Ride Earth

The first few days in Romania were mentally tough. We donned full wet weather gear and ventured into the terrible weather that the first day offered us. It was overcast, drizzle, cold and miserable. The road away from the border was full of lorries, one after the other, spraying bucket-sized amounts of water over us. In the morning we cooked a huge meal at a bus stop and washed pots in a puddle next to bemused-looking people waiting for a bus.

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We pedalled slowly down the dusty track out of the last Hungarian village. An unsettled evening was in store - clouds brooded above, hanging menacingly as the air gusted and whipped around us, and the silence of the plains was interrupted only by the distant sound of cowbells on the wind. I had cycled a hundred kilometers, and was ready to pitch my tent and sleep, but the lure of the unknown drew the three of us onwards for just a little longer. The map showed a road across the border into Romania, and it would be a satisfying achievement to cross it before the end of the day.

The border itself came and went in a spectacularly anticlimactic fashion. It was nothing more than an unmanned metal barrier, which we instinctively skirted round on our bikes. The road went from dirt to tarmac, and we stopped, wondering uneasily if we had missed something. Surely there was more to it than that? But then, what with Romania joining the E.U., trans-continental travel was supposed to be a whole lot easier, wasn’t it? (more…)