Undulating?...Hmm...Try Mountainous!

02-Jul-08: Spirit Lifting
Romania: Timosoara to Resita
98km, 4h 22min ride time

As we were unable to secure a police escort out, the day started with a hectic departure from Timosoara. Two staff members and a few other riders wore bright construction vests and literally had to stop traffic to create a clear and relatively safe path out of town for us!

The first 20km or so was spent holding on for dear life on a busy and narrow highway which was quite scary but now just par for the course so does not get dwelled upon but taken in our stride (or stroke). We turned off the highway on to a quieter road after passing through the first town en-route, after which the morning offered up some really pleasant riding conditions including cooler temperatures.

On the quieter road we rode up our first climb of the day which led us up on to a plateau from which all we could see in all directions were rolling hills covered in grasslands and forest trees. The more pleasant conditions made for a relatively easy morning with the 65km to lunch complete before the heat hit.

Speaking of lunch, things have been on the improve since Henry was overwhelmed by constructive criticism and we have since had the best lunches of the tour, which has made everyone happy.

Resita is a town built around industry and has little else to offer by way of attractions so much of the afternoon was spent lazing about and staying out of the afternoon heat. The hotel we stayed at appeared grand enough but on closer acquaintance revealed arctic cold showers on arrival, tap water full of lead which was unsafe to drink, original style finger-dial telephones and threadbare carpet...and bed bugs did cross my mind but thankfully did not present themselves. They did, however, serve up a decent dinner and turned on the hot water for us to have warm showers in the evening.

03-Jul-08: On the Edge
Romania: Resita to Baile Herculane
127km, 7h 20 seconds ride time!

An early start meant we were on the road by 7am today and in hindsight it was just as well...the day was FULL of climbing and started with a 20km climb just to warm up the legs!

I was feeling good for the first climb and reached the top in good time. I was greeted by a few other riders ahead of me and a little old Romanian lady selling cherries who must have taken to my being female and gave me a handful of cherries in a very kind gesture.

The scenery was beautiful as tends to be the case on particularly hilly days as elevation tends to result in views. And as much of the morning was spent riding along a road which was carved around a mountain and through forest the temperature was very cool by comparison...at 19 degrees I was actually getting a little cold but felt a bit ungrateful to complain in light of the heat of the past week so just tried to ride faster to warm up! But after the first climb and subsequent undulating landscape my body started to groan in protest.

By the 120km mark I had reached a stage where I felt faint and had the shakes as a result of needing food desperately. So only a few kilometres out from our final destination I was forced to stop and refuel in order to make it the rest of the way. By the time I reached the hotel I was exhausted and only managed a shower, a hotel dinner and some TV before collapsing into bed!


04-Jul-08: Resting Day...Really
Romania: Baile Herculane - Rest Day

Continuing in the vein of how I felt last night, today has been nothing but lazing about. I have limited movement to within 1km of the hotel and done very little! The way a rest day should be...

Chinese Visa Update

As some of you would know, those of us continuing on from the Orient Express trip to join the Silk Route trip which will take us all the way to Beijing are having some difficulty in obtaining Chinese Visas. The current status is that the tour company at this stage is not allowed to take our support vehicles across the border and our tour guide who is presently in Turkey awaiting our arrival also cannot obtain a visa!

All the rules have been changed in the lead up to the Olympics and it seems every avenue we try and pursue just leads to a dead end. So at this point in time we may be spending some time sitting in no mans land between Kyrgyzstan and China...or perhaps following in Ewan and Charlie's tracks and re-routing through Russia? or not...but either way the major component of this trip so far is not so clear. But we are optimistic...