Day 4

We complained continuously of rain in the past days, but one has to be careful what he wishes for. We came down the mountains, only to be faced with a banana/bikerspoiling heat and frontal winds on the way to Lugoj. You may rightfully complain of our fixation with inadequate weather, but this is the reality of the situation. But no matter, at least we managed to avoid the code red floods and other situations we've been hearing of in the last few days.

We began our morning by waking up on the courtyard of the Bethlen Castle of Ilia, in the shade of the Red Tower. Our hosts, the associates of the Saint Francis Foundation of Deva, were kind enough to not only let us spend the night in the courtyard, but also show us the Bethlen museum. The college girls who live in the tower during summers to host the tourists also helped us cook dinner. So our place of stay was prize enough, but of course Turkey is still a thousand kilometers (~620 miles) away...

At around noon we started on the Lugoj road - we had 80 kilometers (~50 miles) ahead of us. We kept a good pace in three teams, waiting up on one another two or three times, taking a longer rest to eat our lunch. The highlight of the day was when we met another team cyclists on an expedition. We have met bikers before during our expeditions, but none of them were like us. To make it even more interesting, they were a group of Hungarians from Serbia. The team consisted of sixteen members, and they were on their twelfth expedition from Serbia to the Székely heartland. According to them most of the villagers of the their starting point fled from Székely lands to the territory of today's Serbia, and they were commemorating this event. All sorts of age groups were represented, from sixteen to sixty. We've met them several times during the day, even taking a selfie together, and we even gave them a few of our old DVDs.

We had our lunch break at Făget, this time eating baloney. The interesting thing, however, is the uniqueness of the place: Făget is famous because this is where Gheorghe Gheorgiu Dej's plane is kept, him having been a head of state during communism. The plane is, curiously, used as a pub. The story goes that in 1970 the plane was being transported on this route, but they couldn't get it across a railway bridge and stored it on a field nearby. The current owner inherited the land, together with the plane, which he decorated and shows to those who happen to be nearby. He also opened a small pub. This is where we ate an ice-cream and watched the Duna (Danube) TV's show, which included a report on our expedition. It was a nice one, we hope it will soon be available online too. Search for it, watch it, because we decided that since we got on television we might as well come home. We might Photoshop ourselves into a picture of the Marmara Sea's coast, or Istambul's Blue Mosque, and that's that.

Nonetheless, we cycled to Lugoj, if for nothing else because pizza was waiting for us at our resting place. We'll be sleeping in the dormitories of a local school, ending our camping-streak for a while. Next time we will be sleeping in a tent or under the night-sky in Turkey, seven days from now. Until then, we'll be enjoying the luxury of dormitories and pensions (boarding houses). 

The most important event of they day was, of course, at the end - we celebrated for the fourth time the birthday of our doctor, Enikő. We gave her an ice cream cake and some cycling goggles. This time she celebrated her thirty-seventh birthday and we wish her a happy-happy birthday, and at least twenty-three more Bycicle expeditions. So much for today, tomorrow we'll be biking forward to Orșova, because we decided that Duna TV is not enough, when Tekirdag and Istanbul is waiting for us.

Today we will be sending to messages, because we can't gather them because of the dorms rules. But everything is fine, and we promise that we'll make up for it tomorrow. :)

Day 3

We may be briefer today than usual, for which we beg your forgiveness, but the situation is that exactly at the moment when we began writing this post, the pea pottage made by our ex-under-chef, present master chef Antika began being served, so before all of the 80 person dinner is consumed, we'll tell your shortly about yesterday night (to alleviate all worries) and today.

So, we already told you about our guests, the volunteers of the "Adopt a House" project of Roșia Montană, whom, to set aside all false modesty, we have really impressed with our gulyás. They were all great people. Young people, who sacrifice their summers to save the architecturally significant houses of Roșia Montană under expert guidance. And all this free of charge, in their spare time. Every time we see such things, we are grateful for the opportunity to not only visit great places, but also meet great people during our expedition, people who still believe that the process of decay can be stopped, and actually work to stop it. So, we had dinner with them. Then came night. We didn't believe we'd make it through without getting rained upon, but our tents, together with the expertly installed nylon sheets once again stood the test of rain. Here-and-there this-and-that did get damp, but it seems that despite continuous attempts by the weather, it can not surprise us. 

