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Romania - Carpathian Mountains - 2014
- Thread starter SpinDrift
- Start date
moggy1968
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2013
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yeh, but thats not consistent with racing 10 bikers down the mountain
gave a whole new definition of brake fade
This is taking a while to complete.
The next day we visited Sibiu, an old Saxon town now being restored and attracting tourists. It is a bit commercial, but apparently not as much as Brasov.
We headed out of town to pick up the tracks again.
As we passed through one village we saw the three amigos
and their woman folk
Then bizarrely, following a track to the Monastere Sambata, we came across the In Transylvania music festival. It was Saturday night. We had to go. But first we had to visit the monastery.
We spent an enjoyable evening at the festival listening to a few Romanian rock bands and drinking Ciuc, one of the local beers.
There were some dodgy characters around
Well, we were in Transylvania!! Speaking of dodgy characters, the following morning we headed for Bran Castle, also known as the Dracula Castle. The area around the castle is very touristy but the castle itself is interesting and well worth a visit. It has a connection with the UK as this was the favourite residence of Romania’s Queen Marie, who was of English royal blood and originally from Kent. The connection with Dracula is very indirect. Bran Stoker described it in his book as such - but only because he had seen it in news reels about Queen Marie. And the Bran name is pure coincidence.
Here is the old fella ...
From here we carried on heading east and south picking up another interesting track which had a couple of deeply rutted sections. The ruts are caused by the logging trucks. (Note to Clive – this track is in your neighbourhood: it ends in Traisteni )
At one point the ruts were so deep that we ended up grounded and had to winch our way forward – sorry we don’t have any photos of us stuck or recovering
We met a group of Romanian off roaders here who warned us about bears ….
Romania’s wildlife includes bears, wolves and lynx. The latter two are rarely encountered by humans. The former generally avoid humans but could be a problem if you don’t keep a clean and tidy campsite. If you do not leave any rubbish or food out, and don’t take any into the tent you should not have a problem. We never saw any of these animals although we would have liked to …. at a safe distance. What we did see were several birds of prey and two deer, one of which came close to becoming venison when it skipped across the road on out last day in Romania.
We wild camped in a picnic area just off the track and had a peaceful bear free night.
The next day we visited Sibiu, an old Saxon town now being restored and attracting tourists. It is a bit commercial, but apparently not as much as Brasov.
We headed out of town to pick up the tracks again.
As we passed through one village we saw the three amigos
and their woman folk
Then bizarrely, following a track to the Monastere Sambata, we came across the In Transylvania music festival. It was Saturday night. We had to go. But first we had to visit the monastery.
We spent an enjoyable evening at the festival listening to a few Romanian rock bands and drinking Ciuc, one of the local beers.
There were some dodgy characters around
Well, we were in Transylvania!! Speaking of dodgy characters, the following morning we headed for Bran Castle, also known as the Dracula Castle. The area around the castle is very touristy but the castle itself is interesting and well worth a visit. It has a connection with the UK as this was the favourite residence of Romania’s Queen Marie, who was of English royal blood and originally from Kent. The connection with Dracula is very indirect. Bran Stoker described it in his book as such - but only because he had seen it in news reels about Queen Marie. And the Bran name is pure coincidence.
Here is the old fella ...
From here we carried on heading east and south picking up another interesting track which had a couple of deeply rutted sections. The ruts are caused by the logging trucks. (Note to Clive – this track is in your neighbourhood: it ends in Traisteni )
At one point the ruts were so deep that we ended up grounded and had to winch our way forward – sorry we don’t have any photos of us stuck or recovering
We met a group of Romanian off roaders here who warned us about bears ….
Romania’s wildlife includes bears, wolves and lynx. The latter two are rarely encountered by humans. The former generally avoid humans but could be a problem if you don’t keep a clean and tidy campsite. If you do not leave any rubbish or food out, and don’t take any into the tent you should not have a problem. We never saw any of these animals although we would have liked to …. at a safe distance. What we did see were several birds of prey and two deer, one of which came close to becoming venison when it skipped across the road on out last day in Romania.
