Bike trip in the Western Carpathians with my friend Marius Reghis - part 3

The road towards Poiana Horea is quite awful!

Today we will cycle till Fantanele resort where we will eat well at a restaurant and then we will sleep in a nice guest house.

In the morning we have a nice view over the lake from the guest house.

After we eat our breakfast at the same restaurant we will have a tough climb till Marisel.

From here we have a long descent till Tarnita lake.

Because of an annoying and long lasting rain we will stop earlier today and we`ll spend the night in a guest house in Somesu Rece. We`ll have a nice dinner and then a good sleep.

The next day we get to Cluj Napoca where we will eat well in a restaurant in the town` center.

From here we take a train till Teius and then we cycle till Alba Iulia where we will sleep in a cosy guest house. The next day we visit this wonderful town. First we visit the orthodox cathedral.

Here we can see many interesting statues.

The citadel is fully restored and looks great.

The old gates are exquisite.

After we eat well it`s time to start crossing the Western Carpathians on another route. We will cycle along the Ampoi River. At Ampoita we see great limestone formations.

The scenery is generous with plenty of hay cocks.

In Zlatna we stop to eat and we see the building where the national hero Avram Iancu studied when he was a schoolboy.

From here we`ll have to climb a new pass. On our way we pass by a derelict castle.

The last few km. of climb are difficult and when we get to the pass we take a picture on top of it.

We go down till Abrud where we stop to eat at a restaurant and here we meet Cosmin, a friend of mine that helped me in 2011, and he is so kind to pay our bill, he is very generous and we talk about my last cycling adventures. Then we carry on cycling till Rosia Montana where we sleep at a guest house. The next day we`ll enjoy a spectacular view from our balcony.

We like very much this village that could become an important touristic attraction.

From here we cycle toward Brad, we have a small climb till we reach Buces Vulcan` pass that has a spectacular view over a mountain.

Then we`ll enjoy a great descent with hairpins and soon we cycle next to Crisul Alb River and soon we say good bye to the mountains. From Brad we`ll take a train till home.

For this wonderful trip I thank very much my good friend Marius and I am grateful to him for inviting me to this beautiful and unexpected cycling holiday!