So we all woke up untouched, quickly got through the morning tea and kifli and we took a short walk to the Unitarian church where we met out friends Tica, Sorin and Ștefan Bâlici. All three of them dream of a brighter future for Roșia Montană, and all three of them are working on it. I'd like to point out that only Sorin is actually from Roșia Montană, Tica hailing from Suceava, and Ștefan Bâlici from Brașov. Tica founded a local Scouting movement, Sorin is trying to find alternatives to mining as the source of income of the village, and Ștefan Bâlici is working to save beautiful, architecturally significant buildings. They had stories to tell and we would've gladly listened to them all day long, but the bikes aren't going to ride themselves to the next destination. We had some time left, however, to visit the old Roman mines, and then, to make cycling easier, to eat a few delicious salami-cream cheese-cheese-tomato-cucumber-paprika-oregano and chocolate spread sandwiches. Then we rode our bikes, sometimes in light rain, other times in sunshine towards Brad.

The road was great, a little climb and a long descent, just like it's supposed to be. Then we stocked up on fruits in Brad, cool water- and musk melons, sweet apricots and slightly sour green bananas. We rested for a bit, and headed out to our campsite. A team went ahead to make the tents and the dinner. Not because we were late, but because today we could afford to. Unfortunately this part of the road was a bit more difficult. The roads were under construction, so we could only go at a reduced speed, but with perseverance and attention we got through it OK. On the way to the campsite we stopped to see the wonderful Jósika castle of Brănișca, which on the pre-tour preparatory trip was functioning as an old-people's home, but today was already completely empty, with the lights left on in the guard room at the entrance, while next to it the simply amazing small chapel slowly falls apart. It is a sad, but real sight to see and unfortunately not the only one of its kind. Only the white statues of lions in front of the rusty gates could tell stories of past days of glory, because the village and the Church seem to have forgotten them.

After the depressing sight we rode on for another 10 kilometers (~6 miles) and got to Ilia. The courtyard of the Bethlen castle and the scent of dinner awaited us (which, as we were writing this, has been eaten). We washed ourselves and fell asleep while wistling, but not before sending a few words back home. 

Arni: I didn't tell any jokes today too. The dinner is almost ready and we're fine.

Réka: I welcome Péter and Kinga, I wish you a pleasant stay. Don't bully the piglet.

Balázs: This day was great too.

Seres: All is fine, don't call because there's no signal. Add a roaming option to the phone.

Ferike: I like being on this expedition

Lilla: Love you all.

Kázmér: I'm fine, all is OK.

F.Timi: I like descents.

Cs.Robi: I'm good, I'm fine. Miss you.

Z.Orsi: All is OK, the third day was amazing.

Foga: Sorry for not sending a message before, but I'm fine, all is OK. We are keeping quite a tempo in the first team, but so far I could handle it. I hope everything is fine back home, including Blacky.  P.S.: Aramis, I love you.

Farkas: I'm starting to miss you, but I can't call you. Today for me was a resting day, I relaxed a little. P.S.: Teach Angel to sit.

J.Orsi: I'm fine, hugs to all.

T. Dávid: My phone is buried deep in some car.I'll call you from Lilla.

Szabi: This day was OK. I rode with the car to make camping preparations. Kisses to all.

B.Timi: I'm fine, all is fine, my knees don't hurt that much anymore. Kisses to all! 

Day 2

Roșia Montană - we'll start at the end, even if our day started 75 kilometers (~45 miles) away, because it's hard to ignore the beauty surrounding our campsite. Thanks to the help of the Eastern Orthodox pastor, we can sit on the hills of the "Golden Town", looking at the church towers and the mountains hiding gold deep within.

