So there I was rounding a corner after our 40km climb, just about to begin the downhill. Road surface good, scenery fabulous, temperature ambient. I spied four big dogs basking in the morning sun to my side of the road (remember, we ride on the right on this trip). Anxious to see if my electronic dog taser was effective, I aimed it at the pack and pressed the button. Within milliseconds all four were on their feet, emitting throaty barks, most probably displaying large teeth although I was too terrified to look, as they pulsed towards me at 40kms an hour. The reason I knew this was because my speedo showed 45kph as I sped ahead, shouting "Go home!" as loudly and as gutturally as I could muster. Three dropped off, but the wolfish looking one was still hot on my heels. Another kick of adrenaline, I reached 50kph, maybe more, and the dog gave up. I continued, heart racing, downhill to the lunch stop, which could not have come at a better time.
After giving this some thought, I have now adopted another method of dealing with the dogs. Whenever practicable, I ride slowly by as if I am a Romanian. I am pleased to report that this method is showing superior results, having only been chased by a single dog since. We see about 10 dogs every kilometre and at least one of these is dead. Seeing squashed pups on the highway, along with the odd kitten, is not pretty. There is a huge number of birds also killed on the roads, probably because the Romanian driver's best friend is the accelerator, closely followed by the horn.
We had our worst day's riding recently. It began innocently enough but soon turned into living hell. Many of us narrowly escaped injury as we were thundered upon kilometre after endless kilometre by huge BFTs, cars, vans, trailers, buses and all manner of transport whose drivers seemed frustrated by incipient roadworks. This lasted for 60kms and then was replaced for the remaining 50kms with a road that had a broken and potholed surface. And at the end of it all was a truckers' stop where we camped in the lobby of a once gracious hotel. I was lucky, being one of the so-called "chronologically challenged", so got to share a room upstairs with Monique, where at least the all-night barking dogs and trucks growling past was ameliorated by a comfortable enough bed.
As a result, our trip to Bucharest yesterday was anticipated with fear, but in 39 degrees, clear sunshine and a divided highway for the last 20kms, we felt positively buoyant. Many people found disused electrical conduit in the dump beside our hotel and rigged it onto their bikes with bright pink streamer ribbons, as a visible warning to drivers. This made for a colourful parade when we met up with our personal policeman on a BMW motorbike who escorted us into the city and on to the hotel. We ran red lights, rode two abreast and had the lunch truck following close behind. People laughed and clapped us through. All we needed was a brass band to complete the parade.
Just 40 kms from this extremely urban, western and apparently wealthy city there are people driving home-made wooden carts loaded with potatoes to sell on cross-roads; old women bent double, herding geese and raking hay; men hand-scything grass and belting dents out of metal tines; women hand watering market gardens; covered gypsy carts loaded with wild herbs and belongings; children with scant clothing and poor teeth; beggars, the poor, the maimed and the disabled eking out a living on the streets. The shops in Bucharest are ritzy and so are the people as they schmooze around, displaying an insouciance for those not similarly kitted out, me among them, I am pleased to say. I think a country where the people prefer to kick pups rather than hit them on the head at birth, stalk around in stupid designer shoes on disheveled footpaths and allow small children to grow up malnourished must do a lot of work to become a truly humane society.
Some have been asking about how I am faring, so here's the corpus report.
* Wrists - have been severely shaken with the road surfaces, some intermittent pins and needles as a result
* Feet- one sole a bit swollen, one ankle has been troublesome but both have mostly self-healed
* Skin - odd rashes, probably as a result of poor-quality laundry detergent; infected spider bites on my stomach that are irritated with sweat and riding nicks
* Bum - some early soreness, but generally okay. It gets a bit numb on the long climbs and after about 80kms riding
* Shoulders - a bit of tingling on the left side so am looking forward to being ironed out by the Turkish masseurs
* Weight - I doubt I have lost a single gram, so go figure! Some say it is because we have not eaten enough protein and vegetables, and instead have far too much starch on the menu. Whatever, 3000kms later I did expect to be sylph-like.
There are about 40 people in the group which is a great number. There are about 18 Canadians, the rest of us being from South Africa, Australia, America, New Zealand, England, Switzerland and France. There are five 'Young Ones' aged in their late twenties or early thirties and the rest of us are in the 50 to 72 zone, I believe. Among our number is a dentist, a gynaecologist, several engineers, a social researcher, a librarian, a geologist, about three IT industry professionals, a horticulturalist, a pigment chemist/consultant, a medical goods salesman, a dental hygienist, a couple of accountants, a notary, a banker and a teacher. There is about two men for every woman, and yes, there are a couple of romances!
More technicals:
July 5: Baile Herculane to Targu Jiu, 105 kms, 40 km climb through the most spectacular valleys with snow on the mountains, five and three quarter hours
July 6: Targu Jiu to Ramnicu Valcea, 55 kms of 'pitch and bitch' on the worst road yet, through lovely countryside and poor as dirt villages, 126kms in total, about seven and three quater hours
July 7: Ramnicu Valcea to Dragodana, 108 kms, five hours and fifty minutes, the worst worst day as we looked only at the road and our tyres and tried not to fall into the path of traffic beside, behind and in front of us
July 8: Dragodana to Bucharest, 80km, 39 degrees, about three hours and fifty minutes
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