Another crazy road- The transalpina (DN67C)

Well we were in the area, it would be a crime not to give it ago, wouldn’t it?

The reality is, we have seen what we came to Romania to see, and we are on our way out. You always seem to know when it is time to leave a country.

We could have headed north to see the painted monasteries, but to be frank, we have had our fill of painted monasteries. At the end of the day they are all pretty much the same. There are only so many images of christ and saints with weirdly postured hands that you can take. And the style is just not my cup of tea, those crude colours reminiscent of children’s paintings do nothing for me, I much prefer a Mondrian!

So we have just a couple of things left, maybe a bit of trekking and Timisoara, to the west of the country.

After our adventure to Mt Omu, we decided we needed to sort out the tyre. We headed back towards Bucharesti, it wasn’t much of a detour.

I did a bit of research on where we might find a camper tyre, we wanted one to match the others, a continental contivan, apparently the best. So we drove to an industrial estate outside Ploiesti and spent the night there. It was reasonably quiet, but it wasn’t beautiful.

Now I have little experience with punctures, the last one I had, I replaced because the tyre was fairly worn anyway, but this are over €100 so wanted to see whether it was OK to repair and it was. The puncture was in the central tread and very clean.

The next morning off to find a tyre shop. The first one we found spoke English, he could repair it, it would take 10 minutes or less and would cost €5. Much cheaper than a new one, we were delighted. It took me ten minutes to get it out of the underbelly storage. He cleaned the hole with something like an auger, threaded this brown rubbery string through an needle like bradawl and inserted it into the tyre. After inflating it, a liberal spray around the hole, all edges and the valve, no leaks. We put it back as the spare. I will get around to replacing it shortly.

The rest of the day was spent wandering slowly westwards. Towards the end of the day, as we were driving along our usual country roads, we happened upon a sign that I found quite exciting. 12km to the . I didn’t realize that we were that close to it. We followed the direction and proceeded to look for a place to stay the night to see whether we could incorporate the route into our itinerary.

So after a drink at the local bar, and when I mean local, this is about as local as you get. All the villages around here are just one long street, houses strewn along it. Sometimes they seem to go on forever, or maybe one village morphs seamlessly into the next. But there was just a couple of shops, one selling animal feed, the other human feed and a bar. We looked at the map, yes, it wasn’t a detour, lets just hope this one allowed us through.

To be honest, it was no more likely than the Transfăgărășan, but you never know. You see this one is higher, at 2143m so is also closed for much of the year. It is said that Nicolae Ceausescu only had the Transfăgărăşan built to surpass the Transalpina, what a madman.

The transalpina also has a bit more of a history. Originally built under King Carol II it is therefore known as the kings road by the locals. It was rebuilt during WWII by the German troops, obviously they thought it was a bit substandard and they could do it better.

Apparently since 2007 they have been widening it into a modern highway.

It starts smooth, with few bumps, obviously all that German engineering!

Maybe this isn’t going to be as spectacular.

We persevere, and soon start to gain some height.

It is a nice fluid drive, not nearly as hard as the Transfăgărăşan.

We can see some summits in the distance shrouded in cloud. It could be murky at the top.

This road is more transparent, you can see it snaking away into the distance, no real surprises yet.

Just following along the ridges.

Once over and we are looking down into another valley. This is the new resort town of Rânca.

Quite wide here, perhaps this is all part of the 2007 improvements, perhaps they are expected bus loads of skiers. Today, we only meet half a dozen cars.

We drop into the valley.

Where we can start to make out the ski slopes and the infrastructure, but also the next bit if road which snakes up the steep mountainside. It looks like the fun is starting.

We climb steeply now and pass another no entry sign. Is this one really closed. We can only go and see.

We also see the evidence of the works being done to the road, the yellow lines. We don’t really need to slow any further, Dora is already at walking pace!

As we climb we look back on the new ugliness of the ski resort. We are following a van. We know this is the last town. Surely if he is continuing it must be clear of snow.

Maybe snow is the last of our worries, what about visibility!

With only a few months each year to repair and improve the road, no wonder it is taking a long time.

They don’t seem to have many people on the project though.

A few barriers would be quite reassuring up this bit.

But still magnificent views, we are again glad we made the effort, well Dora did.

Now that is a wiggly road.

But not as good as that bit.

Snow starts to encroach onto the tarmac and cloud looks ominously close.

We get to the crest of another summit, and below the most beautifully remote valley, with just another crazy road snaking its way through it.

First though, a careful descent through the hairpins without warming the brakes too much. Second gear all the way.

The van continues a couple of kilometres ahead of us.

Bits of the road now start to deteriorate, no idea why these strips are occurring.

We are nearly at the bottom, ready for the next climb.

What a valley!

And now up the other side.

The top gear trio missed these delights.

As we ascend the other side we see activity ahead.

Locals are hacking out slate by hand and loading it into their trucks. It is hard to believe this is modern Europe.

And then the workers. It seems they have a lot of work to do to make this into a modern highway.

Surely we must be getting close to the pass now, it is starting to get quite cold.

The fog lights go on as we skip in and out of the cloud.

Are we there yet.

This ram shackled temporary village must be the Urdele Pass. We are 2,145m above sea level.

Presumably they will be ready in a couple of weeks for the summer season, for now there are no customers.

The descent looks just as good.

It appears we have done the Transalpina, well Dora has anyway. Well done Dora.

 

And from Google Earth

A group of motorcyclists play on the hairpins!

And finally we pass the other no entry sign, with a sigh of relief.

But then the road really begins to deteriorate.

At times it is barely paved at all.

And it starts to rain.

They are also doing work down here, but frankly they are making the situation much worse, planing off large rectangles of tarmac. Luckily we are in no hurry.

But this is all still worth it.

The landscape is stunning.

The only problem is, Dora is starting to complain. Her front passenger side suspension is starting to creak. It has been doing this for a couple of days, but it is getting worse.

These rough roads, these potholes might be taking their toll on poor Dora.

Tomorrow we will try and sort her out. We limp towards Timisoara.

Just before we find a quiet layby and spend the night.

 

GDR