But back to the beginning: we might have arrived here in beautiful sunshine, but back at the beginning of the day it didn't seem like we could get away untouched by rain. We were awoken by the wind trying to topple our blue canvas tent, and hints of rain. The morning weather looked so disheartening, that we almost gave up cooking our throw-it-all-in omelette. Fortunately Boti decided that it would be a shame miss out on it, and breakfast got made through a team effort. We dried our tents after eating in the half-hour pause of rain, and set out with lightning speed to leave the valley behind, since the rain clouds were approaching at break-neck speeds. 75 kilometers (~45 miles), a lot of climbing and even more descents were still ahead of us. We advanced at such speed that we outraced the bad weather and by noon we already were resting on the plateau above the village of Horea.

An intermezzo is in order here, for we had witnessed a first-time even in the history of our expeditions. Surely some of you remember those legendary times when Sanyi Szathmáry, our former head cyclist recruited cows into our party. Well this time we tamed a horse - Antika, while waiting for the last team to arrive at the top of the climbs, had become such good friends with a horse that it loyally and without any objections let anyone ride on its back. Zsolt took the opportunity to ride down the hill on it, switching from the horsepower of the panel van to the horsepower of this beautiful creature. We even made a group picture in which it gladly posed with us. 

Having grown tired of horseback riding, we got on our two-wheelers and descended into the Arieș Valley. 20 kilometers (~12 miles) of mountain roads are, needles to say, the dream of every biker. A short ice-cream break at the "La Mama Tanța" restaurant - we thank them for allowing us to use their space - and we were already going forward to Câmpeni, where we would get our mobile kitchen ready to throw together a lunch of pate, cheese and tomatoes. Then followed the final section, 15 kilometers (~ 9 miles) of cycling, out of which 7 (~4 miles) were the Roșia Montană climb. A paved road leads to the heart of the once-flourishing mining town, which unfortunately wasn't rebuilt for purposes of tourism, but for the possible use of a certain corporation for extraction purposes - fortunately it still isn't a reality, and though the fight isn't over, for the moment it seems unlikely that cyanide-based extraction will begin anytime soon. Our friend Tică was already waiting for us in the town center - he's a twenty-something lad, who moved to Roșia Montană to fight for the survival of the settlement, by, among others, founding a Boy Scout organization. He showed us our camping site and we hope he will visit us for dinner.

While writing this post, we are staying busy around the campfire on the property of Eastern Orthodox Church. A BIG thanks goes to the pastor and Mr. Sorin for making all of this possible. Meanwhile the gulyás is cooking nicely, and we invited the volunteers of the "Adopt a house" project for dinner too. There will be one important thing left to do after dinner: our cook, Boti Fehér is going home tomorrow at dawn, because by Wednesday he already has to be in the United Kingdom. Don't tell him, but this evening we will be giving him a gift, an expedition flag signed by everyone. A few days before the expedition it looked like he couldn't be able to join us at all, but he came anyways, if for only two days, to help build the team and, naturally, to coordinate our cooking efforts. We will miss him, but even this assistance, to be in tune with our surroundings, is worth its weight in gold.

Unfortunately tomorrow we will have to leave this stunningly beautiful place too, but hopefully Tekirdag's shores will be worth the loss. Thank you for yesterday's comments and please enjoy the pictures. 

Balázs: Today was great too.

Antika: Istanbul, ooh, Istanbul. (t.n.: song lyrics)…

Tulkos: By the time I got there we ran out of water, so I wish you a stinky good night.

Gergő: The biscuits made quite an impression.

Attila: Todays most important part, the Roșia Montană climb, was a very tough one.

Farkas:  Though we aren't that far away, we already went over many mountains. I feel great. P.S. Take care of Angel!

Szabi: That past two days may have been hard, nonetheless I haven't rode in the car. Though that day will come. Greetings to my loved ones!

Cs. Robi: I'm fine, everything went OK, but on the Roșia Montană climb I had to get on the trailer.

Z. Orsi: Today was great as well, but cherry on top was the evening shower. Kisses to everyone! By the way, our tent is fragile.

Kevin: My throat was a little sore in the morning, but I biked through the day nonetheless.

Zsófi: {t.n. untranslatable first sentence). My message to Melinda is that she should take herbs and spices too, maybe that will make the taste better. I'm fine otherwise.

Lilla: We're fine and happy. I can't wait to get on the bike.

J. Orsi: I often think of you, and I'm happy when I get your messages from time to time. I'm fine. Keep reading the blog! A flood of hugs to you!