Nationaal Park Bosland ❄️

Zuid-Hageland

Noord-Hageland

Leuvense Ardennen 🎇🎉

Leuven Herent Heverlee Tielt-Winge

‘Cruising at light speed’ over dead straight roads. The short, steep climb from Bârsău de Jos was an exception. A route needs such benchmarks for variety and challenge.

Most of the stage today was fairly monotonous. Dozens of kilometres straight ahead. Almost no views or beautiful scenery. Google Street View, are there really no alternatives to those roads?

But again: Romanian roads are unpredictable, and I don't want to do injustice to the work of ADR route builders Paul and Ria.

The sight of numerous storks in nests on lighting poles in the villages was special though.

Lunch: a pizzeria at a noisy random roundabout where we had to shout above heavy roaring trucks. For this, I would also seek an alternative. Something that makes up for the monotony of today’s route.

'Pizza hut in quiet spot,' said Luc in his own ironic way. And: 'I'm already looking forward to that shower at the hotel later today.’

After lunch: 20 km straight on... a busy highway. But for this one, there are effectively few alternatives. This is 'the road' in this lacklustre area between the Apuseni Mountains and the Maramures Mountains, which we saw rising on a distant horizon. 

And when you do a long cycling trip, you usually ride through such 'intermediate areas'.

Certeze is something of a landmark, though. 'Ugliest municipality in Romania', it is also a title. It is not clear what possesses people here, but they build ludicrous, hideously pompous villas. Showing off feigned wealth. A mutilation of the surroundings, because among the fake palaces you can still see a lonely beautiful traditional cottage here and there. 

The mayor of another town who received us yesterday said: ‘Family and our traditions, these are the most important things in our lives’. I usually find such political slogans hollow. It is more interesting to look at the reality, and it is not encouraging here. Here, tradition is being destroyed single-handedly. In many other places in Romania, of course, it is beautifully preserved.

In Certeze began the only significant climb of the day. 12 kilometres of twisty climbing.

At the summit, the descent would take us into Maramures, but we had to pay an entrance price: suffering in the rain.

The climbers went uphill at a brisk pace, chased by a deep grey thundercloud. The drops of rain started 3 kilometres from the summit. And unbelievably: at 1000 metres from the summit, where shelter was awaiting us, the extreme downpour began.

It was as if someone from the sky poured bucket after bucket over us. 1000 metres as a dogged, stubborn Flandrien pushing to the summit, facing vertical jets of rain.

1 km was enough to get wet. Fortunately, not soaking wet. I thought of the others in the group, as they still had kilometres of climbing to do in this pouring rain. They reached the shelter as if they had taken a shower in their cycling clothes.

Luc had wanted his shower a little too hard and already got it here.

The rest of the ride to and along the Ukrainian border we drove on soaking wet roads and through occasional showers. In Teceu, we were 100 metres from the border. Last year I was in the Ukrainian part of this town, Tiatchiv, where I spoke to Ukrainian refugees (whoever is interested in the series of articles I published: https://www.mo.be/dossiers/humanitaire-corridor-oekra-ne)

Next stop: Săpânţa, home to two wonders of Romanian tradition.

First one. Cimitirul Vesel, the Merry Cemetery. Each and every grave brightly coloured with little paintings and verses depicting scenes from the lives of the buried people. The icons show what people considered the defining aspect of the deceased. On a deceased woman's grave, for example, she was depicted standing at the cooker frying an egg…

What started as an idea of carpenter Stan Ioan Pătraș, with a first grave in 1935, has become a tourist attraction. Pătraș would have been inspired by the culture of the Dacians, who would have considered death a joyous event.

Second one. The Orthodox Săpânţa-Peri monastery. We were driving through a line of trees in the rain when suddenly an imposing 78-metre-high wooden church tower appeared. 78 metres, is it that high? Yes, it’s the highest wooden church tower in Europe. Seeing it appear, in the typical Maramures style, gave everyone a wow effect.

For centuries, churches here have been built in solid wood with extremely sharp towers.

However, this monastery was only built in 1997. Romanians build such new structures actively using heritage until today, while our churches are emptying and turning into heritage buildings from the past. I have mixed feelings about the power of the Orthodox Church in Romania.

🤔 Would it maybe be interesting to ride from Cehu Silvaniei to Baia Mare, a well-known Maramures-mountain town, and cross the mountain massif between Baia Mare and Sighetu Marmatiei? Win: more mountain views and beautiful climbing, less boring landscapes. Lose: no Merry Cemetery, no Săpânţa-Peri monastery. Maybe the roads to Baia Mare are also too busy, I don’t know… But I do know some of the mountain passes between Baia Mare and Sighetu Marmatiei are fantastic and quiet. I saw them with this Ukrainian family that went to pick up their father at the border: https://www.mo.be/reportage/ontsnapt-uit-izjoem-je-vader-gevaar-als-niemand-hem-hier-weghaalt-zal-hij-sterven)

Tomorrow we head into those Maramures Mountains, with more than 100 kilometres of overall uphill riding, and the ascent of the Prislop Pass at 1416 metres.

🚴‍♂️ More info on this cycling trip: https://adrvlaanderen.be/fietsinleefreizen and https://adrvlaanderen.be/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Brochure-Maramures-2023-v3.pdf

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Pieter Stockmans

Romania Carpathians 🇷🇴4️⃣

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