult to walk.Rozle explained that the homes had names of the occupants carved out on wooden plaques so it was easy to identified who's home it was.

We move on to our destination and there is 5  bikes , we again pass many paddocks with sunflowers it is really  beautiful.this scenery goes on and on.

BGlost concentration on one corner and missed the turn and he went into the dirt and kept it upright it was quite a smart move and of course i have it on video.( he is a dirt rider so that saved from a bigger disaster)
The road does not seem to improve and my intercom drops from my helmet with bumps and the swerving but I caught it just in time and now my intercom is in my pocket We arrived at 4 pm .
What a surprise this place is our hotel is right on the beach and all the shops and souvenir places are just a very short walk away
Vic was quite exhausted after this ride as it was over 300klm of sheer concentration so Pauline and I hit the shops.We had a great time seeing every thing is just so cheap and good quality.

Dinner tonight was fantastic quick and delicious in a great restaurant over looking the Black  sea. After dinner we went for a quick stroll around the shops and back to our hotel where there was a display of dancers in the foyer of the hotel and they were getting the quests to participate it was a fun night.

June 27 Romania

Romanian tour 13 27 th June 2012
Today we arrived in Bulgaria
Briefing was at 8-45 clutch out 9 am
As there was two routes we had two ride leaders.
The first route was to be the quick route along the  highway past Bucharest to the border of Bulgaria
The second route was along the bumpy and pot hole way through little villages and a ferry across the Danube river
We rode the highway route and took the bypass but it was bumper to bumper trucks. Took ages to get pass, but we managed to cut in and out of the trucks, they were very good some even moved over for us.

We stopped for coffee and Klem and Derek (the sick boy) and we all had coffee together, then we moved on, Ivor went ahead and we lost him. Steve Vic had a GPS so the 5australian managed to find the Bulgarian border with out much trouble, the guards checked our pass ports and away we went again.
.To our surprise Rozle managed to find us and he also had picked up Ivor so we rode into town together.
The scenery was just a carpet of yellow sunflowers and the road has not pot holes real dream to ride.
We stop at road side cafe and have lunch
We find our beaut hotel in Veliko Tarnovo which was the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire.
Rozle takes us on a walking tour to the castle of the old Bulgarian capital but we are few minutes late and it is closed so we take many photos of this splendid castle then of to dinner
The dinner was a little slow tonight but when it did arrive it was quite delious but to late at 10-30 pm for me
It is now  11 pm so goodnight

tomorrows ride is  269 klms to Nessebar

June 26 Romania

Romanian tour  no 12 26 th June 2012
Today was going to be the highlight of the tour riding the  Transfagarasan pass.
Woke up to see that it rained all night,Matej is our leader as we are now in two groups ,after breakfast we meet him in the garage and we all donned  our wet weather gear.Refueled and on our way it is only 100 klms but is said to be breathtaking.



A little drizzle and the roads are wet but it does not dampen our enthusiasm to ride the pass, but as we climb the fog closes in and we cant see a bloody thing, not even the road .the road zig zags and has many hairpins  as we ride the Fagaras mountains with heavy rain last night some of the large rocks have fallen across the road, so we have to wait for a bull dozer clear the road.
The book says its not for the fainthearted as the altitude climbs to 2034 metres. No problem for us cause we cannot see anyway. Vic's visor fogs up so he open it and then his glasses fog over.
The fog is so thick we can only see  5 meters  in front,Matej says to stop at the top so we can have coffee, it is just so cold Vic reckons that it is sleet falling. We took some foggy photos and moved on.the snow is feet deep at the side of the road
Went through a tunnel  which divide valleys and presto it was like somebody turned the sun on, a shepherd  was tending his flock of sheep on the mountain side it was just so beautiful, lush green hills you could nearly hear Julie Andrews singing " the hills are alive with music" but it is the wrong country.

