View Full Version : Romania - Transilvaniei Highway
TheRamJam
15-11-09, 10:12 PM
Well if anyone watched Top Gear tonight then you'll know
How much do you want to take a bike there. It looks stunning. There's surely no better road out there? ;)
Now how do you get to Romania. Anyone fancy a road trip lol
ME ME ME! If I thought I'd come back in one piece...but I dont think I would! lol
TheRamJam
15-11-09, 10:25 PM
ME ME ME! If I thought I'd come back in one piece...but I dont think I would! lol
Wicked. We got an Ice Cream run to do first though ;)
ive been there done that, dont do it on a bike, you will die
TheRamJam
15-11-09, 11:20 PM
ive been there done that, dont do it on a bike, you will die
lol thanks for the vote of confidence...
Do you think am that bad a rider he he :p
lol thanks for the vote of confidence...
Do you think am that bad a rider he he :p
nop i think the roads and car drivers there are bad
seriously the roads are realy realy realy bad, mabey not on thoes roads they did up the mountain, no barriers, at the top its realy cold and when i was there it was snow/ice
i hardly saw any bikes there, you would need a trail bike for their roads
Fizzy Fish
16-11-09, 07:20 AM
Yeah I did put it down as one to do on the DRZ - just the small matter of how long it would take to ride the DRZ there...hmmm....
Yeah, I went thru' Romania ony my little Round the World trip last year & stopped off en-route at Bran (Dracula's) Castle.
Some of the roads wetre in a bad condition, esp on the winding corners taht wind up/down thru' the mountains....Having said that the scenery was *amazing*.
The weather was interesting. On one day it started out really bright & sunny, then I had torrential weather - major storms, and finally the weather dropped sub-zero. That was the day I was heading to Bran Castle so it was like Dracula was trying to tellme something. Got there just after midnight with a full moon overhead. Nice.
Romania - nice country, easy to do on the bike. The people are *really* friendly & they love bikers.
missyburd
16-11-09, 09:23 AM
It did look amazing but it would take me so long to get up there, I'd have to keep stopping to take pictures and if I was with YC he'd probably end up pushing me off a cliff :lol:
Need a supercar really, anyone got one? And more importantly, anyone fancy giving me a lift in it? :-D
plowsie
16-11-09, 09:44 AM
It looked decent, but, get it wrong, it wouldn't be.
madness
16-11-09, 09:51 AM
I saw Top Gear and the road looked fantastic for a car, but the shots of the road surface put me off going there on a bike. The trouble with roads in high mountains is that the surface deteriorates quickly in winter and they are not that well maintained. I've gone into some lovely fast corners in Italy (in a car) only to find that mid corner the road surface drops by a couple of inches due to subsidence and the surface becomes cracked and broken. You can get away with stuff like that in a car, but once committed on a bike, well that's a different matter.
punyXpress
16-11-09, 10:48 AM
Didn't like the look of the journey there!
lots of horse-drawn carts = lots of nails on road?
Bet yorkiechris's bike would make more noise in the basement than those
posing pouches, though.
Luckypants
16-11-09, 10:54 AM
It looked decent, but, get it wrong, it wouldn't be.But that's true of any road dude. Alpine roads in general have some big scary drops, often with no barrier, so the only thing about this road for me would be the surface / lack of maintenance. The wearing course appeared to be breaking up and there were patches missing, fairly standard fare on less looked after mountain roads. I think this Romanian road will only get worse as they don't have the money to look after it - perhaps they should make it a toll road like the Grossglockner.
I think this Romanian road will only get worse as they don't have the money to look after it - perhaps they should make it a toll road like the Grossglockner.
Do you know that they don't have any money to look after it? Or is this purely speculation?
Last year there was a concerted effort to improve the roads (though at the time this was (a) Mainly in the cities, (b) Linked to the upcoming elections...).
plowsie
16-11-09, 11:01 AM
But that's true of any road dude.
True, very true, but not all roads have a nice drop after running wide on a bend. But I get where your coming from.
