The Transfagarasan…

“The Transfagarasan is the most amazing road I have ever seen… From above it looks like every great corner from every great race track in the world has been knitted together to create one unbroken great ribbon of automotive perfection…” Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear…

Just about says it all, huh…?

My route over the Carpathian Mountains down to Pitesti and back to Sibiu...

There was no way I was going to ride this road at the speeds that Jeremy did, (they had four wheels under them for a start…!), but I was determined to ride it as well as I could anyway…

I studied the photos I had of the road, and decided that with my front brakes nearing the end of their lifespan, I would rather ride it from North to south, taking the very twisty bits going uphill rather than down… That way I could use the gravity and the weight of the bike, and the engine to do most of the braking, rather than relying mostly on the front brakes themselves…

I stripped the bike of the panniers to reduce as much of the weight as possible, leaving only the top box; into which I put my tool kit, and the tank bag; where I had my cameras and video recorder… The receptionist at the hotel thought I was crazy…

“You can’t ride the Transfagarasan now…!! I think it is closed… It is only open in the summer months and we had snow up in the mountains last week…!!”

“You’re kidding me..!! I have come a long way to ride this road, and this rain must have melted any snow that might be up there… I think I will ride out there anyway and see if it is open…” I replied, my mind in turmoil…

I had missed the running of the bulls in Pamplona (probably not a bad thing..!!), missed U2 in Helsinki (a very bad thing…!!), and now might miss out of riding this road that attracted riders and drivers from all over the world…!!

It was raining steadily when I left Sibiu, and rode the 45 km to the turn off onto the 7C… By the time I arrived there, the sun was out, but the roads were still very wet… Standing at the intersection were two guys and their BMW 1200 GS’s, and I naturally stopped to chat to them… They were waiting for four of their mates to arrive, and had just come down the road I was about to ride… The group was returning to the U.K. from a two week road trip to Istanbul…

These guys were on their way back to The UK after a little two-week sortie to Istanbul... Any more questions about which bikes are the best touring bikes in the world...?

The road was open...!! First hurdle overcome...!!

I was elated that the road was still open, but wanted to know if there was any snow or ice I had to contend with… They confirmed that it was all clear, but very bumpy and rough on the southern side…

When their mates pulled up, we parked the bikes in a line and I took a few photos of them. We discussed the first section leading up to the summit, and they all agreed that it was an exhilarating ride… A must do…!!

Up into the Carpathian Mountains we go...

After they had left, I set off across a flat section of open meadows, passed through a few small villages, and then began climbing through the forested sections on the lower slopes of the Carpathian Mountains… I passed a number of camping spots and small hotels, where I saw many other bikes parked… I was definitely on the right road…!!

The road surface was very good, but slippery in the tight corners… The sun had not got through to dry it up here among the tall trees, and I had a few hairy moments in some of the corners, which forced me to pull over and make a few adjustments to the bike… I let some air out of the tyres, and adjusted the rear shock absorber, lowering the suspension… The bike was too “stiff”, having been set up to carry a lot more weight than it currently was…

Although with a few minor obstacles to contend with... This herd of fat-tailed sheep took their time crossing...

And then there are the rockslides to worry about...

I think this one says, "Curb your enthusiam...!! This road can be perilous to your health...!!"

The Big Fella handled a lot better after that, and we wound our way up to the edge of the timber line, climbing steadily higher, around sheer cliffs and alongside scary drop-offs…

We came out onto a plateau where the low grass and absence of any trees reminded me of the northern areas of Scandinavia… Up at this altitude, with up to six metres of snow in winter, trees and grasses did not do very well…

I stopped near an isolated and deserted wooden cabin that lay on the banks of the stream that ran down a very steep valley and into the trees behind me… It was probably used by shepherds who grazed their sheep up here in the summer months…

Little shack on the plateau...

The road re-appears far below me, after a climb up one of the ravines...

Big Fella does the Carpathians...

Pinnacle Rock, and a memorial to the 23 men who died building this road...

I looked up into the valley that lay ahead, to the tops of the mountains that “scraped the clouds”… I had begun to think that I would not be able to see the impressive views that I had been told about, due to the cloud cover that I had ridden under for the past half hour, but the sun had worked its magic, and the skies were beginning to clear…

And there, draped across the steep valley in front of me, was the Transfagarasan…

My jaw dropped open at the sight of it… It was hard to believe that a road of this quality had been built here in the first place and even harder to imagine what it had taken to build it…!

Over 6 000 tons of explosives were used to move 4 million tons of rock, all to build 150 “coils” or bends, 27 viaducts and bridges, 830 culverts, 6 tunnels (the longest in Romania at almost 900m long) and 90 km of road…

It looped and twisted from one side of the narrow valley to the other, an unbroken gray strip of asphalt, coiled like some massive snake, climbing higher and higher, until it disappeared into the remaining clouds hanging over the peaks high above me…

“You ready for this…?” I asked the Big Fella…

“Question is: Are YOU ready…?” was his cheeky response…!!

I took a last deep breath, kicked the Big Fella into gear, and went quickly through the first few gentle turns leading to the first of the dozens of hairpin bends to come…

I see-sawed the steering a bit, dipping the bike first one way, then the next, feeling the tyres grip and hold, thankful that I had a new set on… I settled into the seat, preparing my balance, getting “loose”…

Living on the edge, in more ways than one...!! I stopped half way up to take this photo...