We had a magical ride down into the valley, the road had wonderful sweepers and the road was hot mix a delight to ride, took so many photos  the road was constructed in 1970 as a response to when the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968  to this day it is still one of the highest roads in Europe.
We pass a few  timber trucks on this road in the valley, as they gather the large trees from the forest  then we were back to the rough road and pot holes .
Vic is now the leader as Matej had gone bush again .
We meander down the valley to our hotel which is perched on a beautiful blue lake called lake Vidraru it is an artificial lake created in 1965 by the construction of the dam.
We tried to get a boat trip but it is too windy. We could also visit "Dracula's Castle" which is 10 klm from our hotel The castle is in ruins and has 1500 steps so we gave that a big miss .Vlad 111 the impaler was Bram Stokers inspiration for the character of Dracula.
We also learnt that one of our party was been taken to hospital as he was not feeling very well.
Klem and Rozle are bringing the rest of the group and our bags later this afternoon .
We had lunch, and of course the customary ice cream and we will also have dinner in this picturesque  setting. The sun is out and it is so warming.
Tomorrows ride takes us into Bulgaria which is a 358 klm  trip.

June 25 Romania

Romanian tour 11 25 th june 2012
Well what an exciting day we had today it was our rest day.
After a beautiful spread for breakfast we head for the garage to ride the Transalpine road Vic checks his tyre again and discovered that it has a slow leak,6 bikes and 2 pillions head for the first petrol station to refuel and pump up the tyre,then the ride begins .
It is said that the road was built under King Carole 11 and rebuilt by the German troops during world war 2
Matej is leading and we ride through remote villages and it must be market day as people are going about their every day buying of fruit and vegetables, carting water in buckets. The road is very rough to start as we climb the mountain pot holes again we are getting real good dodging them now and swerving this way and that.
As we climb higher we are in the spruce forest and the timber trucks are gathering all the logs,then we get a surprise, the road turns into hot mix .
So we could corner a lot easier and faster the the many switch backs were a riders delight we zoomed up and around the trucks with ease a beautiful ride.
But then a another surprise the road just stops the bridge is not completed , so again we are back in the rough pot holes etc. this goes for about 2kl then surprise hot mix again and away we go again fantastic riding.
We come around a corner  and find it blocked by two trucks,one unloading part of a box culvert,there was only a very narrow verge.

Matej rode around on the verge which was about 1 meter wide  and half bitumen and half gravel with a 6 inch step no problem for him or Vic or Rozle.
 Matej went back and rode Barry's bike through , but G B did not make it and dropped his bike (red hot dirt riders) of course I captured it on camera,
After picking the bike up we head for a morning tea stop .Matej finds a nice shop on the top which was about 1200 meters .
He states that he will go ahead and take some photos of us, and thats the last we saw of him and Suzann.
Rozle is now our leader but from the back as there is only 5bikes he keeps a good eye on us.
The descent of the mountain is back to the pot holes and isolated villages donkeys, cows and goats on the road side.Not to many inhabitants,when we see one they are real old and wrinkled.
One corner Rob nearly high sides as he hits sand on a sharp corner his front wheel slid out and he had to put his foot down recover
  We stop for lunch at a truck stop with no more mishaps, coke and trout for lunch ,we are only 37 klm from Sibiu any thing can happen .
We are on a highway and it is bumper to bumper trucks soooo, we overtake them all on a double line going up hill ,Rob is right be hind us , a red and blue flashing light is following us and a loud speaker asked us to pull over
Buggar
The. cop speaks English bugger again .He asked for Robs and Vic's licence so they give him the Australian one, then he asked for their passports , and gave them a lecture about passing on double lines how dangerous it is.He is going to take their licence and they will have to pay a fine to get it back.The fine was 480 lei each . Bugger again .
He asked them to follow him down the road and we can sort something out (bribe) It is very hot about 32deg we follow the police to another pullover and some nice chit chat and he has reduced the fine to 200 lei each and gives them back their licence and passports.Vic sighed some papers ?..?? No documentation was given to him.
We may not get out of Romania as there was no receipt. ;-)
Got back to the hotel with the wallets a lot lighter as we ad to pay there and then
Back in the garage Vic puts a plug in the tyre as it had a nail , he  had two attempts to get it right, we shall see tomorrow if it stays up.
Dinner tonight is with Rozle and Pauline and Neil as we have not seen them all day

