Romania; September 2018
Getting Ready
For 2018 I fancied riding to Romania and Bulgaria. A trip of just over 4,000 miles. I prepared the Varadero which mainly involved changing the engine oil and filter, changing the brake pads front and rear and fitting a new pair of Metzler Tourance Next tyres. (I have now given up with Poole Protyre as for the third time they ordered the wrong tyre. JT Tyres, a mobile tyre fitter, proved a much better alternative for me.)
I also decided to fit a relay so that the auxiliary electrics are now switched on and off with the ignition and also a voltmeter so that I could keep an eye on the health of the battery and charging system. (I'm paranoid about charging issues since my Blackbird electrics went wrong.) Unfortunately in doing so I cocked up when I refitted the petrol tank. I reattached the tank's overflow and breather pipes the wrong way around! While test riding the Varadero the day before I was due to leave I found it had developed a petrol leak. Under acceleration, this caused a few scary rear wheel slides as the petrol flowed onto the back wheel. I switched the pipes around and all was well. (I don't think Eurotunnel would have appreciated the bike dripping petrol.)
Off to Romania
This time around I had planned to go straight to Romania rather than visit places along the way. On my first travel day I rode up to Eurotunnel at Folkestone and then rode from Calais to Kerkade near Maastricht where I stayed at accommodation in the grounds of a medieval abbey called Abdij Rolduc. Dinner at the restaurant was good. Not a bad place to stay at for reasonable money.
On my second travel day I crossed Germany on the autobahns to arrive at a small alpine Bavarian village called Bischofsmais where I stayed at Pension Sonnenhof for the princely sum of 30 Euros. I had dinner, which included sauerkraut, at a local hotel full of Bavarian ambience! I can’t say that traditional German cuisine does it for me.
On my the third travel day I rode through Austria to Hungary (buying Austrian and Hungarian vignettes for the bike at the Austrian border) where I stayed at hotel "Stan es Panzio" in the town of Balatonmadi. The town is located on the shores of Lake Balaton just south west of Budapest. (The hotel is themed on Laurel and Hardy.) The weather was lovely with people sunning themselves on the lake's beaches. All in all, a pleasant place to stop.
Romania
On day 4 I crossed the mighty Danube and the border into Romania. There was a bit of a wait at the border but the Romanian border police didn't take too long to process me and my bike. After they wished me a pleasant stay in Romania I was soon on my way. The first thing I had on my list was to visit the fortress at Deva and I got to Deva by early evening where I found a very pleasant hotel, the Pensiunea President. A room was less than £50 and it was one of the nicest rooms I have ever stayed in. The ensuite was huge. That night I took a stroll around Deva and ate at the local pizza restaurant which was very good.
The next day I was up early to ride over to the fortress. I took the funicular which rose steeply up to the fortress. (Can you spot my bike in the car park below?) It was clear and sunny. The views from the fortress were magnificent. Even though it was early morning it was very warm and in my motorcycle gear, I restricted myself to a short walk around the fortress.
After the flat plain that leads to Deva came the mountains and their passes. There were two I wanted to do in particular, the Transalpina Highway and the Transfăgărășan (where I'm told Top Gear used to frequent). On the Transalpina I caught up with a couple of Romanian bikers riding, yes you guessed it, BMW GS' and stayed with them. It was a very enjoyable ride. Now there are a lot of dogs wandering around in Romania but I don't think they were strays? I think it's more the case that they're just left to roam around like cats are in the UK. Consequently you have to keep an eye out for them on the roads. The Transalpina was my first encounter with a dog hazard when a big shaggy one suddenly appeared from nowhere and proceeded to cross the road right in front of me. (Many more were to come.) The Transalpina was just one of many passes I rode that day.
After riding south on the Transalpina I rode east through the town of Râmnicu Vâlcea to get to the start of Transfăgărășan. I stopped for the night at the Pensiunea La Cetate which sits below the Poenari Citadel. Vlad the Impaler had it built for him. A pack of dogs were roaming around outside the Pensiunea La Cetate which meant that car horns were constantly blaring as drivers attempted to avoid them. But for 20 Euro for the night I couldn't complain. I thought about climbing up to the Citadel but when I learnt that this involved over 1400 steps I thought better of it.
