I’ve covered alot of ground since I’ve been here, riding the roads large and small. I went to see the 14th Century castle at Rasnov, but unfortunately the inner castle was closed. You could still walk around the battlements and look at a lovely view over the town below. There was a funicular railway that took you up to the castle, and that was just as exciting, especially looking at the view while you ascended and descended. The town is really quite nice and very peaceful. I spent some time walking around the streets and noticed that many of the properties had dates over the large gates, and most buildings dated from the 1800’s or slightly earlier. Some of the properties are quite big and rather ornate, and one thing that most of the properties had in common was that they have large gates leading into a courtyard, with the accommodation on the side. I imagine most people in those days had their own horses and carriages and were like private fortresses.
I also went to see Castle Bran in the heart of Transylvania, which was the inspiration for Brahm Stoker’s book ‘Dracula’ in 1897. To be honest, I was completely unimpressed and disappointed with the castle. Too many coach trips, too many shops selling tourist tat, too many people in the castle at the same time and little information about the history of the castle, especially as Vlad the Impaler who lived there during his torturous reign. The only thing that did spike my interest was the museum of torture, with lots of original torture devices. Living in the middle ages definitely wasn’t fun…!
The weather has broke and I’ve experienced my first rain since I was in Germany two months ago. Yesterday I rode about 40km in heavy rain on some seriously winding roads. I was a little worried about my tyres at first, but the Dunlop Trailmax Raid tyres are utterly brilliant. For a part-nobbly tyre I was really impressed with the grip in the dry, but I’m especially impressed with the amount of grip they have in the wet. As the roads were quiet, I really wasn’t hanging around and found myself getting quicker and quicker on the wet bends. This is definitely the best tyre I’ve had on an adventure bike and I’m well impressed.
