We woke to clear skies and cool temperatures – a perfect day for a hike in the High Tatras. We ate breakfast at the hostel and set out. I intended to complete a 7 hour hike up the mountain to a saddle and down the other side where I would take the bus back. Bree […]
We weren’t loving our campground or location on the south side of the High Tatras, so as morning broke we packed all of our stuff and headed out around the mountain to a small town nestled cozily at the foot of the mountains. While at Hostel Mostel in Valiko Tarnovo we were tipped off to […]
We made slow work getting out of our guesthouse this morning, eating the included breakfast and working hard on logistics for phase two of our journey. When we finally got on the road, we rolled downhill for miles of shaded forest, leaving us grateful we’d gotten a late start. Without any real pedaling to get […]
It occurred to me this morning, shortly after we made another early departure, that waking up early to beat the heat when the temperatures are this cold is completely insane. My long sleeve wool layer was far inadequate and as I chased Ben up the gentle incline, I was outright freezing. I was also pretty […]
It has been following us around for a few days now, but the shattering exhaustion from high paced sightseeing in Romania followed by a series of big cycling days has finally overtaken us. Our legs are devistatingly tired, yes, but it is more than that too. I’m physically run down, my mind fixated on the […]
Ben: With yesterday’s cool temperatures, flat terrain, and enjoyable riding we felt more than prepared for today’s ride of about 110 kilometers. It wasn’t going to be nothing, but a simple repeat of yesterday would land us not too far from the Slovakian border. We had a pretty good start too – there wasn’t much […]
When I crawled out of the tent at the usual hour, one thing stood out to me: despite the fact that we’d been warned about the heat wave that was here last week, it was downright chilly outside. Relieved that the hot weather we’d been gearing ourselves up for might not play into our […]
With last night’s drive having been cut a bit short, we hit the road early this morning. We needed to get clear back to Oradea over slow Romanian roads and we had at least a couple of stops we wanted to make along the way. Right out of the gate, our route took us off […]
Early morning found us back on the road, finally headed toward the painted monasteries that are UNESCO World Heritage sites. As usual, the going was terribly slow until Ben gave up on the speed limits, joining the locals as we cruised through towns and villages. Though the way was fairly quiet, we were surprised when […]
From Sighisoara, today’s route mostly entailed heading north to the Moldova region of Romania. The early hours of our drive steered us through farmland and through mid-sized cities that made for insanely slow driving. Then, once we’d escaped the boxy city, we hit a series of long, messy construction zones, many which required stops for […]
The villages eventually thinned, leaving us with hills lit up with evening glow as we rolled into Sighisoara. We checked into the local camping, once again a lovely spot for tents next to a terrible parking lot for RVs, and then headed into town in search of some fresh vegetables. We had no luck on […]
Only a couple of kilometers out of the mountain pass and the landscape was back to the usual hilly farmland we’ve grown accustomed to. After a little back and forth driving between villages we found the right road and headed north toward the UNESCO town of Sighisoara. The road wasn’t exactly in the GPS, […]