We wild camped in a picnic area just off the track and had a peaceful bear free night.
Attachments
The next day we skirted past Corminiac – unfortunately the timing was off and we did not manage to hook up with Clive. The road book describes a loop in this area but we skipped it in the interest of making up some time as the southern stretch had taken a little longer than we had expected. We already knew that we would complete the whole route as described in the book.
We continued eastwards on a combination of asphalt and track, passing though some great countryside
eventually passing through an area where there had been a gas field but the rigs are now gone, although there seems to be some kind of pumping operation hidden in a compound. Further on we came to the Berca mud volcanoes. Liquid mud and natural gas bubble out of the ground. The gas is inflammable as smoking is prohibited in the area – although there isn’t much in terms of enforcement.
From here we continued with more tracks
until we eventually settled down for another quiet night at the edge of the forest, only to have some visitors in the morning. At least they were not bears.
The morning started with more forest tracks - Did I mention we drove a few tracks?
and some dodgy bridges
some locals
lunch time stop
some local traffic
We then diverting from the route in the book to head for another Saxon town – Sighisoara. The town is a medieval walled city, in our opinion nicer that Sibiu (and probably Brasov which we skipped). We stayed that the very comfortable Hotel Central Park, which with a very good buffet breakfast came to £60 for the night and spent the following morning sightseeing.
Apparently Prince Charles stays in this hotel in centre of the old town when he visits ...
We left the town to rejoin the route further north passing this cruiser along the way
We stopping in Priad to visit a salt mine. A bus took us into the mine and let us loose at the top of a slight of stairs that led down into an enormous gallery. We were under the impression that we would be visiting some kind mining operation. Wrong. While the mine is still in operation, the gallery open to visitors has been turned into an activity centre with amusement park, chapel and shops. There were people browsing the internet, playing table tennis or just sitting around. It seems that the salt air in the mine has healing properties.
We continued eastwards on a combination of asphalt and track, passing though some great countryside
eventually passing through an area where there had been a gas field but the rigs are now gone, although there seems to be some kind of pumping operation hidden in a compound. Further on we came to the Berca mud volcanoes. Liquid mud and natural gas bubble out of the ground. The gas is inflammable as smoking is prohibited in the area – although there isn’t much in terms of enforcement.
From here we continued with more tracks
until we eventually settled down for another quiet night at the edge of the forest, only to have some visitors in the morning. At least they were not bears.
The morning started with more forest tracks - Did I mention we drove a few tracks?
and some dodgy bridges
some locals
lunch time stop
some local traffic
We then diverting from the route in the book to head for another Saxon town – Sighisoara. The town is a medieval walled city, in our opinion nicer that Sibiu (and probably Brasov which we skipped). We stayed that the very comfortable Hotel Central Park, which with a very good buffet breakfast came to £60 for the night and spent the following morning sightseeing.
Apparently Prince Charles stays in this hotel in centre of the old town when he visits ...
We left the town to rejoin the route further north passing this cruiser along the way
We stopping in Priad to visit a salt mine. A bus took us into the mine and let us loose at the top of a slight of stairs that led down into an enormous gallery. We were under the impression that we would be visiting some kind mining operation. Wrong. While the mine is still in operation, the gallery open to visitors has been turned into an activity centre with amusement park, chapel and shops. There were people browsing the internet, playing table tennis or just sitting around. It seems that the salt air in the mine has healing properties.
Hey, great update Reinhard!
I'm sure I know this track ... I imagine that it's the DJ 102i and you would have been coming from Secele (Nr. Brasov)
It's always bad in that stretch if I'm right... (trying to upload the same picture from my albums, but it's just not happening
)
I'm sure I know this track ... I imagine that it's the DJ 102i and you would have been coming from Secele (Nr. Brasov)
It's always bad in that stretch if I'm right... (trying to upload the same picture from my albums, but it's just not happening
)
Last edited:
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Yes, that is the one. Its a nice track but probably a little busy with loggers during the week
The refurbishment of the square in Sibiu was one of my client's projects, spent a lot of time up there. But I agree, Sighisoara is a much more interesting place. You covered a lot of ground on your trip Reinhard, and I'm glad to hear that most of it was off the main drag. 