Owenski
16-11-09, 11:15 AM
I dont think the romanians will be thanking top gear for advertising that road, the traffic that hit the one they featured last time caused an all time record high for accidents in the region. British bloke even died in his Lambo, I doubt the romanians want to be spending big money on highway maintenance. When its been pointed out, the money is in the city the other places are mainly horse and cart. Understandbale when you see the standard of some of the cars like the bloke who rolled into James Lambo.
missyburd
16-11-09, 12:13 PM
I dont think the romanians will be thanking top gear for advertising that road, the traffic that hit the one they featured last time caused an all time record high for accidents in the region. British bloke even died in his Lambo, I doubt the romanians want to be spending big money on highway maintenance. When its been pointed out, the money is in the city the other places are mainly horse and cart. Understandbale when you see the standard of some of the cars like the bloke who rolled into James Lambo.
But surely advertising the road can only do good things for the area's tourism industry? I would've thought the money that comes in from lots of people being attracted to the area could initially be put towards the maintenance of the road then the locals reap the benefits after?
punyXpress
16-11-09, 01:19 PM
That dam wall didn't look too sound either!
Owenski
16-11-09, 01:36 PM
But surely advertising the road can only do good things for the area's tourism industry? I would've thought the money that comes in from lots of people being attracted to the area could initially be put towards the maintenance of the road then the locals reap the benefits after?
Oh Agreed totally Id have thought the local grape pickers etc will do a roaring trade lol. The council or what ever they're equivlent is wont get much money out of the visitors. Any money they do get and have left after replacing all the barriers/walls that people crash through/into wont cover resurfacing of a road that long anyway.
Besides would you put money towards fixing something that the locals wont actually care about? If they're used to dirt roads and gravel, even broken tar-mac will look like Abu Dabi raceway to them wont it. :)
Dunno if that makes sense to anyone else lol, but I know what I mean.
punyXpress
16-11-09, 04:26 PM
dirt roads and gravel,[/B] even broken tar-mac will look like Abu Dabi raceway to them wont it. :)
Dunno if that makes sense to anyone else lol, but I know what I mean.
Like WRC cars or TLW's KTM?
Red Herring
16-11-09, 06:08 PM
I can't see that many people flooding into the area, it's not exactly on a tourist route is it, where the other one was. I must admit i did try and look it up on Google Earth though, just in case I happened to be in the area one day. I failed, anyone know where in Romania it was, between which towns?
madness
16-11-09, 07:26 PM
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Curtea+de+Arge%C5%9F(&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=11.592276,27.46582&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Curtea+de+Arge%C5%9F,+Romania&ll=45.617399,24.630661&spn=0.214201,0.429153&t=h&z=11
There you go!
Red Herring
16-11-09, 07:57 PM
Thanks, it's not just that road, the whole area looks awesome! Now that would be a week or two away... although I might decide to wear a parachute instead of leathers!
http://www.kezdiman.com/2009/11/transfagarasan.html
Kezdiman
25-01-10, 11:06 PM
Hi,
When I have been on the Transfagarasan (http://www.trackranger.com/2009/11/transfagarasan.html) there has been lots bikers from all over Europe. It is a quite spectacular road and the surface is not bad at all. Agreed the approach road is no great, but the authorities tend to keep the surface in good order higher up otherwise the winter (http://www.trackranger.com/2008/12/winter.html) would soon break it up.
Romania has gone through a transition over the past 24 months with a massive injection of EU money to improve infrastructure. A lot of this money is being spent on roads and you can really see the difference. The locals are really welcoming and there is a great choice of cheap B&B's both sides of the mountains. Don't get hung up on all the talk of horse and carts. Yes, there are many here which in my opinion is a good thing, but there are also a lot of people with money now driving around on great bikes and in good cars. Do you have to be more cautious, yes of course, but that is travel for you when you leave the west.
We are seeing a lot more bikers over here these days. Many pass through our village and drive over the Vrancea mountains (http://www.trackranger.com/2008/09/deep-into-vrancea.html) (part of the Eastern Carpathians) on their way to the Danube Delta and beyond. Last year we even had Overlanders (http://www.trackranger.com/2009/07/travellers.html) stop by on their way to Australia and Africa! Be sure to pop in for a cuppa if you decide to come over :-)
Hi,
When I have been on the Transfagarasan there has been lots bikers from all over Europe. It is a quite spectacular road and the surface is not bad at all. Agreed the approach road is no great, but the authorities tend to keep the surface in good order higher up otherwise the winter would soon break it up.
