Day 72: Pitești la București

 

THIS IS IT! We reached our destination of Bucharest! Well, two weeks ago we didn’t know that Bucharest and not Constanța (pronounce the t with the low accent as a “ts” sound) would be our goal, but that is the nice thing about not being too set on either route or destination and being able to do what you want.

Today’s scenery was not much, as the terrain was very, very flat, and, assuming that the Romanian side of EuroVelo 6 would have been similar to today, we were all the more happy about our pivot to the mountains.

We slept well last night in our last hotel bed of the trip (we will be staying with my friend Iuliu in Bucharest), and decided to get up early to beat the mid-day heat. By 8.30, we were cycling out of Pitești (say the s with the accent as a sh sound, and I think the locals do not say the last i). The roads were very busy until we passed the highway ramp. As backup to the 7 road in case it would be too busy, we routed a detour further south as backup. But it was not too bad, so we could focus on the still very long 115km / 71 miles to Bucharest (would have been 124km with the detour).

 

I have to say, I am not too sad about not having to smear my face, neck, arms and legs with sunscreen anymore for a while. After a day of cycling, the slightly sticky layer of sunscreen collects a mix of dust and tiny insects that causes brownish, black-dotted run-off in the shower when you get the sunscreen layer off in the arrival shower. Yuck. Also, funny story, I got a bad, tiny sunburn on my thigh where my shorts ripped when I fell before Belgrade. So I had to think of yet another spot to sun protect and rinse off.

Liz set a fast pace for the first tens of kilometers, and we rode the first 40km / 25miles in just 90 minutes. We took a break in the park of the small town Găești (the a with the accent is pronounced just like an a). The park featured speakers that were playing some 80s playlist. Rehydrated and with a new synth-rhtym in our legs, we continued, setting our sights on kilometer 76, where we would stop to clean our bikes a last time and turn off the seven onto a quieter road leading into Bucharest.

 

With clean bikes, we turned off the 7 road to the smaller 601A, which was a great: Quiet, great pavement, and a bit more interesting due to many horse-drawn carriages.

We dread getting into cities as traffic usually increases a lot already 10-20km (6-12 miles) from the city center. Our route was not too bad, thankfully.

Iuliu’s friend Catalina and her daughter Irene met us to let us into Iuliu’s apartment. We had to manually override the safety features of the old elevator in the apartment building to get them up to the apartment, too. Iuliu: “If you are emotionally attached to your bikes, you should bring them up”. We are and we did.

After showers, we took an Uber to the local Mikkeller bar that also had amazing bar food to offer. Rather tired from the long ride today, and the long ride to get here from Scotland in general, we did not stay too long and were in bed by 21.30. By now, I can drink about one beer before feeling rather tipsy. Not too much of a tolerance anymore with the body also having to deal with long bike rides in hot weather.

And so we are here, at the end of our ride. What an amazing time we had, with only one flat tire (and none after buying the Schwalbe Marathons!), four broken spokes, only minor accidents and no broken bones, and memories to last a lifetime. Thank you Anne and Reece for the inspiration for doing this trip!

Total distance/elevation to date: 5654km/47’684m
Rest days: 21
Route and Stats
Relive Video