We escaped back to the forests and logging tracks, where we felt more at home …
Logging operations where in progress and loading was happening on the track, but the loggers moved their trucks, and in one case even cleared a log from the track, to allow us through.
We headed into the region (not the country) of Moldovia where we visited a number of painted monasteries. The monasteries were built in remote and difficult to get to places in the mountains of the north to avoid detection by the Turks. The ones we saw were protected by high walls. It seems that they were abandoned in communist times but are now being restored and reoccupied. They are quite impressive. The Monasteries are on the Unesco World Heritage List http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/598/multiple=1&unique_number=1728
More forest tracks followed.
In some places the sides of tracks are crumbling way, mostly as a result of landslides. In others there are deep holes marked by a few sticks.
We came across this little beauty in on town.
We crossed over into the region of Muramares which is known, amongst other things, for its wooden churches. These wooded churches are similar to the ones found in western Russia, Finland and Norway. They are also on the Unesco World Heritage List http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/904/multiple=1&unique_number=1057
Logging operations where in progress and loading was happening on the track, but the loggers moved their trucks, and in one case even cleared a log from the track, to allow us through.
We headed into the region (not the country) of Moldovia where we visited a number of painted monasteries. The monasteries were built in remote and difficult to get to places in the mountains of the north to avoid detection by the Turks. The ones we saw were protected by high walls. It seems that they were abandoned in communist times but are now being restored and reoccupied. They are quite impressive. The Monasteries are on the Unesco World Heritage List http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/598/multiple=1&unique_number=1728
More forest tracks followed.
In some places the sides of tracks are crumbling way, mostly as a result of landslides. In others there are deep holes marked by a few sticks.
We came across this little beauty in on town.
We crossed over into the region of Muramares which is known, amongst other things, for its wooden churches. These wooded churches are similar to the ones found in western Russia, Finland and Norway. They are also on the Unesco World Heritage List http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/904/multiple=1&unique_number=1057
Well done Reinhard, lovely photos and a good write up. Over the course of a few months, I watched them build one of those wooden churches at Poiana Brasov, it's amazing to watch them. All the wood is cut by hand and there's no nails, screws or brackets anywhere, it's all wooden dowels and tight joints, pegs and wedges. All the roof is done in wooden hand cut shingles. The pile of off cuts and shavings was almost as big as the church's!
theres too much logging in the forest, most of it is illegal, even the forestry company (Silva) is cutting trees without a license, which is very depressing. My guess is amity 30 years at the rate they're going, before its all gone. China is buying up whole mountains of forest, they're just cutting the whole lot. It will be a desert by the time they've finished. There's very little replanting going on.
You'll have to come again and we'll have a bash at some of those tracks together.
theres too much logging in the forest, most of it is illegal, even the forestry company (Silva) is cutting trees without a license, which is very depressing. My guess is amity 30 years at the rate they're going, before its all gone. China is buying up whole mountains of forest, they're just cutting the whole lot. It will be a desert by the time they've finished. There's very little replanting going on.
You'll have to come again and we'll have a bash at some of those tracks together.
Thanks Clive. The cultural aspect was not something I gave much thought to when I planned the trip - it was after all, all about the mountains, forests and tracks, but you cannot drive through Romania without seeing and appreciating the cultural side - its there in front of you. Both the monasteries and the churches are pretty impressive.
Logging is a problem. Ironically it seems that the EU is in a commitment to stop deforestation by 2030 - but that may be too late: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29338413
It was a great trip so might do another one at some point.
Logging is a problem. Ironically it seems that the EU is in a commitment to stop deforestation by 2030 - but that may be too late: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29338413
It was a great trip so might do another one at some point.
We were very close to the Ukrainian border and were tempted to cross over on foot as the west of the country is quiet, but we didn’t.
In Sapanta we visited the Merry Cemetery, so called because the grave stones celebrate the deceased’s life in a humouristic way.
That night we camped at our first Romanian camp site, just south of the Merry Cemetery. It was clean, the facilities were ok and at around £6 for the night it was good value for money.
