Romania

It’s always difficult when you have to leave MotoCamp Bulgaria. So many new friends made and so many other friends that we only see there.

The day starts with a promise to be warm and the skies are clear and blue. We pack up early as we are headed north into Romania. The border crossing from Bulgaria into Romania is usually easy, and this proves to be true today. A quick check of our paperwork and a stamp in our passport. We are on our way to Motocamp Sibiu. This is a beautiful motor camp just on the edge of the city and some fantastic off-road riding. It is also situated between two iconic pass roads, the DN67C or Transalpina, and the DN7C or Transfagarasan.

Because it took so long to say our goodbyes in Bulgaria, we will break our ride north into two segments. Just before the start of the Transfagarasan is the campground Camping Arges. We decided to pitch up our tent there for the evening. The campground looked fairly empty, but they tell us it would be almost full for the night. a couple hours later a bunch of rally cars driven by Germans came into camp for the night. These are all cars that had to be purchased for less than 500 Euros and be driven on this rally across Europe. Some of the cars you wouldn’t even think would drive.

That next morning we took off towards the Transfagarasan pass. While having breakfast a couple friends that we met in Bulgaria drove by and stopped. Aaron from the US and Rene from Germany. They had met on the road and had been traveling together for a bit. They were headed also towards Motocamp Sibiu so we decided to ride the Transfagarasan together. This area is fairly famous for the Romanian brown bears that you can see, sometimes even on the road. We had heard that this year there were many.

The pass is the second highest paid road in the country after the Transalpina. It climbs to an elevation a 6,699 feet. Near the top there is an area full of touristy shops with something to eat and drink. We pulled in to have a quick walk around and take some photos of the twisty roads from above. At the top it is an alpine area with a lack of trees with a small green ground cover and cold clear, almost bluish high alpine lakes. We stopped for some photo opportunities near some snow cover and beside a couple beautiful waterfalls. We had seen some bears at a distance but as we came around a corner there was one sitting right next to the road just watching traffic. We stopped near it to get a couple photos. It didn’t seem to mind too much that we were there.

We spent a wonderful night at Motocamp Sibiu chatting with our friend Doru, owner, Aaron and Rene, and another rider stopping by for the night. Cold beer is always in the refrigerator, honor system. Doru went out and got us all some pizza for supper. Thanks Doru!

Cheers,

2WANDRRs