Up early and after breakfast at the Pensiunea La Cetate, I headed off for the Transfăgărășan pass. Starting from the Pensiunea La Cetate, the Transfăgărășan climbs and meanders north for about 60 miles. Soon after starting I came across the picturesque Vidraru Dam and Lake Vidraru.
The road surface of the Transfăgărășan is a bit iffy. There were also a few hazards I came across including shepherds herding their sheep and a train of pack donkeys. However, for all that it's a great ride and probably the best road I've ridden. Half way up I overtook a bunch of Ukranians riding Harley Davidsons and wearing patches. I don't think they were the real deal (as in Sons of Anarchy) but I didn't hang around to find out.
As I climbed the temperature dropped dramatically and I entered cloud. I slowed right down in the cloud as I could hardly see 5 metres ahead. I turned on my hazard warners for the first time ever. At the top of the pass there's a tunnel and visibility in the dark mist-filled tunnel was extremely poor. I couldn't see the road surface and that was very unnerving given the general condition of the road. Luckily nothing was coming the other way. Relieved to get through the tunnel, I started to descend and the visibility gradually improved. Disappointingly I didn't get to see the Transfăgărășan from up on high but there were still stunning views to be had below the cloud.
After the Transfăgărășan I pushed on to Transylvania and Bran Castle, the home of Count Dracula. As you would probably expect, it's a bit touristy so after having a bite to eat and buying a couple of fridge magnets I pushed on to the town of Brașov to visit the famous gothic church Biserica Neagra (Black Church). When I arrived I had a good chat with a bunch of friendly Polish bikers who told me that I could get a great view of Brașov from the top. For some reason the guy in charge wouldn't let me go up? Anyway if you like big organs this is the place to go! As I was leaving Brașov I saw a Ramada which looked inviting so I checked into it and spent the night there. Very comfortable it was too.
I left Brașov and headed for Bucharest where I had booked a night at the Mari Vila hotel, a Best Western just off the ring road. If you're like me when you think of a capital city ring road you’ll think of the M25. Well the ring road around Bucharest is not quite the same. It's single lane with much of it undergoing roadworks. Traffic was pretty much at a standstill but being on a bike I was able to make better progress than most. The Mari Vila was a typical Best Western and was fine once I'd overcome some language difficulties with receptionist. By this point I had done around 2000 miles so I decided to check and adjust the bike's chain. This I managed to do with cracking myself in the face (as I did the previous year in Vilnius).
A metro stop was close by the hotel. The receptionist provided me with a map and the names of the metro stops to get on and off for central Bucharest. I walked to Anghel Saligny station and took the M3 metro line to Plate Unirli station. I had a good walk around Bucharest taking in as many sights as I could. I listened to acouple of talented buskers for a while before having a pizza and getting the metro back to my hotel.
When I got back to Anghel Saligny station I was a bit disoriented and took the wrong exit. Outside the street lighting was dim and I was unwittingly walking away from my hotel instead of towards it. I ended up in what appeared to be a very dodgy area. It certainly was intimidating. It was a warm evening and groups of guys where hanging out on the street drinking booze from bottles. As I made my way through them trying not to make eye contact I came across a police car with two cops in it who I thought might help me out with directions to my hotel. They both had their heads down scribbling away so I tapped on the window. One of the cops glowered up at me and slowly opened his door. I asked them if they could help me to which one of them replied "no English". The car door was then promptly closed and they got back to what they had been doing before I interrupted them. The guy serving at the nearby petrol station was a lot more helpful and pointed me in the right direction. It may have just been me but I was really glad to get back to my hotel. (Do you feel more threatened as you get older?)
Back to the UK
Now I must admit that after a while of being away on my own I get a bit homesick so I had made the decision that I wouldn't be touring around Bulgaria as I had originally intended. Instead I would start heading for home after Bucharest. So the next day after breakfast I left the hotel making for Belgrade, Serbia. The route I was planning to take would cut through a bit of Bulgaria so at least I could say I had made it to Bulgaria.