June 24 Romania

Romanian tour no 10 24th June 2012
From Turda to Sibiu  219klm
Briefing at  8- 15 ' clutch out 8-30 Rozle checks all the tyres and has found ours down a little on air it only had 1.6 bar , no wonder it was a  squirmy yesterday and we thought it was the road   He pumps it up with the compressor and we are away
Leaving out quaint little hotel in the valley , we are in two groups fast and no so fast.
We see again many gypsies in the wagons with timber, and straw, no so much car traffic as we go through old villages, where they still get the water from wells.The kids hear the roar of the bikes, and give us a big wave.
We arrive for morning tea, at a little village being Sunday most cafe or restaurants are closed.We ordered a  cappachino and donuts it took ages but it was worth the wait, all fresh and home made.

Back on the road again we ride through many villages we come to a historical church called the Bietan fortified church in Medias
We see that it is one of most important Saxon villages with fortified churches in Transylvania it has been listed on UNESCO world list since 1993.
We climb the many wooden stairs carrying our gear and look  out over the 700 year old church  wall, inside the church we find a door that has  2 keys which together lock the door in 15 places quite intriguing.
Back down the wooden steps we have a ice cream the first one for two days and i am sure we were having withdraws.
We ride back into town to have lunch in cobble stoned court yard it is very clean and pretty flowers are on the window sills.
We order or pizza and spaghetti and wait and we wait for at least 3/4hour later it arrives gobbled it down as we are running out of time to get to  Sibiu
Arriving at 4-30 pm Klem has our bags in the room at the Hotel Ramada
Having a nanna nap then out to dinner in the old town. It was feast and Rozle in his wisdom ordered for every body and it was fantastic tucker and our meal was finished by 9-30 pm including more ice cream.
To morrow is a rest day but we have the option of riding a 350 k loop to ride The kings road
We see that it is one of most important Saxon villages with fortified churches in Transylvania it has been listed on UNESCO world list since 1993.
We climb the many wooden stairs carrying our gear and look  out over the 700 year old church  wall, inside the church we find a door that has  2 keys which together lock the door in 15 places quite intriguing.
Back down the wooden steps we have a ice cream the first one for two days and i am sure we were having withdraws.
We ride back into town to have lunch in cobble stoned court yard it is very clean and pretty flowers are on the window sills.
We order or pizza and spaghetti and wait and we wait for at least 3/4hour later it arrives gobbled it down as we are running out of time to get to  Sibiu
Arriving at 4-30 pm Klem has our bags in the room at the Hotel Ramada
Having a nanna nap then out to dinner in the old town. It was feast and Rozle in his wisdom ordered for every body and it was fantastic tucker and our meal was finished by 9-30 pm including more ice cream.
To morrow is a rest day but we have the option of riding a 350 k loop to ride The kings road

June 23 Romania

Romanian tour  no 9  23 rd June 2012
Before dinner last night Matej asked if anybody wanted to go to Merry cemetery as he has 4 places in the car, i jumped at the chance Pauline let her place to to Karmila .
The drive was quite a distance from the hotel but it was worth the visit .The cemetery is famous for its colourful tombstones  with naive paintings describing in original poet manner ,the person that is buried there as well as s enes from their lives.It was very interesting even if i could not read the headstones,a priest was saying prayers over a loud speaker which echoed over the  village.
All the crosses are pained blue it is an open air museum.
Todays ride was to be a long one 333 kl but Matej shortened the route as we had to be at the salt mine before 3 pm.
Briefing was at 8-15  clutch out 8-30 pm
All the riders except Anne (the lost one) is poorly and her bike s in the van and Matej as his credit card was taken by a ATM and he had to wait till the bank opened so he could recover it.
We leave the town and out into the country side again the paddocks are green and lush,the cows are fat, we pass more horse drawn carts,
We get onto a fast road but there is road works and traffic lights but we just ignore them cause we are on a mission.
Part of the road has a hot mix surface so we just whizz around the corners and little villages it sure made a lot of difference from riding pot holes.
We stop for a quick lunch hot beef soup and bread it was the quickest lunch we ever had, back on the road again we head for the salt mines

