- 
How many hours did it take to go from Sibiu - Transfagarsan - Campulung - Bran - Fagaras & back to Sibiu ? A long day ?
Planning 4 nights in Sibiu next July & doing the Transalpina, Transfagarsan & Cheia pass, any info greatly appreciated
Thank you for adding the photos - It tells me I have plenty of places still to visit!Just reread this again & realised I hadn't commented the last time
So, better late than never - well done, great RR & pics
Travelling across Europe by land, doing just a few hundred miles a day and open to the elements on a motorcycle, lets you experience the transition of the landscape, the climate and the culture as you go. We kept deliberately off the motorways and went through the towns. The slower you go, the more you see and experience, so we undoubtedly missed much too. The Transfăgărășan Highway was the reason for our trip and that meant going to Romania, which for me was the first time I’d been there. So what did I think about Romania and, in particular, its roads…?
1.It's cheap. For example, whole water melons are 20p each at the road side; Fast food lunch for two including soft drinks can cost less than three pounds; Dinner and drinks can be less than £10 each...
Maxxx enjoying his roadside lunch... ...and value for money!
2.The infrastructure needs a lot of investment... The road system is a bit like Britain's was at least 40 years ago; Motorways are relatively new but most major roads still go through places rather than round them. What is obvious is that is a huge amount of EU funding going in the infrastructure. It needs it.
3.Many settlements are what we would call ribbon developments and so drag on for ages at 50 KPH or less. Keeping to the speed limits in these places means that you get overtaken by the locals who are happily zooming through at 70-80kph...
4.The worst of the drivers? Courier van drivers without doubt. They are just dangerous, overtaking in places where there is no visibility, forcing oncoming traffic to take evasive action. Generally you take your chances between them and the road works...
5.Don't expect signage, separation and warning protection to UK levels. If they tell you 10 metres in advance you are doing well.
Roadworks on the Transfăgărășan Highway... ...and just where are the warning signs?
6.The haulage industry dominates the roads. There are an unbelievable number of heavy goods vehicles. Where are they all going to and from and with what, I don’t know, but their every need is available in a small town pull-off (food and drink).
7.On the whole, the professional drivers are very well catered for… …an edge of town motel, or a lay by, provide ample opportunities, with instant gratification for a price...
8.The funniest things on the roads though are the dogs; they just love to chase motorbikes. Even funnier though was the goose that went after Maxxx because he rode too close to her brood..!
9.When driving, you have to be careful of lots of things. The dogs I've mentioned, but also the loose cows (they are left to graze the verges), the mobile haystacks (on top of a horse and cart), plus the ensuing equine road pollution, all providing some real hazards for motorcycles...
10.But the thing Maxxx and I have just not been able to fathom is why there seems to be a Romanian fixation with garden gnomes. They are on sale at roadsides everywhere.
All of which seems to speak of two worlds. There is a big gulf between town and country.
Town is a little dog-eared, but generally like any other European city. Building quality standards decline as you go east, but it is still very civilised. What passes for a local 4* hotel wouldn't really pass muster anywhere else, but when it only costs £40 a night, is clean, friendly and includes breakfast, it really doesn’t matter. Craiova, for example, is a centre for engineering and manufacturing, including big Ford and Cummins plants and has a big university, so in many respects is like any European city.
Craiova - The main square...
Another main square, this time in Sibiu...
However, outside the cities, life remains distinctly rural; cows roam, dogs lay down where they feel like, shepherds tend their flocks, people grow produce to feed themselves and sell the excess at the roadside. Horses and carts are the immediately dominant form of agricultural transport. Tractors are there, of course, for the big farms, but the single-strip farmer still keeps the cart… …and the horse… …and never cleans up the road... Not great for two wheels.
Rural villages are most often strip developments lining the main road. Between the road and the houses on either side of the road will be a five to ten metre strip of grass verge, with an open rainwater drain dredged along it. These two strips seem to be common land, available for everyone to graze their cow, their mule, their horse, their chickens, geese, turkeys, etc. During all the miles I've done through these settlements I can think of only one where there was what we'd call a pavement. So if you thought the roads already sounded dangerous, add to that thought that this means to get anywhere the locals must walk on or beside the road. I haven't checked the statistics, but strongly suspect road fatalities are quite high.
The 606...
Much of the south is appears to be a big grain basket, with vast prairie-like landscapes and some fantastic roads (the 606 was sublime and possibly the best road surface in Romania). The Carpathian mountains are as beautiful as any I've been through. The people are friendly and some of architecture is just, well, you have to see some of the more recent house building to believe it. Bucharest is as choked with traffic as any other capital city and just as manic.
Visit and enjoy, is my advice, but keep your wits about you and don't drop your passport somewhere on a mountain roadside...
Looking south through the Carpathian Mountains from the Transfăgărășan Highway...
Somewhere out there is my passport...
...did it impair the performance...?
Brilliant ride report!A pleasure, Roadcraft-Rider.
I should add the post script...
The original plan had been as per the thread title, thirteen countries, eight currencies and all in two weeks. Maxxx, I think, ended up doing a few more miles than I did on the way home (he'll have to tell). For my part I managed eight countries and four currencies, but still within the two week holiday window. As a result of the revised route we missed out Bulgaria, Greece, Albania and Montenegro, while I also missed out Switzerland. I didn't feel so bad about missing out Switzerland as I've been there a number of times, but I was disappointed to miss the others. My total mileage was about 5400 miles. I say "about" because, to be honest, I didn't really register how many miles it was. It was just quite a bit for a two week trip.
What would I do differently next time? Definitely plan a more relaxed schedule, especially when travelling with friends, meaning fewer miles per day, especially when planning some sightseeing that day. Oh... ...and be more careful with my passport...
Meanwhile, back in the UK I had to get a new passport. Having had to get an emergency travel document, and the expense that involves, you have to go through it all again back in the UK. We were heading out of the country again in less than three weeks and I was expecting to get a new passport quickly during the summer peak... Mrs.Chisurz wasn't too pleased that a family holiday risked being, err, "impacted" is the polite way of phrasing it. It was all OK in the end; the new passport arrived in the post the day before we flew out of the country...
But that holiday is another story and didn't involve motorcycles...
