no way
By loading the map, you agree to Google's privacy policy.
Learn more
This post is about a 32km walk from Tismana to Rasoviţa. I learn that I have to change my route, and I end up sleeping next to a graveyard.
I don’t go back to the monastery. Instead I have tea with Alexandra and John, a couple from Bucharest who are renting a bungalow close by.
the plan
The way to Runcu goes up and down like ripples on the ocean, and it wears me out. But the thought of getting a guest house and resting for two days before my ascent into the mountains keeps me going.
When I arrive it’s already past sunset. I go to a guest house that looks huge and fancy, and I ask for the price. Huge and fancy indeed. I keep walking. At the next guest house I inquire about the road into the mountains before I make a decision.
the information
This is when I learn that the road that I have been planning to take really isn’t for me. It’s only asphalt for a few kilometers, they tell me, then it’s a steep gravel path that even a jeep can’t handle for sure.
I decide to go to a bar and get a second opinion. It’s not really a bar. Two dudes and a woman are sitting under a light bulb in front of a shop and drink. I ask them about the road and they, too, shake their heads. Impossible, they say.
Impossible is nothing! I want to reply but then I remember that that’s a cliché and that you’re supposed to listen to the people who know aka the locals. One of the dudes buys me a beer, and we sit in the light of the light bulb and look at the road.
the decision
I decide to keep going, to not get a room, to not rest, and to take a different way through the mountains. I leave the road and start walking through the fields.
It’s dark. The night makes the sounds more clear. I walk without my light because I want to keep my eyes used to the darkness. There is a thunderstorm behind the mountains. I can see it sometimes, and sometimes I can hear the soft rumble of thunder. I am a bit worried about where I will sleep. The dirt path has no options, only fields and more fields.
the water and the graves
I turn the light on after a while, and it’s good that I do, because there’s water ahead. First I can only hear the frogs burping in the darkness, and I suspect that something is wrong. Then I step into something soft, and it makes a slurping sound. It takes me a while to get around the water in the darkness.
When I’m finally back on the road I keep walking for a little while, then I see a cemetery in the distance and decide to pitch my tent next to its gate.
pictures
the walk from Tismana to Rasoviţa:
the hotel ruins near Tismana
the residential quarters in Tismana Monastery
the Caboose in a forest
these are everywhere in Romania right now
sad memorial
village house in Romania
the road to walk from Tismana to Rasoviţa
gravel road near Tismana
man with water tower
horse
forest road near Gureni
near Valea Mare
villagers in Valea Mare
the road to Runcu
path through the fields near Rumcu
water on the path
graveyard
stellanator
get a night light that doesn’t ruin your night vision
“A study out of New Zealand shows that low-intensity red light or green light helps preserve your night vision and reduce recovery time, once white light illumination is turned off. Low-intensity red light or green light leaves night vision ready once the high-intensity light is turned off.”
https://preparednessadvice.com/color-light-use-night-protect-night-vision/