E3: Băile 1 Mai to Oradea: Day 90

A walk into Oradea, and the end of my walk on the E3 through Romania.

My host at the Pensuinea offered me a lift into Oradea and seemed perplexed that I was choosing to walk. In truth, the first part of the walk was not picturesque. Once I had left Băile 1 Mai, and negotiated pavements being dug up in the next suburb, it was a trudge beside a busy dual carriageway. Car repair shops, places selling agricultural stuff and the like dotted the road between rough grass. After crossing a large roundabout I was pleased my route took me into a quieter area of appartment blocks beside a tree lined road. The blocks were old but tidy. Then I crossed a neat park with a lily filled lake, weeping willows, benches and a maze. Here the dogs were on leads; small, cute and being taken for walks by their owners. It was a huge contrast to the loose hounds in rural Romania which terrorised passing hikers. I diverted into a shopping mall for a coffee. It could have been anywhere with international names like Zara, C&A and Starbucks. Then the E3 route took me on an intricate route to see some of the most interesting parts of Oradea. The fortress, although built on older foundations, seemed to be mainly 17th century. In the middle of the defensive bastions, there was a cathedral, which did not look to be of the Orthodox religion. 

These pictures were opposite the urinals at the shopping mall, not sure what they meant!

Fortress in Oradea.

I walked down a number of pedestrianised streets with pavement cafés, mostly unoccupied, the cold and the lateness of the season probably not encouraging lunchtime diners. Around me electric scooters wizzed. The architecture of the buildings looked interesting and I am hoping to learn more tomorrow, from the guided tour I have booked for my rest day.

Hungarian Art Nouveau in Oradea.

E3: Vârciorog to Băile 1 Mai: Day 89

A day continuing westward through farmland, trees and scattered settlements.

Morning sky.

As I had another long day planned I rose at 6 am and made use of the coffee machine in the kitchen area of the group of cabins while the sky's grey clouds gradually lightened. The first section was over fields making frequent right angles turns before entering woodland, a pattern repeated throughout the day. In the wooded areas I saw one deer and many red and black firebugs on the track, elsewhere I saw a black squirrel and two woodpeckers. Early in the morning there were many birds around twittering, crows cawing and what might have been a couple of Eurasian Hobbies in the sky. Unlike on previous days I saw four horse drawn carts, three loaded with wood and the fourth containing a family. They were the same type of narrow carts that I first observed in Bulgaria. I wondered if they were using horses rather than a tractor or other vehicle as they were poor or because they liked horses, or maybe it was easier to access the trees to be cut with a narrow horse drawn cart. They do not appear to be felling whole areas of woodland, just selected trees, maybe for firewood. Although there were two villages on my route neither had a shop or bar that I could see. A significant part of the route was on roads, the rest on good tracks which my knee appreciated and there were not too many steep hills to climb up and down. From early on today I could see a distant urban area, Oradea I thought, or maybe satellite areas. As I grew closer the plain beside and below me became wider and more urban.

Looking down on the plain.

Băile 1 Mai was a contrast to other places I have visited in Romania in that I entered an area of tidy parkland with elegantly designed lampstands over tarmaced paths. Tired and hungry I stopped at a Mini-market and bought a baguette with chorizo and mozzarella which I ate on a park bench.

The old casino, a historic building in the town of Băile 1 Mai 

Băile 1 Mai and the adjacent suburb of Băile Felix are "Spa" resorts associated with thermal springs. Spa treatments are advertised and there are aquaparks with water slides for children. There are many hotels and pensiuneas. At my pensuinea the owner praised Britain's King Charles for his support for Romania, where the King has a house. We agreed King Charles appreciated more traditional things. He also told me we were now out of season, July and August were his busy months. He would have closed on 15 September but he forgot to cancel the place on booking.com. 

Băile 1 Mai at night, very much a tourist town (in season).

E3: Vadu Crișului to Vârciorog: Day 88

A long day heading west into an area less visited by tourists.

From Vadu Crișului the E3 turns west, heading for the city of Oradea. The area seems to have fewer tourist attractions and facilities, there are for example no waymarked trails. As I left Vadu Crișului I noticed a well dressed couple, the man in a suit, heading for church. At another church, whose bell was clanging, a women crossed herself as she walked up the path to its entrance. Of the few other people about however, most seemed to be doing other things this Sunday. Leaving town and heading into the countryside, I found many cars parked beside the road, their owners picking mushrooms, occasionally shouting to each other from the depths of the woods. Later there were also one or two picnics underway.