The next day we headed out onto a great track. It passed through a forested valley with a stream running through it and after some 20km’s opened out into meadows. The track had a few interesting technical sections in it.
We then came to a wet patch with deep and gloopy mud and deep ruts. The approach was a step down of some 14-15 inches into the ruts. Bog stretched out on either side of the track – you can see reed beds ahead - and water was flowing down the hill across the track. The rain of the previous days / weeks only made things worse.
Beyond, the land was described as ‘wet land’ in the road book. With the risk of getting grounded, and with nowhere to winch off, with 30C+ heat and not wanting to have to break out ground anchor, we decided to retracing our tracks back to the asphalt to rejoin the route further south. Pity as we had only covered half the track. Maybe if we were not a single vehicle, maybe with the waffle boards, maybe if …. This one will haunt me until I return!
Anyway, we looped round ...
... and rejoined our route and another interesting track further south. The track was a sandy forest track which was quite scratchy in places.
Camping spot
Next day we continued south and stopped in Targu Lapus for lunch – more Mici of course, and a beer. More tracks led us through a Gypsy village. We had passed through a few of these before. These villages are very different to the small farming community villages. They tend to be rather run down and quite dirty with ramshackle buildings and give the impression of poverty usually associated with places outside of Europe. Lots of locals seemed to be just hanging around with nothing to do other than gawk at us as we drove through. Now they might have been a friendly bunch, but I must admit that we did stop to find out.
We headed for our last track and a great spot for out last wild camp. The site was a large meadow on a hillside with views of the surrounding area. In the distance we could hear thunder and see lightening, but the storms never came near us.
The next morning we set the GPS to take us to Budapest. We picked up the DN1 a fairly big road. It was here that we narrowly missed Bambi as he skipped across the road just in front of us. Couple of seconds later and we would have had venison steak for supper.
We passed through the border formalities just past Oradea – we were re-entering the Schengen area. Once in Hungary a few miles of secondary road took us to a fast motorway – M35 and M3 - to Budapest. Hungary seems to be more prosperous compared to some other East European countries. We headed for Heller Camping in Budapest. The campsite is a 10 minute walk and 10 minute train ride away from the city centre. Budapest is a nice city. Also straddling the Danube, it has a mix of Austro-Hungarian Empire palaces and buildings, art deco buildings and lots of bars and restaurants serving good beer.
Wandering the streets of the city we came across these wise words ...
and spotted this cruiser
From here we headed for the German city of Nurnberg. This stop wasn’t really planned in advance and we found the campsite using the Garmin. Again it was a short walk and train ride out of the centre.
From Nurnberg we headed for Europoort in Holland, some 7 hours away, to board the ferry bound for Hull.
On our return we had some difficulty getting into the house. Not sure why ...
We had a great trip and would recommend it. Romania is a beautiful country with amazing landscapes, great accessible tracks and culture. The book recommends a minimum of 4 weeks for the Carpathian loop. We squeezed it into 3 weeks, including travel there and back and one day stops in Vienna, Budapest and Nurnberg. We dropped a few bits and added our own diversions to the route – but, hey, that’s what makes it our trip. Maybe one day we’ll be back to explore the country at a more leisurely pace, and get to meet Clive
Looking back on the trip, everything worked – the truck, the plan, the location, with a small exception – the monitor mount got unstuck, so we ended up having to hold the monitor. An inconvenience more than anything else. And the side steps rattle more.
If there was one thing that I can say was missing from the trip, it would be a GoPro. Taking static photos is fine, but I am liking the idea of being able to show moving images and the whole trip in as 5 minute clip. I’ll get one for the next trip.
In Sapanta we visited the Merry Cemetery, so called because the grave stones celebrate the deceased’s life in a humouristic way.
That night we camped at our first Romanian camp site, just south of the Merry Cemetery. It was clean, the facilities were ok and at around £6 for the night it was good value for money.
The next day we headed out onto a great track. It passed through a forested valley with a stream running through it and after some 20km’s opened out into meadows. The track had a few interesting technical sections in it.
