Today was a more relaxed day. I have found that you can only do about a max of 300 km per day here in Romania. The toads are good but slow and there are a lot of ribbon like old towns. It is a bit like travelling thro rural England where there is a town about every 10 to 12 kilometres. The roads also twist and turn a lot and generally follow the contours and are thus slow. I wondered why and then I thought that the old towns dictate the road and the land is probably fairky sacrosanct so that you cannot just put a short cut in or a by pass round a village. I suspect the roads follow roads that have "alway" been there.
Today we did head up into the hills a bit more with some stunning scenery. First up was a road up a tight gorge. It was so tight the GPS could not get a signal because of the rocky walls. Elizabeth my GPS lady was not amused.
And obviously a tourist road
We stop at a roadside place for a comfort stop. Well, to put it mildly I was " bursting" if that is not too much information. I found a toilet. I went to go in. A man stopped me. The toilet door winked at me and started to tease me. The man was adamant I could not go in. But he kept saying what I thought was " toilet " and I could not work out why then he was barring my entry. I crossed my legs tightly. Then the penny dropped. He was saying " Two Lei for Toi Lay " ! . I rapidly found two Lei in my wallet and the problem was solved. Whew! I knew I should not have had two coffees for breakfast
Anyway back to the road. Amongst all the modern cars were still horses and carts. I assume that the people driving them were gypsies. As I understand it there is a very large gypsy population in Romania. There were also lots of what seems to be gypsy folk selling fruit and produce on the side of the road and also manning the handicraft stalls.
There were lots of beautiful ( and large) churches
Unfinished houses
Monestries everywhere
We see a big thunderstorm coming. It has our name on it ! It says "Dick and Diana Hubbard - I am after you!"
Just as the heavens open we find a petrol station to shelter under. You could say " thank heavens!"
Then after 15 minutes the sun came out and we rode down to the delightful medieval town of Sibiu where we stay the night. Another good day in the saddle.
And tomorrow? Well I have an appointment to go to a blood donation clinic tomorrow. It is apparently at some place called Dracula's Castle ! Further details follow.!
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