Another large breakfast at the nearby Hotel Oxygen to start my day. On my way to the Hotel I saw healthy horses, loose and unfettered, grazing the verges unattended, and a public sculpture of three large apples. Nearby a party of walkers, complete with daypacks, gathered at the start of the trail I was planning to climb. A guide was speaking to them in front of what might have been a hotel once, but now had no glass in its windows and bushes were growing from the wide stairs leading to the entrance.
My morning was spent climbing out of the valley in which Poinana Marŭlui lay, initially through beech trees then conifers higher up. I was following a path marked with red triangles. It seemed well used, I could see in the dust the many footprints of the walking party I spotted earlier. A couple of quad bikes passed out for a Saturday drive and two men on motorbikes stopped to say "hello". While these vehicles are noisy, disturbing the peace of the mountains, they do help to keep the paths open, clear of brambles and undergrowth. Among the trees there were areas of rough grass, on one a flock of sheep was grazing, the dogs guarding them barked but did not approach. Looking back I could see the elongated lake or reservoir extending down the valley from Poinana Marŭlui.
Once I had reached the highest point, I had to descend on an unmarked path. There was some doubt about its viability, although the last email I received from the Romanian Mountain Association (the SKV) said that I could get through. At first, standing on the grass covered ridge top I could see no sign of a path in the direction indicated by my GPS track. However on exploring under the low branches of the spruce trees, a narrow path was clearly visible. I followed it, descending through the trees and more open areas. In places there were blueberry bushes still with a few remaining berries, interspersed with a low bushes with red berries which PlantNet identified as lingonberries. There were a few blue campanula. Juniper bushes completed the assemblage. A scrambling bike had riden down the path recently, its tyre marks were a helpful guide as to where the path went. The passage of the motorbike was especially helpful in areas where trees had been felled or blown down, as the way was blocked by vigorous new growth. I could follow the trail of broken and bent vegetation created by the motorbike. In this way I progressed reasonably well if a bit slowly until I joined another track, unfortunately the wrong one. My way to the correct route was blocked by a mass of fallen trees. Not being able to see where the bike had gone, I worked my way around the confusion of branches and tree trunks until I spotted the path heading down the mountainside below intact trees. Somehow the scrambler bikes had found a way around as well as I could again see its tyre marks in the dust of the trail.
The path continued down a valley beside a small stream. Slippery moss covered rocks, fallen trees and vegetation around the stream made for sluggish progress. As I neared a larger forest track my way was blocked by a mess of trunks and branches. Large trunks of mature beech trees had been felled and stacked beside the forest track further on. Branches and smaller trees had been dumped and allowed to slide down the steep valley sides to its base, accumulating in an extensive, disorderly heap. Attempts to cross it failed, the branches were unstable and could not support my weight and there was no firm ground around the stronger trunks that I could reach. Not wishing to risk a broken leg I had to climb up the steep slope of the valley side to bypass the obstruction high above the valley base, then carefully work my way down to join the main forest track.
There was then a short distance of easy walking on the forest track (which I had to repeat as I left my trekking poles behind, leaning against some harvested trunks where I rested). As the E3 crosses the "grain" of the land, I then had a climb up the valley side. Although marked as a path, it was a muddy vehicle track that rapidly gained height, unlike me who was now tiring.
At last I came open an area of open grassland high on a ridge. It was approaching 6:00 pm so I thought it time to stop and make camp, although I had not walked as far as I had hoped. Pitching was difficult as there were a lot of insect nests among the tussocks of grass. A couple of stick insects seemed particularly upset that I camped next to them. The flies that had been bothering me all day were now delighted I had stopped so they could truly annoy me, so I erected my tent and got in as quickly as possible. Even so many of the insects found there way into the inner tent where I had to push them out by flapping my hat, then attempt to kill the intransigent ones. Flies accumulated between the inner and outer tents, maintaining a constant buzzing until darkness fell.
Once I had settled in my tent, annoyed I could not view the sunset from my lofty pitch owing to the belligerent flies, a pick-up drove up. Two men got out, through the netting of my tent they looked like hunters. Seeing my tent I think they decided to go somewhere else.
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