We park the bikes paid our 10 lea and head for the mine,Turda salt mine is know as one of the most  important in all Transylvania  .we set out and walk through the salt tunnel walked the many steps to a huge hole in the ground, all the notices were in Romanian so we did not understand any.When we arrived at the bottom it was like an amusement park it had a small "eye" ten pin bowling alley ' basketball court and a little island where you could row a small rowing boat, Rozle. Pauline and I had one as Rozle rowed us around.
Time was running short so at 4-30 we high tailed it to the hotel,getting changed we head for the "real little village "for a quick look around. Then off to dinner.this place is real quaint and all the rooms have folk art on the furniture real nice touch.
Dinner i was game enough to try the tripe soup it was a real shock, it was real good then shared our dinner with Steve he a nice guy.
Klem celebrated his 38   Birthday and the boys organized a wonderful birthday cake for him full of liquor it was real yummy

June 22 Romania

Romania tour  no 8  22 nd June 2012
Our first rest day Sighetu Marametiei  again the weather is quite warm and sunny, after a great sleep in to 7 am ,we have breakfast then watch the Americans head for the Ukraine, Klem is having his first ride of the tour.Rozle is doubling Suzanne and Ann (the lost one) is on the back of her husband Barry looks like nobody will get lost today
Klem is  all decked out in safety gear and he is riding " Marys" bike.We watch him do a lap of the car park and away the group left.
We have a fee day to explore this city and that is what we did.We walked the short distance to town and do a little shopping and is an experience, most can speak a little English but we get away with a smile and charades,
We head for the Sighet prison museum and spend 2-3 hours wandering around  this historic place.The securiate ran the Sighet prison as a place for political repression of public figures. The memorial of the victims of communism and of the resistance.
The prison was built in 1897 as a ordinary law prison .We light a candle in the memorial dome and see "the convoy of martyrs", it has 18 human figures going towards a wall  which closes their horizon
After all this culture we head for a bite to eat but find there is no electricity in town as they are laying new cables, so we walk through the local markets where abundance of fruit and vegetables were for sale,beautiful flowers in little stalls made a beautiful picture.
We bought some fruit and just hope that they are not radio active due to Chernobyl  being over the border in the Ukraine
In some books it states that some fruits still may contain radiation even if the disaster took place in 1986 .
Returning to the hotel we have our lunch at 2-30 a beautiful salad in the wonderful garden setting where we witness a couple and their group taking photos of a wedding its all good.
Dinner again at the hotel and the temperature is cooling down it is only 26 now @ 6pm no air conditioning  and  our washing dries very quickly

June 21 Romania

Romania tour no  7 21June 2012
Early breakfast @ 7am briefing at 8-45 clutch out 9am
Woke this morning to find fog had enclosed us  so it was a good time to leave at 9 am.Breakfast we introduced Matej to Vegemite. Yuk was his response
The day was also going to be very hot and we had a huge challenge in front of us it was going to be a short day 190 klm but a very adventures one.

First we rode a country road and there were a few pot holes so we just practiced for what was to come.Rozle had already told us that what we were about ride was the worse road in Romania but the view was worth the ride.
(funny when you are on tour ,you believe anything)
Prislop Pass it is a mountain pass and climbs to an altitude of 1416 metres it is the highest Romanian pass and a bikers nightmare.
Leaving the main highway the challenge is in front,it is a National Park with little villages scattered along a river,many horse carts again packed with straw and peasants going about their daily chores.

