Back to Sibiu…

This road needs a bit of attention...

Romanian humps are not as well rounded as this sign would have you believe...!! The sign did however get my mind going off in other directions...

Once through the tunnel, I put away the camera for the most part and rode down into the valley… The road was badly cracked and potholed in place…

The patches on old potholes were the worst though, as they all stood proud of the old road surface, making it as bumpy a ride as any I had ridden in Africa…

Parts of had been properly re-tarred and once this is all done, this road will probably become even more sought-after to ride than ever before…

All along its length, wherever there was a level spot to be found, people were setting up picnic tables, and roasting meat on open fires…

I realized then that it was Sunday, and the day many families went out to the countryside to enjoy the scenery along the river banks and up into the mountains…

I rode as quickly as I could, passing cars and other bikers on their lighter, quicker machines, all creeping along over the potholes and bumps… The Big Fella was in his element, taking the surface in his stride…

I came across a small village, and perched on the cliff face high above it, was another interesting place that tourists flock to… Cetatea Poenari, otherwise known as Dracula’s Fortress…

A mere 1 480 steps takes you up to Dracula's Fortress...

Who knows what happens here when the lights go out...!!

You might want to take a very close look at the menu before sitting down to a meal...

A stairway has been built from the roadside, up into the castle grounds… Legend has it that Count Dracula spent his days here, and his nights out on the town, painting it red as it were…!!

He was Prince of the Province of Wallachia, and was more commonly known as Vlad the Impaler, due to his penchant for impaling those that displeased him…

I asked the innkeeper of a small hotel I stopped at, how many stairs there were to the top, and how long it would take to get up there…

“Only 1480 steps, sir… It takes about 30 to 45 minutes….”

“That seems like a pain in the neck to me…and the knees…!!” I replied…

My lame joke had not gone unnoticed, and he laughed, slapping his neck and then pointing a finger at me,

“That is a good one… I must remember it…!! Hee, hee, hee….!!”

Thanks for the tip...!! I'll just be moving along swiftly...!!

I rode on, following the river Arges, all the way into the town that takes its name from the river, Curtea de Arges… I refueled, and then started on the last 185 km back to Sibiu…

Sunday was not the best day to be out on the road… An endless line of trucks and cars clogged the road for most of the way… With the bike stripped of its panniers, I was able to ride through gaps smaller than I was used to, but it took just as much concentration and focus as it did to ride the Transfagarasan…and was potentially more dangerous…!!

Traffic on the road back up the Olt Valley was a nightmare...

The remains of an old Roman fortress that once guarded the river route...

Families camp on the level areas next to the wide waters of the Olt River...

With my spotlights on and my hazards lights flashing, I zipped through the traffic in and around the larger towns, and then once on the open stretches of road between them, I was able to give the bike its head and cover ground more quickly…

We rode all the way along the Olt River, the road following its banks all the way to Talmaciu, before turning off on the final run into Sibiu… The weather had held up for most of the day, and shortly after I arrived at the hotel, it started to drizzle, and then rained a lot harder for the remainder of the evening…

Despite covering over 1000 km in the past two days, I decided to ride on the next day, into Serbia, and get to Belgrade a day earlier, which would win back the day I had lost in Budapest…

Every time I crossed a river, and saw the sign, I thought of my father...

You might think that a day means very little when you are on a three year journey, but lost days tend to add up quickly and I wanted to get to Turkey in the first week of October… I needed at least a fortnight to get my visas in order, and then ride to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and enter Iran from there… And before this, I wanted to visit Syria, Lebanon and Jordan as well…!! All this before the end of November… After that, I hoped that three months would be enough for me to ride to Singapore, visiting 12 countries en route and covering almost 20 000 km…

If I let days slip away from me, I could miss the “weather windows” on the border of Iran, and later end up riding through heavy rain in South East Asia… Planning and discipline is as much a part of my journey as the ride itself.

And the enjoyment I get from being on the bike often makes up for the “fun” things I might miss along the way…

©GBWT 2010