Budapest to Bucharest..Crossing the Carpathian Mountains

We left Budapest on the 19th of April and headed east out of the city towards the border town of Debrecen where we planned to cross into Romania. A cycle path took us to Cinoka and apart from lots of twists and turns it made leaving Budapest relatively easy. Unfortunately after 30-40km Huw's pedal decided to strip the thread inside the crank arm and fall off. So we back- tracked a bit and camped before hobbling back into the city in the morning for repairs. After the epoxy resin gave up, Huw tied the pedal to his foot and carried on, managing to only fall off once. It was hard work and he didn't look too happy by the time we reached BikeBase. We stayed with Imre and Gyorti and left again the next morning with a repaired bike.

Leaving Hungary behind we entered Romania from the border town of Debrecen and passed on to Oradea. The  ride across Hungary hadn't been too eventful. Hightlights had included passing around Lake Tisza and through Hortobagyi national park and wetlands.  Interesting areas with big potential for fishing and bird watching.

Things went more smoothly this time and we made good progress towards Romania. The countryside was flat with some very interesting wetlands full of many species of birds and heaving with frogs. Cranes nested on electricity poles in the middle of towns unconcerned by us pointing our cameras at them.

Overlooking  Tau lake early on in Romania and maybe getting near the time for a haircut now the days were become warmer!

We reached the border after a few days of easy riding and passed through easily after the guards had questioned us about how far we had ridden. Luckily I persuaded the bank that was closed, to change some money for us before we headed east. The first few towns were a great change to what we had seen in Hungary. As the great cyclist Hamada said, they looked like they were straight out of Robin Hood. Chickens were everywhere, along with many mangy dogs, pigs, goats and bored looking villagers. Each house had a big cage outside, full of the seasons maize harvest. We found a lovely mixed hornbeam and oak forest to camp in and had a fire and cooked roasted vegetables and sausages. Just after dark a huge bunch of wild boar came for a sniff around the tents making much noise as they foraged about.

Romania offered some beautiful camping spots.  Here in a Hornbeam forest Huw saw a lynx walk past in the early evening.  It was a beautiful area that needed more time to explore properly. Wild boar were also around and quite possibly the occasional bear.

We headed east and left the larger roads for the mountains where the cycling was harder but much more rewarding. It was beautiful scenery with lovely streams and valleys and very light traffic. Camping proved a little more tricky to find than where we had passed through before, but the spots were usually much more like we had imagined when sitting in England planning the trip.

Tired out from a long day of cycling, Huw rests in the evening sun in  a forest in northern Romania.

We wanted to climb one of the passes in the southern Carpathians but were unsure which to go for. After asking a few people it seemed that the road to Moldoveanu was closed due to rock falls or snow, so we chose to take the 67c from Sebes to the 7a where we could then carry on to Bucharest. The first day was spent slowly climbing up the mountain road. We met a Romanian couple who told us the pass was blocked by one and a half metres of snow and that we must turn back as there was no chance of getting through. We carried on for a while before camping by the Sebes River. In the moring two fly fishermen came by and we chatted for a while. One had caught a 22cm brown trout but said it was pretty hard going. Apparently Slovenia is the place to go for big trout!

Climbing through the mountains in central  Romania spectacular scenery  unfolded  around every corner. Beautiful  streams,  surrounded by woodland flowers cascaded down from the steep and heavily wooded mountain sides.  Finding drinking water was never a problem in these parts.

We carried on the next morning intending to find out how bad the road was and whether it was possible to continue over the pass. We met Mark the hydroelectric technician at Tau Lake, who in his drunken state, gave us the latest report of the road conditions. Apparently the snow covered 20km of the top of the pass..hmm!! He also told us that three motorcylists had turned back that day. We had seen five more motorcyclists ascending that morning and hoped not to see them returning later on. That afternoon they came back much to our dismay. Later we met a Romanian couple, Sylvia and his wife at Vidra lake who had turned around as the road had become too rough for their car. Sylvia kindly gave us each a 2lt bottle of schwepps which proved to be a great help later. Thanks mate..