In the morning the E3 climbed over a hill, through trees and over grassland. There were many tracks and I frequently picked the wrong one although it was easy to find a way back to the correct route. However, most of the day was on roads, mainly tarmac but some gravel. While the roads did pass through woodland there was more farmland than on recent days. The lines of the old strips of land, each strip once belonging to a different household, could still be seen. Sometimes they were planted with maize, but mostly the strips had been combined and used as pasture for cattle and sheep, more suitable for the hilly conditions than arable crops. There were a few scattered settlements that I walked through, the barking dogs telling me I was not welcome. Some of the houses were of an unusual design in that they had turrets at one or more corners. The squat, square turrets had pointed, red tiled roofs. I wondered whether they were just whimsical additions or if they had some purpose. I also liked the houses painted in blues and greens.

One of the turreted houses.

For a long way the road I was on ran along the base of a valley, which avoided climbing up and down hills. This and the firm surface of the tarmac or gravel pleased my left knee, which had been suffering from uneven, rocky paths in recent days. For the more important roads there were markers every 100 metres beside the road and milestones every kilometre. Counting these down was a means of measuring my progress.

A road walking day.

Tonight I am staying in a cabin among a group of other cabins although I am the only resident. The owner messaged to ask when I would arrive. Seeing a sign stating it was three kilometres to Vârciorog I said 4 pm. What I neglected to consider was that the cabin complex was two kilometres to the south of the village. In consequence, although I walked as fast as I was able, it was nearer 4:30 when I arrived. It is a pleasant spot, from the kitchen area I can see the fields on the hillside to my left, and a wooded hill in front of me. In the distance there is a flock of sheep. I have seen two other flocks today, each with a shepherd to guide them. With the evening cooling down, a shower did not seem attractive and by 9 pm I was tucked up in my bed.

E3: Șuncuiuș to Vadu Crișului: Day 87

A short distance to walk today leaving me time to join a tour of the Vadu Crișului cave.

Rosehips and daisies.

After a leisurely breakfast I returned to the centre of Șuncuiuș then followed the E3 which led me to the south west. My destination tonight was north west, but rather than take a direct route along the river valley the E3 gave me a tour of nearby mountains. After passing the many, low houses that stretched along the road out of town, the walk into the hills was pleasant enough in the cooler, overcast weather I was now experiencing. I wandered through beech woods and over grassland, rosehips adding colour to the trackside. Blackberries were not having a good season, going from an unripe red to a shrivelled, dessicated black with no ripe, plump fruit in between. Multiple tracks meant I sometimes accidentally deviated off the route but soon found my way back onto it. The excitement came with the rapid descent into and along the gorge of the River Crișul Repede. At first the path took a measured approach, zig-zagging across the slope rather than heading straight down at a ridiculously steep gradient. Near the bottom, the path became steeper and more slippery. Then it turned back on itself to follow the river for a kilometre or so. Due to assorted rocks, damp and smoothed by passing feet; a cliff one side and a drop into the river on the other; rock outcrops; slippery, slopping paths, and fallen trees this part of the trail was particularly slow. I could see repeated skid marks where a person before me had slipped, a warning to myself, but also reassuring that other people had walked this way recently. From the river I could hear shouting and laughter from youngsters in inflatable canoes.

Gorge of the Crișul Repede

It was a relief to arrive at a bridge, beyond which a good path led to the Vadu Crișului Cave. This show cave had tours and since I had time today I planned to go on one. A crowd had gathered, so I assumed a tour was likely soon, however a lad who spoke English said they did not know when. Taking a seat I waited a while until eventually a lady appeared and told everyone it was 20 Lei for a ticket and a tour would depart in five minutes (I had to ask her to translate this for me). After handing over my 20 Lei, and another wait, we departed on the tour. This involved the lady talking at great length at different parts of the cave. As it was in Romanian all I picked out were words like stalagmites, that were the same in English. Nevertheless the stalagmites and stalactites were easy to spot. Between stops there were steep steps to climb up and down and some low sections of roof which my rucksack brushed against, although other members of the tour seemed to be struggling more than I. Two bats were spotted hanging upside down from the walls, and there were apparently more in parts of the cave not accessible to visitors. Not the best cave I have visited, there were no large caverns, and a limited number of stalagmites and stalagtites, however, being in an area of many caves it was not a place to miss.

After my tour of the cave, I continued on the path along the gorge. In places it was cut into the side of the cliff and chains were provided to hold onto. These were not necessary today as the stone floor of the path was dry, but would be reassuring if wet. In this section of  my walk there were notices giving advice such as to clean up litter. One panel showed all the things a backpacker like myself should have such as a tent and water bottle. It included a map and compass but not a GPS which is what I use for navigation. 

