For two days I was the only person on the campsite near Ruse and it was so quiet and peaceful. Then yesterday evening three motorhomes turned up with six Italians – and my peace was truly shattered. How six people can make so much noise, I do not know. They would shout instead of speaking, and then later on they were playing music. And these people were either late 50’s or early 60’s. They were still at it at 10pm when I was trying to sleep.
So, this morning when I was about to leave at 7am I started the bike and let it warm up while I adjusted my boots, put my jacket and helmet on, double checked my route and then opened the gate to the campsite. I also made sure the engine was working okay when I revved it a few times, just to make sure it was warmed up…
The journey north into Romania was easy. By 8am I was crossing the Bridge of Freedom at Ruse, a road bridge built in 1957 linking Bulgaria and Romania. Once I was over the bridge I was in Romania…! I just love being in Europe in that you can cross borders so easily. I was contemplating spending a few nights in Bucharest, but to be honest, big cities don’t really interest me unless they have something specific I want to see. I was tempted but decided to keep heading north.
Ultimately it was an uneventful ride except for the occasional traffic queues because they were laying new roads. I managed to skip to the head of most of the queues by filtering to the front and then overtaking when there were gaps in the oncoming traffic. The queues were quite big on some sections and I’d probably still be there now if I didn’t skip the queues.
After a ride of around 280kms I got to my campsite at Podu Dambovitei in the early afternoon. Camping Panorama is only costing me £8 a night and it’s brilliant. The showers and toilets are immaculate, but better than that is the view – with a beautiful view over the nearby valley and the surrounding mountains. Wonderful.
As I am in Transylvania now, so while I’m here I want to see the castle which was the inspiration for Dracula, as well as ride some tracks through the mountains.