As We neared the highest part of the mountain pass, deep snow blocked the way for  anyone that had come before us.   Most vehicles had turned back judging from tyre tracks at the the snowline and from people we had spoken to. It was easy to back track in a motorised vehicle but less so for us, for it was a lengthy detour to find an alternative route through the mountains to reach Bucharest.

So we decided to push on over the snowy pass. It was a hard decision as we had  no real idea of how far  the snow continued. It might be 2km or maybe 20km. We had enough food for a couple of days so figured as long as the snow didn't get very deep we should be able to make a good distance and hopefully make it over to the other side. We could always turn back if things started looking doubtful.

The road quickly deteriorated into a muddy and pot-holed mess but not as bad as Mark the welshman had said (he claimed it would be the worst road we had seen in our lives). The snow came in patches at first but soon the whole road was covered in a layer a foot deep. We started to push and after 3 km I walked a further km to see if things got any better, which it didn't. I returned and went to look for Huw who was nowhere to be seen. I found him 500m down the hill and helped him by carrying his bags up to my bike. We then walked 4km up the road and although the snow became deeper, we seemed to have reached the top of the mountain. We returned and set up camp in the middle of the road, completely exhausted. We hoped if it was the top we had found, then the distance down to the end of the snow wasn't too far beyond.

It wasn't all that easy to move a fully loaded  bike through  the snow.  In places it was a couple of feet deep and  clogged the wheels but at least it wasn't mud!  One of my hammock ropes rigged as a sling helped me pull the bike through..

Camping in the middle of the road proved to be a cold  affair but a very pleasant and quiet experience. 

The next morning, everything was frozen solid after a very cold night on the snow. It was the quietest place I have ever been, that is apart from the noisy flapping jays flying past at five in the morning. I couldn't get my shoes on as they were frozen solid and my socks were frozen to the ground. Luckily the coleman camp oven came to the rescue and soon my shoes were nice and snug. Huw had a new pair he had bought in Budapest for a special occasion and this was that occasion!

It wasn't just the snow that slowed our progress.  A few times we encountered fallen  trees that blocked the road.  To get past this one we managed to easily snap the brittle branches and clear a path. Others we had to unload and carry our gear over.

We set off and the going was slightly easier as the snow was still frozen from the previous night. We ended up pushing and hauling the bikes for 11km through snow and over fallen trees until we emerged on the far side of the pass to be greeted by some very fresh bear tracks in the mud by the side of the road. Luckily it was all down hill from here so I scooted off and waited for Huw lower down the hill. After a few cups of tea and a snooze Huw arrived and we carried on down towards Lake Vitra. Some of the locals seemed pretty surprised to see us coming down from the pass. We stopped for a beer to celebrate getting through and not having to return and go the long way round. It was a fine moment indeed!

'No pollution'

Over the next days headed in the direction of Bucharest and after one day in a little campsite, where we became trapped thanks to the owner plying us with local spirits to celebrate our arrival, we arrived today on the 6th of May. We are staying at the Butterfly Hostel after a bit of a mission around the city looking for a room. Nice place and now I'm going to test the bed!

'No fishing?'

It has been to brought to my attention that the signs above mean something along the lines of "too much fishing harms your health" (I bet it does with a dirty great bear about to eat you) and "don't pollute the environment". I thought they were kind warnings to us about the wild animals that we may encounter in the carpathians but i was very much mistaken.

Huw crossing the river! Although there was no need to get across it was hard to resist having a go!

Mountain stream, Carpathians

Spectacular scenery in Romania.  It was a shame  that we didn't have more time to  stop and explore the surrounding forests

Camping next to a stream that ran into a large lake. I fished and spotted some perch  which  of course were decidedly  uninterested in my spinners. Still a lovely spot with a great view. Cycling in Romania was great as it felt for the first time that we were in proper wilderness.  Like it had been in England once, bears, lynx, wolves and boar still roamed the forests.

Beautiful views and good weather through Romania

The Romanian countryside