There was hardly any traffic, and the few cars that I saw, could be seen from a long way off, so I used as much of the road as was possible, swooping across and cutting corners where I could, keeping the bike in 3^rd and 4^th gear for much of the time, wanting the power there when I needed it… The straights between the bends are so short, that you never get into the higher gears anyway, and I did not want to be going too fast into some of those corners….

A mistake here would come at a very high price…

The road twists and turns below us...

With adrenaline coursing through me, I rode the first section halfway up to the top; feeling the bike responding to my every move, leaning off the seat, pouring the power on for the short straights, then caressing the front brake, shifting gears, shifting weight, shoulder down, knee out, into the corner, chin pointing away to my right or left, in whatever direction the corner was taking, trying to see around it, through it… Opening the throttle at just the right moment, knowing that on this damp surface, too much power at the wrong time would be a VERY BAD THING…!!

The back tyre on occasion giving a bit on a wet patch…, twitching, then biting again…sending spasms of fear, then bolts of joy up my spine as we made it through another hairpin…

I'm afraid that the road to Sabie just doesn't compare, boys...!!

And all the while, fierce concentration, focus, nerves jangling, heart pounding, sphincter tightening, reminding myself to BREATHE…!!

I stopped in a few places to take some photographs and marvel at what I was doing… It was one of the most exciting moments of riding that I have ever had… The scenery and this amazing piece of road combined to make my heart rate soar… Fear of coming off also had something to do with that, I think…!!

Much of the same going down the other side...

On again, this time to the top… Another corner, and another and then a longish straight, front wheel coming up off the ground as the Big Fella leapt eagerly forward… Over a sharp rise, closing the throttle as we got to the brow, waiting to see which way the next bend turned, down into a dip, sit up tall to get the measure of the corner, judge the line, change down, dip shoulder and elbow, shift weight, tilt head, eyes wide open, seeing wet patch, biggish crack, and a fist sized rock right on our “line”… Correcting… no time to pull out, new info to brain, shift weight to alter direction slightly…, front tyre clipping the rock on the its side, shooting it off the road, hear it hit the metal barrier… Too close to the edge, push right hand forward to take the bike over another degree or two, road a blur under my right shoulder, and then mercifully straightening up…

A long held breath whistling out through teeth clenched tightly together, no time to think about the close call, another hairpin coming up…

And so it went… For the time being, I was soaring, flying, risking, and best of all, I WAS LIVING…!!

Its a cloud scraper, thats for sure...

You don't want to overshoot this corner...!!

When I got to the top, I stopped and got off the bike… A wave of dizziness overtook me, causing me to stumble and almost fall… Too much adrenaline, overloaded senses… Not sure what it was…!! Maybe just feeling the ground under my feet again, solid earth, after the longest roller coaster ride…

Some corners were impossibly sharp, and at one point I thought I would be able to see my number-plate if the bloody road didn’t stop turning…!!

At times like this, with your speed down to almost zero, the bike leaning over, you are on the very edge of either making it through the corner, or letting go and tasting tar… Personally, I much prefer the “making it through the corner” bit…!!

I was surprised that I was the only biker going “up”… I passed a number of them going “down”, and wondered if I had made the right choice after all… But quickly gave that thought up, I had enjoyed every second of the ride… Been scared close to death a time or two, but loved it anyway…!!

I met a Romanian biker parked at the top, looking down over the edge at the looping road below him… I thinks he was psyching himself up for what lay ahead… He had that rough, tough and hard rider look about him, and I instinctively knew he was going to ride down the mountain at a good clip…

I would have liked to stand up there and watch him, but I still had a long way to go… We stood chatting about riding and the long road I had ridden to get here, and then I left him there, taking a few deep breaths no doubt…

"Yoo-hoo...!! Put the kettle on, I'll be down in a minute...!!"

Many shrines such as this one line the route...

The base of the Vidraru Dam wall, where the Top Gear Team spent the night...

The road then plunged into a deep valley and ran along the Vidraru River, through a thickly forested area.

The lower part of the valley has been dammed by the hydroelectric Vidraru Dam Wall. Jeremy Clarkson and his mates spent the night at the foot of the wall, sleeping in their sports cars…

It is a pretty impressive structure, and the road runs over the dam wall, to a parking area where tourists stop to admire the views, and buy a few souvenirs at the half dozen stalls erected there…

I parked the bike next to table selling postcards and booklets, and an Italian family came up and asked where I was from… After chatting to them and getting an invite to visit them in Italy, as well as a sister that lives in Montreal, Canada, the postcard seller came over and handed me a booklet on the Transfagarasan Highway, saying,

“My gift to you…!! I hear you ride around the world, and this is to remember Romania…!!”

He then went on to tell me a bit about the road ahead, warning me that it was potholed, bumpy and dangerous…

“Please be careful my friend,” he said, “I want you must have good memories of Romania…!!”

I gave him my card and took a photo of us together, promising him to load it onto the website…

Valentin Zamora, the postcard seller who gave me a memento of the Transfagarasan Highway...

A crowd of people had gathered around the bike, taking photos of me and the Big Fella, and when I eventually left, it was to a round of embarrassing applause…!!

Still on a massive “high”, I rode through the tunnel that opened up just after the dam wall, and began the descent down to Curtea de Arges…

©GBWT 2010