I decided to fill up with petrol before I got going and headed back into Bucharest a short distance to the petrol station I had got directions from the previous night. Unfortunately the satnav took this as hint from me that I wanted to go right through the middle of Bucharest, from East to West, instead of taking the ring road. The traffic was truly dreadful and it took a miserable hour of battling through heavy traffic and heat to get across Bucharest. I thought I had missed out on seeing the Palace of Parliament where Nicolae Ceaușescu once ruled but thanks to the satnav I saw it!
There was a bit of a queue for cars at the Romania - Bulgaria border but it was nothing compared to the 3 kilometer queue of trucks waiting to cross the border. The truckers seemed resigned to their long wait. They parked up in line on the motorway and sat around sunning themseleves. I hate to think how long they had to wait. After 30 minutes I had reached the front of the queue where the Romanian border police checked my passport and the bike's V5. Then it's on to the Bulgarian border police who repeat the process and ask me a few questions about where I'm going and why. They eventually let me through. (I was hoping the Russian visa in my passport wouldn't be an issue.)
After a short and pleasant ride across Bulgaria I arrived at the Bulgaria - Serbia border. Unlike the border I've just crossed it's not busy and I'm second in line. Unfortunately I'm behind a beaten-up old coach full of Bulgarians on a day outing to Serbia. It came as no surprise to me when the Serbian border police got everyone off the coach and checked both them and the coach thoroughly. After an hour they're finished with the Bulgarians and it's my turn. The Serbian policeman just takes a quick look as my passport and I'm through. If only I had made it there ahead of the Bulgarian coach!
The Hotel Hedonic is just outside Belgrade alongside the A1 motorway that runs through the city. The ride to it through picturesque southern Serbia is very pleasant and the hotel proved to be a great place to stop for the night. I have visited Belgrade before and what I wanted was a place to rest up at after a long day's ride. As such, it was ideally located next to the motorway, comfortable, had a nice restaurant and was reasonably priced.
I left the Hedonic the next day and retraced the route that I took previously in 2016 going straight through Croatia to Slovenia to a little village called Vopovlje near Ljubljana airport. I had booked a room at Rooms Jana at Vopovlje (where I had stayed in 2016). There was a bit of a queue at the Serbia - Croatia border. When I get to the front I'm asked a few questions about what I'm doing and, have my passport stamped and bike's V5 log book checked before I'm let through. Serbia is the only non EU country I went through but as a candidate to join the EU it's close to the EU and my insurance and recovery policies apply there. Compared to some of the countries around it Serbia looked like it was doing OK.
The Croatia - Slovenia border is not so bad. The same checks are made but the Slovenia border police are efficient and have a sense of humour when I tell them I was younger as they stare at my passport photo. You need a vignette for a bike in Solvenia so I bought one of these at the border. (How come little Slovenia charges more than Austria and Hungary for a vignette?)
Rooms Jana was just the same as was the 12 Euro buffet dinner I had at the adjacent Hotel Penzion Jagodic. The only difference was that a coach load of Hungarians had descended on the hotel just before I got there and the old guy across the table insisted on talking to me in German all through dinner. The main thing is that it was good honest food and you could eat as much as you wanted (provided you could get there ahead of the Hungarians). That night from the balcony of my room, I was treated to the spectacle of an enormous storm that approached Vopovlje over the mountains. Huge lightning bolts coming to earth and very loud thunder. I wouldn't have wanted to be on one of the planes flying in and out of Ljubljana airport a few kilometres away. Vopovlje is a lovely village and, you never know, I may be back there again.
Lake Bled is not far from Vopovlje and I ride to Bled castle the next morning. I was told that there's a good view of the lake and its surroundings from the castle's parapets so I buy a ticket and have a look around the castle. I had been warned that Lake Bled was very touristy and so it was with lots of American's discussing the First Lady's homeland and tour groups of Japanese. It was good that I arrived early morning before things got really busy.
I got to talking to some guys directing traffic in Bled castle car park. I told them I was off to Austria and they advised me to avoid taking the Karawanks Tunnel through the alpine Karawanks Mountains to Austria because it would be clogged up with Germans returning home. They introduced me to a tour guide and she gave me directions which took me on a pass over the mountains to Austria. I owe them a big thank you as it was a lovely ride along the pass to Austria.
