Mountain kids

It wasn’t the nicest day ever when I got up – there was the threat of looming thunderstorm. I was nevertheless hopeful and started going up a mountain pass, towards Baia Mare (Nagybanya). Don’t ask me what made me do it, I seem never to learn, but after doing some 10 miles uphill, I left the paved road for an unpaved one. The main motivation was that my map shoved a scenic road, however, I had to cover an hour or so on a bad road. With all the bike problems I had behind me, I had to be really optimistic to even think about it – but then there I was, pushing uphill on rocks, in mud and in dust.

Then, all of a sudden, I turn around and from behind comes a huge layer of fog and suddenly I could hardly see where to go. It was pretty persistent, covering the surroundings, keeping the visibility to about 50 meters. Not too bad, but definitely not suitable for a scenic route. I reached a plateau, where I could actually take a picture or two, wishing for the sun to come – it never did. Another few kilometers and I was at the summit, where there was a small skiing resort; of course closed, it was end of June after all, though it did not appear to be that way judging from the weather. There was a hotel, when the care-taker came to see why his dogs were barking, we chatted in Hungarian. Then I was about to leave, when I saw a dozen of kids or so on the road and an adult with them. He spoke perfect Hungarian and told me he was an outdoorsy guy, biking, hiking, ski-instruction, mountain rescuer – so rather interesting. He explained he organizes a summer camp for kids, teaching them the life in the mountains. He invited me into the wooden hut, offered me some hot tea (it wasn’t too warm outside), when I heard a saw a huge thunderbolt and it started raining cats and dogs.

So I became a guest and of course I quickly made friends with the kids, showing them all the card and other tricks I know, they were very happy to have these and then played the tricks on me. It was then time for lunch and I was invited to dine with them. Just after lunch, the rain died, and I was about to leave, when it picked up again and would not stop for another hour. So it was only around 4 that I said my good-bye’s to my little friends and then it was all downhill on a paved road – all the way to Baia Mare.

It was a stop and go what the rain was concerned, nothing too bad, but nothing too good either, not the kind of weather one would dream about. The city itself is a historic one, very nicely renovated, I saw signs proclaiming that Petofi (the famous Hungarian poet) had slept there, Sissy had a house somewhere and Horthy, a negative figure of Hungarian history, comes from there, too. A measure to boost my morale was necessary and I went to a shiny cake shop and had not one, but three cakes, next to some cheese rolls and two bottles of tonic water. It was delicious and felt much better after consuming it all.

With the added energy, I left the town and started westwards, in the general direction of the Hungarian border. It was rather flat, most of the Carpathians being behind me. It rode by some historic mansions, some renovated, others very much waiting to be. It got dark, but I kept riding and riding. Suddenly, there was a big WHACK, I did not notice that the road took a turn and I accidentally entered a dirt road. I felt somewhat lost and tired, thinking about putting up my tent, but the surroundings did not feel too inviting. I saw some lights in the distance, only to find that the next hotel was two cities away. Some folks on the road kept telling me ‘bridge, bridge’, but I so no sign whatsoever of any bridge.

I was lucky to find some youngster with their ATV and asked them if they spoke English, not expecting the best outcome. One of the kids asked, ‘yes, how can I help you?’…phew, I explained I was looking for a bridge. ‘Follow me’, he said, and we set off in the darkness. There was a turn in the road which I had missed, but it was a minor road; till we reached a very narrow bridge, built only for pedestrians. I thanked him, crossed it and after some searching, finally found a hotel; this was in the city of Ulmeni. It was after 11 pm.

The only issue was that they did not have a room. However, the owner asked me if I had a tent and he allowed me to put up the tent in the backyard. As I was putting up the tent, he brought me not less than three glasses of schnaps….so I did not have any trouble falling asleep.