Words & pictures: Artur / Bart
We used iphones, gopro and Olympus Mju II on this trip.
Translation: Heszton
The first thing on everyone’s mind when hearing about camping in the Romanian Carpathians is: is it safe? The range is, after all, home to the biggest brown bear population in Europe - over 6k bears live there. On top of that, Romania is still regarded as a wild country brimming with feral dogs. However, as is often the case, the reality proved to be radically different.
All my planning boiled down to looking up pretty pictures on Google Maps and associating them with waypoints. We had only six days at our disposal - our goal was to find the best way to join the big Ts: the Transfăgărășan and the Transalpina - two of the craziest roads in Europe. Located over 2000 metres above sea level, both are absolutely breathtaking. Riding along them you’ll be wondering what madman willed them into being, and you’ll be grateful, just as we were.
Setting out for Romania we only knew how much distance we’d need to cover daily to get back to our car on time. We had not booked any lodging, nor marked any campsites on the map; only beautiful spots to see. There was supposed to be more of us, but eventually only us two could make it. We shared a single tent, had espresso in places no one had ever drank coffee, descended the best road in Europe, all by ourselves. We munched on delicious veggies grown on ubiquitous shit (it was everywhere), experienced great hospitality and made use of our short time the best way we could.
The timing of our expedition proved to be the most crucial - Transalpina is usually opened to traffic on 1 June, so it’s best to be there a couple of days earlier (although we're not entirely sure it's legal). This should give you a chance to ride both routes - most of the snow will have been cleared and you’ll have the roads all to yourselves. We actually managed to pull it off by accident, we didn’t know the road was still closed.
The 7 km leg of the Transalpina between the two highest peaks was one of the most beautiful places I’d ever been in. The mountains scantily covered with grass, patches of incredibly white snow and the thin, black thread of tarmac slicing through the landscape dripping with thawed water - after just 15 minutes of climbing our brains gave up - this place was way beyond anything imaginable.
Apart from the two big Ts Romania offers an abundance of gravel roads cutting through wilder and wilder spots - perhaps not as spectacular, but definitely rewarding with all the waterfalls, canyons, passes and beautiful nature.
All elements of the environment - seething vegetation, convenient, tent-sized plots bracketed by groups of trees, specially arranged fireplaces - all of that advertised Romania as the perfect country for bike touring.
As for Transfăgărășan, by pure luck we got through almost the whole route, only to have to wade through 2-metre snow drifts at the end. I think if we had been there 2 weeks earlier there would be no chance to overcome the snowdrifts and entrance to the tunnel at the top would be impossible.
Our bikes also proved ideal for the task - tarmac and gravel roads made cruising through the land a very pleasant experience.
We saw and experienced a lot, but we only scratched the surface - there’s so much more that Romania can provide. We strongly recommend following in our steps - it’s guaranteed to be epic!
No, this is not a current photo, this is the end of May on #Transfagarasan last year... #tbthursday #tcrno5 #roadslikethese 📸 @pntmagazine #pntromania (at Transfăgărășan)
