creative pause in Romania

Guess what, last night my rear tire exploded.

check out the new fotos from the Romanian countryside, the old ones you can find here (be aware that it starts with the most actual picture)

Day14 (24.8.)

Got a new rear rim with new spokes and took to the road at 12h. It was the main Euro Highway to Cluj Napoca. That's the road evryone takes whos got some east/west business goin on in Romania. First major climbs along the river valley.

Day15 (25.8.)

Up in the mountains its cooler, so in the morning waiting for my tent to dry I could just simmer for a while in my tent imagining those mountains ahead.
The thing with maps at 1:700.000 is that you can only guess what mountains you're about to be climbing in the following days. But that only keeps things interesting does'nt it ;)
Today was also the first day I was able to catch one of those hikes we biukers like. Not only we suffer at the mountains but also the trucks that have been build before the fall of the sovjet empire. Thats what really makes this love-hate relationship. Hanging on to the backside of a truck wheezing up the hill at little more than walking speed lets you forget about a lot off evil honking and almost beeing blown off the road. It also strengthens the left arm...
I reached Cluj around 5 pm and left it after a little shoppinh tour. After that it was only another little climb out of the valley onto the new lesser frequented road.

Day16 (26.8.)

It was raining from 4 to 6 am. When I got up and going it was all dry. This day I was really unlucky with the tab water. I bought a 2L bottle of Coke instead. On the road the usual crap food becomes asimple source of energy.
It was a winding road with lots of little valleys to get in and out of (meaning up and down). When taking a pause at 3pm cooking my last pea soup from Lidl in CZ I was washing my dishes in a small river with a dead black chicken in. Bad omen?! Don't think so, just a little disgusting when finding out too late.
From that on it was escaping the rain. I did a pretty goo job taking the last climbs on the way to Rhegin. On my way I saw a puking Italian lady outside a BMW X5. That brings me to another exiting discovery: its actually+50% of the cars that have an Italian license plate. I didn't know much about the Romanian minority in Italy, but its seems they're doing pretty good since those Italian cars make up about 95% of the market value that is out there on the street. It reminds me a bit of Turkey where it was kind of the same with Turks playing rich uncle from America upon visiting their relatives in the villages of rural Turkey.
After checking out a couple of hotels in Rhegin I decided that it wasnt worth spending 20 EUR for a night. So I took the road into the unknown. Another backroad kepping me away from those TIR trucks and close to the villages. Shortly after passing a miltary compound with lots of old equipment rotting in the rain it made a big bang. I already gave you the answer to the question. No, it was'nt the military trying to shoot that suspicious spy-like guy on a bike. It was the second Continental Travel-Contact tire that IU've managed to kill on my journey. This one only lastet only about 600kms. Know thats a bad omen if I want to get to Georgia on a bike.
What I'm going to do tomorrow is to buy a new tire, put it on the front rim and use the last Conti for the back. Maybe I can order a new Marathon XR into Odessa.
"Que sera, sera,
]Whatever will be, will be;
The future's not ours to see.
Que sera, sera,
What will be, will be."

check out the new fotos from the Romanian countryside, the old ones you can find here (be aware that it starts with the most actual picture)