Path cut into the cliff with a chain to hold on to.

Tonight I am in a more expensive hotel. I was welcomed with palinka (a clear plum brandy) and a pastry with apple in by the genial host. For dinner I had "mici", which means "small" but is actually like a sausage.

E3: Sohodol to Șuncuiuș: Day 86

Tree covered hills, valleys and grassland again.

A simple fence made of branches, wooded hills and a steep sided valley, typical of the area.

I walked down to the village of Sohodol, my boots gaining galoshes of sticky mud from the track. There was a shop in the village with a notice on the door which stated it would open at 8 am. Being a few minutes early I sat down to wait. A man came up trying to tell me something, maybe that the shop was not going to open.

The shop that did not open.

8 am came and went with no sign of activity so I climbed over the hill to the next village of Lazuri. There I noticed a building with a bench outside and a few men drinking coffee. There was no sign but thinking it might be a shop I peeped inside. I was rewarded with a coffee and a bar of chocolate which I enjoyed sitting on a bench. The coffee was of the expresso type and was served from a large thermos flask into small paper cups. Unusually the other men were quiet. As I walked through the houses loose horses were grazing on patches of grass around the village. A cow climbed down the bank of a brook that ran between parallel roads to drink. Hens pranced around on the verges. Climbing into the surrounding countryside I found signs referring to various outdoor activities. On trees there were small notices indicating routes for trail running, graded by colour, and others for cyclists. A larger sign described a "via ferrata" route, later I would pass the base of one. There were also caves, this being limestone country, and hiking routes waymarked with circles, stripes and triangles of different colours. Despite all these opportunities I was the only one today I saw enjoying my leisure time in the countryside. Maybe as I was later in the summer season.

I had a long day planned today to reach the accommodation I had booked in Șuncuiuș. On forest tracks I crossed many hills covered in beech and hornbeam, hills rather than the high mountains of earlier days, but there was still plenty of climbing up and down over the landscape. There were also areas of grass and bracken, the leaves of the latter beginning to yellow. Many trees were beginning to show a little colour with the approach of autumn. Tall summer flowers were now damp, black stems sticking up above the grass. At the end of a length of road, on a plain of grass, after a few obvious sinkholes, I found a shop at the edge of Damis where I bought a Coke and a croissant preserved in a plastic bag for lunch. A lady was cleaning boletus mushrooms outside while a man tried hard to engage me in conversation. He was unsuccessful as no matter how many times he repeated the Romanian words I still did not understand. I could have used Google Translate but I still had many miles to walk. The last part of my hike was along the base of a narrow wooded valley. This took me by one of the many caves in the area, Pestera Moanei. I climbed up to see the entrance and took a few steps inside. A sign suggested that bats lived there so I took care not to disturb them.

Cave entrance

After many crossings of the stream at the valley base using stepping stones I reached its end where a bridge crossed a milky green river. The bridge was supported by two thick metal cables below which the walkway was hung. It swayed precariously and the metal grating that I walked upon had been repaired many times, however the inch thick cables were stout enough. After a short walk on a gravel road down the wide gorge my route took me back across the river on a similar bridge. By this time I was close to Șuncuiuș and thought little more effort would be required. I was wrong. The route now led me up a steep, slippery slope out of the gorge between slabs of rock that formed the cliffs each side of this narrow valley. There was then a gentle slope down into town. However my efforts were not over. Booking.com showed my "Pensuinea" as being in the centre of town, in reality it was 30 minutes walk away not far from where I had recently crossed the river on a a wobbly bridge! On walking there I noticed a scallop shell symbol indicating I was touching on part of the "Way of Saint James" or the Camino de Santiago, I would be rejoining this route in France for the last part of my walk on the E3.

Wobbly bridge over river.

E3: Stâna de Vale to Sohodol: Day 85

A ridge path blocked by trees and brambles made for slow progress this morning, there was easier walking this afternoon.

View from the ridge.

