Touring Europe

[Phil]

Well I'm back, everything in one piece.

After Nurburgring WSB I headed south east in the direction of Vienna for a day and a half of boring autobahn to get the mileage out of the way.
After that, I followed the Danube around the North of Budapest and into the hills of north Hungary to Eger.
Across the very flat Hungarian plains to Romania. Satu Mare, Baia Mare then over the hills to Sighetu Marmatiei. Happy Cemetery, wooden churches of Maramures county.
Past the ski resort of Borsa and over the Prislop Pass, to the Bucovina county and its many 5,000 year old painted monastaries.
South to Piatra Neamt. Bit of a concrete jungle of tower blocks, but not too bad, watched Romania v Hungary Euro footy in a bar, 3-0 so the locals were happy.
South through the Bicaz gorge and Hungarian speaking area to the old Saxon town of Sighsoara for the weekend. There was a film/folk/music festival going on so that was lucky, it added to the atomsphere.
After that the fortified church of Viscri, then onwards to the Transfagarasan Pass. I had planned to go to Brasov/Bran first, but the weather forecast looked better to do it straight away.
Great views in 20c and sunshine. Bran for a couple of days, 'Draculas' castle & Peles castle. The B&B was owned by a Brit who had been there for 15 years and filled me in on a few things about the Romanians. Past Brasov, nice view from the top of the hills. The forecast rain didnt really materialise in the valleys, just enough to dampen the roads for a while.
Past the Transfagarasan Pass again, dry in the valley, pissing down up top so I didn't bother going past 1/2 way up again.
West past Sibiu, another castle at Hunedoara where I met a Polish couple on DR400/Transalp 600. They were doing a camping trip and said up the mountains they woke to frost.
They said the Romanian roads were better than the Polish roads overall, but the Poles tarmac all their roads, the Romanians dont. They were keeping off the main roads sticking to th minor roads. There was another group of Poles on enduro bikes who had vanned them down there.
Down to Orsovo and along the Danube valley. I had planned to find a guesthouse on the river, but a road closure meant a long detour and then it started pissing down and got dark early so stayed on Orsovo. It took a while, maybe 1/2 hour,  to find somewhere to stay as several places had closed after the main tourist season.
Up to Timisoara, with its work in progress museum of the revolution in 1989. An old man showed me around, very interesting.
Then back to Hungary, to Pecs, then Lake Balaton, home of millions of midges. I was going to go to Croatia, but the forecast there wasn't good, so back to Austria, light rain and cold for a couple of days before it perked up back to sun and 20c.
Motorail overnight from Innsbruck to Dusseldorf to bypass 400 miles of boring motorways, then home.
Romanian accomodation was excellent. A little time spent researching where to go meant quality cheap guesthouses. Even those I turned up on the off chance were good, just looked for the '3 daisy' tourist board rating. Hosts were all very helpfull. 
In the north, prices were about £25 for b&b inc dinner with a couple of 500ml bottles of moonshine plum or pear brandy on the table if required. It tasted fine, wasnt sure of the %, so didnt want to risk a hangover next day so took it steady. The VFM guesthouses in Sighisoara were all full due to the festival, so the €45 a night 4 star hotel had to do. Most parts of the country on the tourist trail had loads of places to stay. Food was fine, as was the beer and wine. Very little imported from far away countries here.
Romanian roads were shit through to so new and fresh I could have written my name in the tarmac. Sometimes from 1 extreme to the other around a bend. Fully adjustable rear shock was adjusted many times to find a decent Romanian bouncy setting.
Quite a few newly weds spend day 2 of their 3 day long weddings being photographed around the more pretty castles and towns, mingling with tourists.

Fascinating country, with a lot to see and do. Well worth a visit but not if you are just requiring fast speedy riding for your holidays.
Main part of the route
http://goo.gl/maps/OyRIU












Far too many photos here

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/2098824729