We then came to a wet patch with deep and gloopy mud and deep ruts. The approach was a step down of some 14-15 inches into the ruts. Bog stretched out on either side of the track – you can see reed beds ahead - and water was flowing down the hill across the track. The rain of the previous days / weeks only made things worse.
Beyond, the land was described as ‘wet land’ in the road book. With the risk of getting grounded, and with nowhere to winch off, with 30C+ heat and not wanting to have to break out ground anchor, we decided to retracing our tracks back to the asphalt to rejoin the route further south. Pity as we had only covered half the track. Maybe if we were not a single vehicle, maybe with the waffle boards, maybe if …. This one will haunt me until I return!
Anyway, we looped round ...
... and rejoined our route and another interesting track further south. The track was a sandy forest track which was quite scratchy in places.
Camping spot
Next day we continued south and stopped in Targu Lapus for lunch – more Mici of course, and a beer. More tracks led us through a Gypsy village. We had passed through a few of these before. These villages are very different to the small farming community villages. They tend to be rather run down and quite dirty with ramshackle buildings and give the impression of poverty usually associated with places outside of Europe. Lots of locals seemed to be just hanging around with nothing to do other than gawk at us as we drove through. Now they might have been a friendly bunch, but I must admit that we did stop to find out.
We headed for our last track and a great spot for out last wild camp. The site was a large meadow on a hillside with views of the surrounding area. In the distance we could hear thunder and see lightening, but the storms never came near us.
The next morning we set the GPS to take us to Budapest. We picked up the DN1 a fairly big road. It was here that we narrowly missed Bambi as he skipped across the road just in front of us. Couple of seconds later and we would have had venison steak for supper.
We passed through the border formalities just past Oradea – we were re-entering the Schengen area. Once in Hungary a few miles of secondary road took us to a fast motorway – M35 and M3 - to Budapest. Hungary seems to be more prosperous compared to some other East European countries. We headed for Heller Camping in Budapest. The campsite is a 10 minute walk and 10 minute train ride away from the city centre. Budapest is a nice city. Also straddling the Danube, it has a mix of Austro-Hungarian Empire palaces and buildings, art deco buildings and lots of bars and restaurants serving good beer.
Wandering the streets of the city we came across these wise words ...
and spotted this cruiser
From here we headed for the German city of Nurnberg. This stop wasn’t really planned in advance and we found the campsite using the Garmin. Again it was a short walk and train ride out of the centre.
From Nurnberg we headed for Europoort in Holland, some 7 hours away, to board the ferry bound for Hull.
On our return we had some difficulty getting into the house. Not sure why ...
We had a great trip and would recommend it. Romania is a beautiful country with amazing landscapes, great accessible tracks and culture. The book recommends a minimum of 4 weeks for the Carpathian loop. We squeezed it into 3 weeks, including travel there and back and one day stops in Vienna, Budapest and Nurnberg. We dropped a few bits and added our own diversions to the route – but, hey, that’s what makes it our trip. Maybe one day we’ll be back to explore the country at a more leisurely pace, and get to meet Clive
Looking back on the trip, everything worked – the truck, the plan, the location, with a small exception – the monitor mount got unstuck, so we ended up having to hold the monitor. An inconvenience more than anything else. And the side steps rattle more.
If there was one thing that I can say was missing from the trip, it would be a GoPro. Taking static photos is fine, but I am liking the idea of being able to show moving images and the whole trip in as 5 minute clip. I’ll get one for the next trip.
Brilliant Reinhard, lovely write-up and I'm glad you haven't ruled out a return visit. 
Although I recognized a lot from your pictures, you've seen more of Romania in 3 weeks than I have in 12 years!
I need to take some time off and get myself some routes, like you did.
Nice to see some photos from Hungary too, they certainly have their road system sorted quicker than Romania is managing, it's a disgrace here.
Although I recognized a lot from your pictures, you've seen more of Romania in 3 weeks than I have in 12 years!
I need to take some time off and get myself some routes, like you did.
Nice to see some photos from Hungary too, they certainly have their road system sorted quicker than Romania is managing, it's a disgrace here.
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