The road is bloody dreadful, biggest pot holes we have ever seen, so we zig zag across the road to miss as many as we could, but sometimes it did not work and we get tossed about on the bike
 We see other motorcyclist camping by the river As we climb higher a couple of the Americans pass us dodging pot holes and going rather fast for the road conditions.yes the scenery spectacular as we reach the summit, you can see forever,the pine forest and the valley below mountains on either side .
We have our morning tea and the group photo , and then we check out the bikes for any damage from the pot holes   And yes there is major damage to one bike, both front and back rim's are stuffed, Lucky they have tubes other wise the rider would have been stuck  there.
As we descent, Matej rides ahead to get some photos, the American family thought they were going to be left behind so they followed  Matej down . Duh the road has many turns and lots of photo opportunities
The valley was beautiful ,the houses had gates with wooden carvings on them shingles on the roof,the place is very clean and No "club Mac"

The lady who was miss placed yesterday did it again today, got miss placed.
She stopped to take some photos and could not follow her GPS to catch up with the group, we stopped at a junction for a while in the bloody heat, and Rozle went looking for her, so Matej asked us to go on to the Barsana Monastery as there may be some shade.

Looking around this Monastery was very interesting it is UNESCO  listed,it has many wooden structures and very tall spires , in a beautiful garden setting,it has 16 nuns still in residence a notice  on a wall states it was built      around 1390 , (all this culture ) there is 56 metre tall spire reputedly to be the tallest  wooden structure in Europe.
Rob notices that his phone has gone missing much panic has set in ,retraces his steps, some honest person had handed it in , (but we are at a Monastery)

We had lunch in a little cafe on site, still the missing women has not turned up,
Rozle rings Matej to tell him all is well Ann is now at the hotel
The ride to the hotel is 33klms but it is35 c and the heat is draining our energy level.
Arriving at the hotel  which is situated a few kilometers from the  Ukrainian border the boys are going to have a ride there tomorrow, Australians need a visa to enter the country which we don't have, so we will explore this little city
The rice must be working for Pauline and Neil, but now we have a few more go down with the bug.We are both well (so far)
Dinner tonight is at the hotel

Romania 20th June

Romania tour 6 Wednesday 20 th June 2012
Well what a long day this was, as breakfast was not until 7-30 and briefing was a 8-45 and clutch out was 9am.
The day was going to be hot again so we all stocked up with some water.
First the road we ride through the Bicaz gorges it was cool and twisty as we make our way for 8 kilometers with rock on one side and sheer drop on the other, passing through a tunnel where souvenir shops were lining the roadway.
So now we are away from Transylvania into Moldova region.
The scenery has now changed and it is green rolling hills and it looks a little like Switzerland We fuel the bikes and head up through the mountains , pass many little villages and again many horse drawn carts covered with grass, as they are now building hay stacks for the winter.
We whizz pass a huge dam , and stop at the top of the  mountain for the customary  photo, stopping for morning tea after 82 kl in a little cafe that overlooked a river and a decorated bridge, bought some bananas from the little store nearby.
Heading for our next stop met some road works  i am sure that they were making more pot holes and not filling them in. The road now is real bad big rutts and hugh potholes.and takes forever to get over the mountain.
We regroup and find one rider missing. We wait and wait and it is so bloody hot, we take.of coats and helmets just as a funeral parade goes by, it was quite interesting seeing the parade with all the mourners walking behind a beautiful decorated cart.
We are still waiting for the other rider ,she turns up after about 1/2hour when she turned up, the gps said that she was on the wrong road so she turned around,but at last she figured it out.
Pauline and Neil both have the lurgy and Dr Rozle orders them Just Boiled Rice for the next few days,to get rid of all the tummy bugs ....Yummy no
After lunch we again climb over the mountain but the road is so rough, We have bottomed the bike many times, the last one gave us. big fright, as we were doing a left hand bend and we scraped the side stand but it hit a bump and we hit again and we were into the rough gravel  f#*¥ but with the skill and daring of the rider saved us from any disaster as we climb over the twisty. Mountain roads we see gypsy caravans all pained and some silver glistening in the sunlight