Romania has gone through a transition over the past 24 months with a massive injection of EU money to improve infrastructure. A lot of this money is being spent on roads and you can really see the difference. The locals are really welcoming and there is a great choice of cheap B&B's both sides of the mountains. Don't get hung up on all the talk of horse and carts. Yes, there are many here which in my opinion is a good thing, but there are also a lot of people with money now driving around on great bikes and in good cars. Do you have to be more cautious, yes of course, but that is travel for you when you leave the west.
We are seeing a lot more bikers over here these days. Many pass through our village and drive over the Vrancea mountains (part of the Eastern Carpathians) on their way to the Danube Delta and beyond. Last year we even had Overlanders stop by on their way to Australia and Africa! http://www.kezdiman.com/2009/07/travellers.html Be sure to pop in for a cuppa if you decide to come over :-)
Haa you tracked our backlink.
My ex lives in Sfantu Gheorghe, her grandparents in Bodoc. Wish i had my bike the times i was over there earlier in the year.
What do you speak, Hungarian/Magyar or Romanian?
Kezdiman
25-01-10, 11:19 PM
Small world! My ex comes from Tirgu Secuiesc, but she now lives in the UK :-) I like Sfantu and lived there for several months in the early 90's. I live in a Szekely village and try to speak Hungarian which I have to say is really difficult :-(
Small world! My ex comes from Tirgu Secuiesc, but she now lives in the UK :-) I like Sfantu and lived there for several months in the early 90's. I live in a Szekely village and try to speak Hungarian which I have to say is really difficult :-(
Difficult, its blumin ard..., she tried to teach me but naa nothing went in.
Igen,Nam,Jo napot, thats it....
Romanian is far easier, as i speak portuguese i can read a lot and understand it if i try.
Kezdiman
25-01-10, 11:35 PM
You must know the word - sör? It is usually placed at the end of the following sentence. Whose turn is it to buy the .... :-)
You must know the word - sör? It is usually placed at the end of the following sentence. Whose turn is it to buy the .... :-)
haa if i was to drink then i would have known
Kezdiman
03-09-10, 12:25 PM
http://www.kezdiman.com/2009/11/transfagarasan.html
Hi, just thought I should let you know that the URL has now changed for my website. So the new link to the same story about the Transfagarasan highway is as follows: http://www.trackranger.com/2009/11/transfagarasan.html
I hope you are all OK! :)
Cheers, Paul
garynortheast
03-09-10, 06:55 PM
I rode down the length of Romania last year on a 400 gixer. A cracking ride and I'd recommend riding in that part of the world to anyone with a sense of adventure.
Funnily enough i was looking at this earlier on, would love to ride over there, what are the people like, didn't Romania used to be a bit dodgy, like Albania. Prob just talk and it's actually not too bad when u get there. :)
garynortheast
03-09-10, 11:38 PM
It was dead friendly. Felt very sad to see the conditions the Roma live in though.....
Kezdiman
05-09-10, 08:48 AM
Yes, very friendly people and increasingly popular with overlanders and bikers. The Transfagarasan is probably the most dramatic drive you will find in Romania but there are many more that take routes through quite spectacular scenery. The wildlife is abundant too with bears wandering into our village during autumn looking for apples and pears! :)
Here are just a few of the overlanders we have met including bikers touring Romania. You need to scroll down the page to the "Two Bikes" story. Jon has a small fabrication business and the panniers you see were hand made by himself and a really solid build. I also liked this little metal box he made to attach to the frame where he kept his most used tools. Not a biker myself but I can see the attraction to it, especially the sense of freedom. These guys were travelling for several weeks and carried everything they needed to sustain themselves for life on the road.
http://www.trackranger.com/2009/07/travellers.html
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q265/pdwhite/blog/Travellers/DSC07618600x450.jpg
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