By accident, not understanding what was being said to me in Romanian, I bought a punnet of raspberries in the restaurant last night, so I ate them for breakfast before a climb out of town on a tarmac road. A few kilometres up the road I turned off onto the E3 on a trail that rose through areas of trees and grass. I had concerns about this route as initially I was told by the SKV that it could be blocked, later they said it should be OK. At first it was on a reassuringly good forest track, unfortunately the E3 left this easy vehicle route, turning off onto a thin and patchy path. I was relying on the blue triangle waymarks to keep me on the right route, fortunately they were frequent....most of the time. The route became increasingly difficult as it followed the top of a forested ridge. Fallen trees blocked the path, and when one tree fell, it seemed to bring several others with it making large detours or a lot of climbing over logs necessary. Light then reached the forest floor causing brambles and saplings to burst into life hiding any path and often blocking progress. In addition the ridge became narrow with steep sides. Outcrops of rock had to be negotiated. Pushing through the undergrowth, climbing over rotting tree trunks and up and down steep slopes to find a way through was really sapping my energy. Matters were made worse by incessant, if light, rain. My waterproofs were making me hot, tears of sweat were falling down my cheeks and my glasses kept steaming up obscuring evidence of a possible path, should it exist. I was about to give up and turn back but I reasoned that there was a track down to a road somewhere ahead of me, which was nearer than the distance I would have to retrace my steps for over numerous areas of fallen trees. Consequently I continued on, and when I reached a joining track, matters greatly improved. 

Fallen trees and steep slopes each side of the ridge.

From then on the walking was easy, if muddy in places, on forest tracks which seemed to be kept open by ancient tractors and trailers cutting and collecting wood, one of which I passed. In future I would recommend anyone walking the E3 to follow the road north from Stâna de Vale, then turn west, uphill on the track marked by blue circles, this joins the E3 marked by blue triangles heading for Meziad.

Today there were many fire salamanders on the track, black lizards with yellow spots. I suppose they liked the rain.

Fire Slamander.

Meziad consisted of two parallel roads with a waterway between, lined with the single storey, red roofed houses characteristic of these villages. Tractors and other farm implements were left beside the concrete banks of the waterway. People were about along the length of this strung out village, ladies in head scarfs, men in working clothes, we exchanged nods or "buna's" as I passed. I had recorded in my notes that a shop might exist at the main junction with a road heading north. Under the concrete of an unfinished building, a convenience store did indeed hide. I was soon enjoying a Coke and a snack on a rough bench in the shelter of a concrete alcove that housed the door to the shop. A man tried to engage me in conversation while I was eating my cheese filled pastry. The lack of a common language made this a fruitless exercise. He tried a bit of mime, pointing to the sky, and up the road, but I was more interested in my pastry, especially as I feared he was offering me a bed for the night, out of the rain, which I would have had to politely refuse. I wanted to make some extra distance so as to reach Suncuius tomorrow, and continued for an extra hour or so. First I followed a narrow valley with fields of maize, then the track climbed to higher land. Here I found a desirable spot to camp, beside a quiet side path among heathland, not far from the next village of Sohodol.

E3: Padiș to Stâna de Vale: Day 84

A shorter day over the mountains to the empty resort of Stâna de Vale.

The way ahead

I again climbed into the mountains among spruce trees and meadows. People were about picking mushrooms from among the trees, their empty cars left beside the track. In one area of slopping grazing there were many small huts, too many to be shepherd huts but nor did they look like they were used for holidays. Two shepherds were driving a flock of red sheep. The sheep and I walked together for a while and on looking closer the red colour appeared to be some kind of dust that had been applied. As I climbed higher on stoney tracks the views openned up to include the mountains I had crossed, Mount Bihor was visible, those I was about to struggle up and down, and to the west, the edge of the Great Plain was appearing. Signs were often written in both Romanian and Hungarian, an indication that my next country was near. I admired the sky; there were puffed up, almost solid cumulus clouds below high altitude, ethereal, smeared out clouds set in a blue surround. Sadly rain is forecast for tomorrow.

Cloudscape

After several summits, my route descended to a gravel road that I followed into Stâna de Vale. The road was unexpectedly busy, perhaps with people taking their mushrooms to be sold. Just before Stâna de Vale there was a waterfall, artificially constructed with boulders and cement over which water cascaded down via a series of pools. Steps climbed around it on both sides. A man there seemed to be trying to find out which football team I supported. The English Premier League is popular here, sadly for him I am not interested in football.

Stâna de Vale is a curious place. In theory it has many attractions but they are all closed, perhaps because it is an out of season ski resort. There is also a monastery, or at least a church. The Stations of the Cross, a shrine and nativity are the best kept parts of the town, decorated with fresh geraniums. I saw the lady responsible tending to the plants in the porch of the church. There is a big hotel, and my accommodation is in an annex. I was the only one eating in the large restaurant tonight. Although Stâna de Vale is run-down with at least one derelict building and unfinished roads, at least the dogs were indolent, not seeing me as someone worth barking at. The tinkling of bells, hung on the necks of cows grazing on the grass in front of the hotel, added a cheery note to a rather depressing scene.