I had booked a Best Western at Augsburg, Germany for the coming night and my route to it took me through the Austrian Alps and the town of Leinz. A very nice ride through alpine country which took me through the town of Leinz, the Felbertauern Tunnel and close to the Grossglockner (which I had ridden in 2016). I paid 10 Euros to go through the 5.3 kilometre Felbertauern Tunnel but they did give me a bike sticker so I was happy. Probably one of the best riding days I've ever had. Austria is probably my favourite country for ride experience. It has the scenery, roads and is comfortable in a way an old guy like me appreciates. I think my next ride will be based around Austria.
How do it go?
The weather was very good throughout my trip and it didn't rain once whilst I was riding. (It did rain overnight in Solvenia.) The temperature hit 30C at times and generally stayed in the mid to high 20s. I had some great riding days on the trip, notably the Transalpine Highway and the Transfăgărășan in Romania, and my rides back through southern Serbia and the Slovenian and Austrian Alps. I also enjoyed my rides through the Romanian countryside as I got to see how normal people live there. A lot of people didn't seem that well off. Horse drawn carts and people working with scythes in the fields were common sights as were packs of dogs roaming about freely. It was like looking back in time. However, there was also the "nouveau riche" going about their "business" in their Mercs, BMWs and Audis. To me, Romania is a country of contrasts aspiring to be more like western European states. Deva and Bucharest were good to visit and I also got to see where Dracula "fangs out".
The accommodation was generally good and relatively inexpensive compared to UK accommodation. I reckon I spent around £500 for 11 nights' accommodation which isn't bad. The Pensiunea President at Deva was the pick of the crop. The Brașov Ramada and Belgrade Hedonic were also very good stop overs. I also liked Stan es Panzio in Hungary. The rest were comfortable enough. I like booking.com and I used it to book the next day's accommodation as I travelled to and from Romania. There was no problem finding accommodation in Romania and it was easy to find accommodation at the end of each day's riding.
I did several days of motorway riding to get to and from Romania quickly, mostly on German autobahns. The German autobahns ultimately got me there quickly but they were very busy with multiple roadworks. There was also the "tailgating bully" technique to deal with which involves zooming up behind some unfortuate to within a foot of their rear bumper to force them over. The speed limit on an autobahn is normally 130 kph (or 85 mph) which is a good cruising speed for the Varadero when it's fully loaded. It'll do it all day with no complaints. However, Mercs, BMWs and Audis would often rocket past me as I was cruising along as though I were standing still. Not that enjoyable riding really but I really do appreciate that, as with UK motorways, the German autobahns are free to use. The French autoroutes were much better to ride in that there was relatively light traffic on them. I think this is due to the péage being so expensive. It's a system I really detest with its many péage interruptions and expense. France's "cash cow" methinks. Eventually I left the autoroutes for the French N roads. which I much preferred. The Austrian system of paying 5 Euros for a vignette is much better. (You get a sticker for the bike thrown in!) A Hungarian vignette is also relatively inexpensive and can be purchased online. The motorways, such as they exist in Romania, were very new and good but don't expect service staions along them. There were no motorway tolls or vignettes needed for Romania and Bulgaria. Serbian and Croatian motorways were also good but are toll roads. Extra vigilance was needed on Bulgarian and Romanian non-motorway roads as their surface was often poor and Romanian drivers are best described as cavalier. I was told there are no speed cameras in Romania but I did see people being pulled over by the police for speeding.
I have now put over 34K miles on the Varadero in the 4 years that I've had it. It gave me no problems and just needed a clean when I got home. Economy was good with a tank range (not including reserve) in the region of 220 miles. I spent around £500 on fuel with fuel generally being a tad more expensive than it is in the UK. (I tried to avoid refueling at motorway service stations.) In total, I rode 3,746 miles in 12 days, visited 11 countries using 6 different currencies and crossed two time zones:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
- Netherlands
- Romania
- Serbia
- Slovenia