Re grouping at a junction out tour leader takes us to the Sucevita Monastery
Both interior and exterior are covered with mural paintings the paintings date back to 1601  fantastic stuff.
As the tempature was gettinging warming and the time is slipping by, we forgo the second Monastery.
We arrive at our beut little hotel at 6-15pm
We had dinner and again the food was fantastic ,Pauline and Neil both got stuck into the "boiled Rice"
We broke up the americans by sitting in the middle of a long table so that had to talk to us so we had some great conversations
Again we have a long ride tomorrow over the worse roads thought we were already on the worse roads
We head for Marmatiel  190 klm
We are still having a split tour but we do regroup.
To tired to down load photos to night will do soon

June 19 Romania

Romania tour 5 Tuesday 19 th June
Briefing at 8-15 am clutch out 8-30 am
It was a shame to leave Brasov early as it was such a beautiful place full of history,and great food , there was so much more to explore.
Our first stop today is Sighisoara, the roads are fast and the weather again is perfect, as it is tourist destination we had to be careful of many buses, but as it is early in the season we did not encounter very many, saw lots of horse drawn buggies full of grass and all sorts of farming implements.The scenery is very green and we see many people out digging in the fields. Gypsy's selling fruit on the road side, It really is a fantastic place.
The road to Sighisoara is  very good condition lots of sweepers  and we set a fast pace .We have two hours for sightseeing and lunch,the town is best known as the birthplace of Vlad 111  the Impaler .  Aka Dracula , we buy the customary tee shirts and little souvenirs.
It was great to explore, had a beaut lunch, and headed for our destination buy the Red Lake,
As some of the group are very very slow the wisdom of Matej and Rozle  have decided to split the group, fast and slow so every body can have a great ride.Of course we are in the fast team Neil and Pauline are also in the fast team but doing a leisurely pace,Neil is feeling a little better after he was so poorly yesterday
As we climb up the mountain side the road turns into NSW roads bloody great pot holes, large ridges no barriers, just like motocross.But the biggest ones are in the shadows on a corner in the line you take.bloody hell we hit bottom and scrap the underside and nearly high side.
As we are scooting along we see one rider being pulled up by the Police, as yet we ave not found out what he did wrong.
We have not met every body as the Americans seem to keep to them selves, or they just can't under stand us.
Another great night with fantastic food and company
Found out about the rider who was talking to the police , he overtook on a bridge on an no overtaking sign.
Tomorrows ride is 310 klms and we think it will be fast and slow teams.
Vatra Dornei we leave Transylvania and head for the rural areas just hope that the road improves as we are getting sore bums.
Oh the bikes are 3v stroms 1 250 , and the rest bMW the weather tomorrow will be hot again

Romania 3 18th June

Romania 3 18th "June 2012
Another great day was had exploring this city, we caught the hop on hop off bus and hopped off at the old town.We wandered  in amazement  of the old buildings that had survived the test of time some dated back some 300  years the oldest one we spotted was built in  the 15 th century.
After all this culture we called into "Club Mac" and had our salad again, then  caught  the bus back to another "Club" for coffee.Walking back to our hotel we see a street community  function we stop and mingle with the crowd, it was very interesting, of course we had to take Vics photo in front of the sex shop .

Got back to the hotel and the boys were preparing the bikes we then had our briefing and introductions to the rest of the group.
Dinner we were taken in a taxi to a fantastic restaurant and had traditional Romanian tucker, very nice and very different.
Today is our first ride and we head out of the city to Brasov  it is only a short ride and will take us all day to do the  187  kls .
Matej will be leading and Rozle will be tail end charlie as it is a big group.13 from the USA  and the 5 Australians .
One family mum dad and the daughter is riding Susan in on 250 Kawasaki ninja, another family has a set of  male boys who we have not been introduced as yet. One couple is driving a car due to he has just had a back operation.One chap called Stephen says he rides slow as he likes to stop all the time (don't know if he has a bladder problem or just takes photos)
It is quite a mixture of riders.Rob Smith is from Bathurst and is in the Ulysses club he is doing a back to back tour
I reckon by this afternoon Vic will have it  sorted.