De Zweedse CX-fanaat Sture Lindberg doet verslag van een trip naar Roemenië die hij samen met zijn zoon heeft gemaakt.
MY SUMMER TRIP TO ROMANIA 2001
On July 29 my son (age 17) and I went off for a planned > 15 days trip from our home in Lund, Sweden to Romania and back.
Earlier that year I had been helping a CX-owner in Romania with some engine parts (almost impossible to get in his country) and been encouraged by him to visit his country. My daughter´s neighbour, who had lived in Romania for one year, told us that storys about roadside robberies, corrupt police officers and other dangers were clearly exaggerated. Normal sense would be enough for making such a trip reasonably safe.
The first day took us from our home via the Öresund bridge from Sweden to Denmark and down to Gedser from where we took the ferry to Rostock in Germany. Then on nice, twisting country roads to somewhat south of Neustrelitz, north of Berlin.
Day two took us to Berlin, with early lunch on Kurfürstendamm, and then on Autobahn (miserable and boring) to Dresden. Now the landscape was more hilly and quite nice. Good accomodation (B&B).
Next day easy driving to Prague (lunch on Václav-street) and then on the road again to Olomouc via Hradec Králove and Svitavy. Clean and nice hotel with great food.Day four: Into and through Slovakia, crossing the Hungarian border close to Ozd. Good biking roads.
Aug. 2: After a night in a dark, worn hotel we rode through the flat, agricultural landscape of Hungary to Miscolc, Tokaj, and Nyiregyhaza. There we were hit from behind at a pedestrians crossing by a Romanian car driver. The saddlebag holders snapped off in four places and we had to wait for five days in a hotel for new holders to arrive by air freight from my home. Bad luck but it could have been worse!!
Then on to Satu Mare in Romania, exchanging money and filling some gas (really cheap). Further on to Baia Mare. Nice hotel in city centre. Some local (splendid) beers in the evening. Life not too bad!!
Aug. 9: On twisty, partly serpentine roads into the Carpatian mountains up to Sighetu Marmatei. Visited a beautiful monastery and had a nice lunch on a roadside taverna. The day ended in Borsa. Beautiful hotel with fantastic dining room. Splendid food.
Next day: On various country roads to Dej via Vatra Dornei and Bistrita.
Aug. 11: Transylvania country: Dracula Hotel: big tourist trap,. Landscape with magnificent sceneries and bad roads. Big potholes should be expected everywhere in Romania. Dangerous!! Reached Sighisoare and visited the Castle of Dracula´s father. Very beautiful ancient town! On to Tirgu Mures.Next day from Tirgu Mures out of Romania via Cluj Napoca. First rainfall and thunderstorm and we crossed the border to Hungary in the evening. Wanted to reach Nyiregyhaza via Debrecen and did so at midnight.
Aug. 13: Nyiregygaza, Tokaj, into Slovakia, outside Kosice and Presov, into Poland and Nowy Sacz. Nice hotel in the outskirts of N.S. Wonderful landscape and biking roads!!
Aug. 14: To Auschwitz via Krakow. Hotel near railway station. Decent but not more! Auschwitz memorial: depressing and thought-provoking.
Aug 15: Much motorway-riding to come home soon. Outside Wroclaw and into Germany late in the evening. Hotel near Cottbus. Very clean and nice.
Next day: After magnificent breakfast loading the bike for the last day: 34 degrees C in the shade. Too hot, but we managed to get home after midnight, totally soaked.
Mishaps during the trip besides the accident in Nyiregyhaza:
The bike lost ignition on one cyl outside Berlin. Turned out to be left cyl. ignition cable coming loose from the ignition coil. Immediately fixed on the roadside.
Just before leaving Romania a truck (without trailer) had a big slide just in front of us in the rain, when suddenly breaking for a left turn. No signals whatsoever! Being too close behind him (on my way to overtake) I had no place to break, but managed to turn away behind him with only a small margin. That´s what I call a close call! Everything might very well have ended there! Scary! But lesson learned, have no doubt!
In Krakow the gear shift pedal cracked almost completely. Repaired (welded) by a nice guy in an auto repair shop for free!
- The bike: CX 500 (B) '81 with 63300 kms on the clock before we started. Luggage: 20 year old Italian NONFANGO saddlebags and rear trunk + two watertight sacks, strapped on top of the saddlebags.
- Total distance: 5080 kms. Average gas consumption: 5.4 l/100 kms. Not bad for a bike, 20 years old with 60 kgs overload!
Our original plan was to do a big round-trip in Romania. Depending on the accident in Nyiregyhaza that trip had to be much shorter, otherwise we had thought about reaching the Black Sea. Maybe next time?
Regards
Sture in Lund, Sweden
Kijk ook eens op Sture's homepage, naast meer foto's van Roemenië ook veel foto's van motoren waaronder genoeg CX-en!
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