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When we arrived in Romania we immediately noticed the condition of the roads and how the vast majority of them had not been maintained over the years. In the picture of Jim’s bike at right you can see a section or road in front of his bike that appears to be covered with rocks.
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In the picture below, taken a few moments later, you can see that the road surface is in fact gone and that the road is now just dirt, rocks and stones. From the way the dirt and stones appeared on all of the areas like this that we encountered we think that the dirt and stone material was deliberately dumped into the area where the road surface had deteriorated and this was the method used for many years to repair sections of bad road.
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Unfortunately road conditions of this type were not an isolated occurance. We encountered too many road conditions like this to remember them all. We were told by a gentelman we met at a motel we stayed at the night before we encountered this section of road that the government is working hard to improve the road infrastructure in the country and hopes to have all the roads rebuilt or resurfaced, as needed, by 2005. We left the motel and encountered this section of road. He had warned us that the road conditon in the direction we were going was bad. He was passing by as we were taking the pictures above and stopped, got out of his car and offered to take a picture of us and the bikes. As he was getting back in his car to leave he held up the flag he had in the car, below right.
With conditions like these being so prevelant we could not travel a a very high rate of speed because we never know if conditions like this, or worse, existed around the next bend in the road. And, of course, the vehicles on the road all want to ride in the area that is the smoothest so it is not at all uncommon to come around a corner and find that not only is the road surface dirt and rock but that you are facing another vehicle head on.
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We encountered several road construction crews that were engaged in paving the roads. In one case the method being used to pave the road was something we had not encountered before. In the picture at left you can see the incredible smoke producing machine that was engaged in picking up old material from the macadam surface that had been chewed up by a different piece of equipment. This material was then heated and combined with stones that the machine blends into the material at the same time it heats it to form a product that is immediately dumped into a different machine that puts down a new layer of road surface. The truck to the right of the smoke belching machine was connected by a hose and was transfering material that we suspect was used to fire the system that heated the material as it was recycled into new paving material.
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At one point when we were headed west to the Blak Sea we were looking for a road out of the town of Braila that would take us to a car ferry that would carry us across the Dunarea River. Fortunately there were some signs in Bralia pointing the way to the next large town on the highway we wanted. But, having followed them we knew that we were suffering once again from having missed seeing a sign or that there was no sign when the road we were traveling on came to an end at the rivers edge in a large dirt and rock area. Fortunately there were some locals in the area on foot who pointed us to a path that led out of the open area on the righ side. This path ran along side the river for about 100 meters (300 feet) at which point it made an abrupt left turn and descended down the river bank where a barge was being loaded with vehicles wanting to cross the river.
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We were very happy that it was not raining. Trying to negotiae the dirt road as well as the smooth steel deck (it did have some steel rebar strips wilded to it) would have been extremely difficult and dangerous if it was wet. It is hard to judge from this angle but the space between the barge and the dock it was attached to was between 6 and 8 inches, depending on how much the barge and dock moved up and down with the flow of the river.
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Also, with the truck on the left side of the barge the right side of the barge was much higher off the floating dock than the left. Getting off on the other side was even more of a challenge because of the way the barge was listing to one side when it was our turn to ride off because a second truck has been put on the barge behind the one in the picture above. We were also lucky that we arrived when we did because the schedule for the “ferry” is very flexible - it sails when it is fully loaded. We think that it probably sat on the other side for a few hours before it returned given that there were no cars there when we got off and we only passed two cars on the road in the next 30 or so kilometers on the only road that led out of the area where the ferry docked.
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Once we got on the barge we were immediately greeted by the gentleman in the pictue at right asking us if we wanted to purchase a piece of bread. Well, that’s what we think he said. It was past 1:00 PM in the afternoon and we had not stopped for luch yet so we accepted his offer and purchased a piece of bread that was similar to a pretzel in that it had large pieces of salt on it. But the diameter was much larger than any pretzel we have seen, about an inch and a half in diameter in the shape of a circle that was about 6 inches in diameter. It was very good and it is a good thing we bought it because we did not find a restaurant until the next large town and by then it was 2:45 in the afternoon.
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And then there are the animals that wander about freely on the large majority of the roads. We encountered horses, milk cows, cattle, sheep, goats, chickens and lots of dogs all roaming about freely along the road side. One day two dogs came out of a ditch along the road and started chasing Verna. We were not going very fast and it was likely that they would catch her and do goodness only knows what. Fortunately we were in a position where we could speed up just enough to keep them behind us and they gave up the chase. On several occasions Jim thought that he was going to have chicken for dinner because the chickens came out into the road to close to his bike the right cyclinder head almost hit them.
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One interesting item to note that may not be too evident in these pictures is that unless there is a large town the homes are all built along the highway. By this we mean that most of the time there are no side roads that lead to more houses. We rode for miles and miles with homes on each side of the road. Behind the homes are fields of crops. It appears that it was much easier to build your home by the road - this way you did not have to construct a road to get to your home. With all the humanity so close to the highway children are playing in the road constantly as well as the animals roaming freely about as well (horses, chickens, cows, cattle, dogs) and the numerous bicycles and an unbelieveable number of pedistrians driving is a real challenge. Oh yes, did we mention all of the horse, donkey or oxen drawn wagons that are too numerous to count? The wagon at right is quite typical.
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Mostly the wagons have been constructed using old car axles that are lashed together using pieces of lumber of whatever length is needed. Most of the wagons we have encountered tend to be about 10 to 15 feet (3 to 5 meters) long. Most, like the one pictured at left are pulled by one horse but we encountered many being pulled by two horses and several that were pulled by oxen.
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With all these animals on the road there was one other thing that was on all of the roads also. Yes, the remnants of large animals who have passed before us. And what happens when it rains and all of this wonderfull outfall gets wet and mixed with the rain water? Why it gets churned up by all of the cars and trucks on the road and gets sprayed on anything that is nearby. Sufferable if you are in your car - you can have the car washed to get the stuff off. Not so good if you are on your mototcycle! We wonder what impact this is having on the health of the people.
Only in the very center of the cities did we encounter signs that specifically prohibited horses and wagons.
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