July 2-4, Timisoara to Baile Herculane

We cycled into Baile Herculane (Baths of Hercules) yesterday. As the name implies, this is a spa town, prized since Roman times for the medicinal properties of its hot, sulphurous springs. Today it survives as a sad relic -- 240 km and 40 years behind Timisoara. The beautiful 19th century buildings of the original spa resort are crumbling, derelict shells, while a new town stretches down the road -- seedy bars, motels, tourist shops and a market selling cheap plastic sandals (and, incongruously, Astrakhan hats). Think of Blackpool in the 1960s. This morning some of us hiked up the steep mountainside behind the hotel for a view of the town and valley. It looks very beautiful from a distance.

We have had just two days of riding since our last rest day, with an overnight stop in the small town of Resita. We rode as a group out of Timisoara on Wednesday; the first 30k or so along a busy, dangerous highway lined with rubbish and the uncollected carcases of dead animals. Then, thankfully, we turned off onto a country road leading into an increasingly hilly and beautiful countryside (punctuated occasionally by derelict factories) -- the Western foothills of the Carpathian mountain range. The hotel in Resita was on the main square opposite an elaborate modern fountain, but the plumbing inside the hotel provided only a cold, rusty trickle. Although clearly bemused by the influx of sweaty foreign cyclists, the staff were most friendly, and a live band played for us during dinner.

We set out very early on Thursday for one of the more challenging cycling days of the tour -- 130km through the Carpathian hills. Most of the climbing was in the cool of the morning. After 30km or so up and down again through the small village of Anina we seemed to enter a different world: Stunning scenery, untouched by industry or mechanized agriculture. The farming communities were in the midst of haymaking using the tools and methods unchanged in centuries -- big wooden rakes, haystacks, and horses and carts. Our passage created quite a stir, with children and adults waving and cheering. No cafes and hardly any shops, so we had two rest stops with refreshments during the day. The road was very rough; so far in Romania, good surfaces are associated with dangerous traffic, low traffic with dangerous surfaces... One final mountain pass, then a stretch of busy highway, and finally Baile Herculane, stretched like a ribbon deep in the folds of a narrow valley. The ride in gave us a good picture of the town -- commercial centre, then seedy tourist area, then crumbling spa resort lined up one after another along 6km of riverbank... and the pleasant, modern Hotel Ferdinand to end the day.

Romanian food is plain but good, and service is glacially slow. The menus read like specification sheets -- long lists of foods with weights and prices. Every item is ordered separately on a per-person basis (no sharing!) -- meat, vegetable(s), sauce, etc. You get precisely what you order; caveat emptor. The staple foods seem to be chicken and pork, with excellent pancakes for dessert.