Temesvar, Severin, Vratsa, Palamartsa
I realized that I am so preoccupied with how everybody is around me, that I haven’t actually wrote about the roads and the experience yet….
Let’s attempt that now, shall we?
So, first day into Romania with 5 bikes: easy ride not the most exciting roads but we were all safe and sound. Lunch at Szeged was lovely and the hotel booked in Temesvar was very nice with a pool. My only complaint was that the room was on the second floor with no lift and a narrow stairway. Bloody nightmare with dogs and luggage in full bike gear!
And as for the pool, it was brilliant and after a hot day. In fact, too good and as a result we went nowhere…. Meaning, no looking around in Temesvár, which is a shame:(. Now my only impression of Temesvár is that it is run by Asians (the entire hotel staff was from somewhere that continent) and that picking up dog poop is not a thing in that city. Yes, you heard that right. It was a hard choir picking up after my own dogs, because this distorted desire of picking up every other one around it came over me, which then would become a never-ending job. Not going to claim that I even made a dent in cleaning up Temesvár over the course of a few walks in the area. 😊
The second day was long and hot and I only have myself to blame… I spotted a natural reserve and waterfall online, which fell into the general direction of where we were going. So, I really wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, it was a 45-minute hike from where you could park, which was not an option in the heat and fully loaded bikes. So, we stopped at the stream coming down from it to dip our feet and cool down. It was really nice, the area, nature and being in the shade! However, it took us back on schedule so much that we didn’t have a chance to look at anything else, like the big head carved into the rocks (sculpture of Decebalus), which looked rather cool from the road. Talking of which, the road surface was challenging at times with huge potholes. I felt my bike hitting rock bottom many times. Mind I should have tried the off-road setting and I also realized that my tires are on max (like 3bar in the back) not sure that’s a good thing.
We finished the day with a beautiful riverside ride along the Danube. It was really pretty from every angle. We were getting tired but those bends were such a treat to ride. The sun was going down and it was getting late. I really needed to feed the kids. We decided to stop and eat. Feeding the kids on the go was a very natural feeling, no hustle at all.
As it was dark by the time we found our accommodation it was again just a drink then bed. The next morning, we checked out the town called Severin and it looked lovely.
The third day we rode alone with just the two bikes… our little pack. I really enjoyed that. Crossing into Bulgaria was a mixed experience. The roads were ok but there were rubbish and hookers everywhere! As we were getting near Vratsa the view was quite spectacular with a few hills surrounding it. And our accommodation was the best so far! Just the comfort and space of an apartment with washing machine… didn’t even go very far that night. The town was lively for a Monday evening with lots of young people. I bet it would have been a nice night out. Instead, we got as far as a supermarket and solved our dinner and breakfast from shopping there. So many dogs in town and our two were just hard to handle for some reason. I guess we are all a bit tired and grumpy. So spent the evening in the apartment waiting for the washing machine to finish while watching a movie.
Packing the next morning was a breeze with the garage being next door to us. Then we set off just to catch some rain shortly after…. We had faith in it stopping soon but it never did. In about 2 hours in I put my jacket on which saved me from chilling out completely. And the rain persisted. We rode 4 hours solid. No stops, not letting the dogs out just wanted to get there. The kids were great. No complaints and even though it thundered a couple of times Molly held it together brilliantly. I’m so so pleased with them. True champions!
Ken of course never put his waterproofs on so he was shivering by the time we find our next accommodation. And to be fair there was nothing to stop for. Absolutely plain roads in a straight line….
And this place… is something else. A farm with chickens and goats in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Run by a couple from Yorkshire who have been living here for 4 years now. I’m very interested in their story. Unfortunately, yesterday I had to break up the conversation to reach the shop while it was still open, which apparently is one of those village shops that is open when it feels like it.
You walk into the shop and they sell everything and nothing at once. Items are dusty because there is no rotation of stock…. The shop from my grandparent’s village was fancier than this lol
BUT there is a restaurant with a nice menu that delivers! So, we had dinner taken care of:) Must admit we spent the evening trying to dry our stuff and watching our TV show on the laptop…
Let’s see how the kids like the farm. Thankfully staying over for another night so our boots will have a chance to dry out.
