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.
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 roadWent 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.
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