As we got two days of Poland national holidays extra at the beginning of May, we, the avid creatures, decided to ask for some extra leave at work and tried to get 9 work-free days in a row, just for us to go… well, to go somewhere. The decision was so off the cuff we didn’t even have a plan back there. We started to plan just few weeks ahead, like ok, we have our free time, but where should we go now? Where we will get just in 9 days by a motorbike? Austria? Slovenia? Maybe just Slovakia as time is so short…? And then we saw a photo of Transalpina in April and the decision about the travel direction was obvious – we are going to Romania, no matter what.
The determination to head to Romania by Dawid's motorcycle was strong, but the time was short.
We were preparing for this trip in a slipshod. I think we spent all the free time after the work to get everything done before the final take-off. We did the overall checking of Dawid's Africa Twin health and we changed the tires. But the adventure perparation also included sitting for hours with Google Maps to find nice camping spots and must-see places in Romania, which we can cover in just 9 days. Or even less the 9 days, as we had to get there by our motorcycle first and also get back. But what won't you do for an adventure?
I have to admit we were in Romania two times before - the last year's summer and two years ago.
This made planning a little bit easier as we knew our capability of breaking down the Romanian roads into chunks day by day. Although, we haven't been there so early, in the spring bloom, so who knew what waited for us higher, in the Romanian Carphatians? :)
May the motorcycle trip to Romania begin!
When 28th of April came, we got up early at 6 am and, as always, we wasted quite a time to pack ourselves and get ready.
I don't know why, but it's always like this. The first-time panniers packing is always a hurdle, while after the very first overnight stop gathering of all the stuff back from the campsite doesn't take that long. Some magic happens in between, I tell you.
After the burden of packing and trying to not forget anything in the process - the adventure finally have begun!
We jumped into the saddle joyful, excited and all hail the adventure, to head to... A4 highway from Wroclaw to Cracow.
Oh, that adventure. Straight plain way up to the horizon... Boring! But I guess you sometimes have to suffer and take less adventurous roads to get more adventurous later - ultimate adventure widsom, when you don't work remotely, unfortunately.
Only after getting off the A4 highway and leaping to Sucha Beskidzka and Makow Podhalanski the road outset to look more fun.
Mountains started to emerge on the horizon
But this time we didn't go straight through Bukowina Tatrzanska and road 66 and 537 to Poprad, althought we always like to stop at Kvietnica stone-pit, where you can admire High Tatras from the distance thorughly.
We were thinking of staying in Pieniny mountains for the night, so we chose the 969 road to get to Velka Frankova.
On the way there we stopped at Niedzica, to look at the castle peering down at the Niedzica dam.
But we just took some photos and moved forward as the sun was about to set down and we wanted to see this better from the heigher altitude. Also the problem with placing a tent was arising - where will we sleep? As we wanted to camp in the wild, off from other people eyes.
The day ends above the Velká Frankova
From Niedzica to Veľká Franková there are only 18 kilometers, so we arrived there in several minutes, just in time to get above the village, on the top of the 800 meter hill, to watch the Higher Tatras smothering with the sunset vibrant colors.
When the spectacle ended we started to look around for a place to pitch the tent.
Because there were some local visitors also wanting to see Tatras from the spot from which we watched the sunset - we decided to move a little further (maybe about 1 km) and hide a little bit higher, right at the forest edge. Still from this new spot we've got the view on Tatry mountains.
When our mobile home was ready, we could finally chill with some beer under starry sky and rest before the next day adventure.
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