A few stats: about 22 km, about 1167 m elevation gain, about 9:30 hours with breaks. We took the Ciumarna stamp from near borna 30, and the Vatra Moldovitei stamp from the bar across the street from La Banditi.
I had such good sleep in the tent, maybe also because of the lack of rest before this. The tent was warm, only a bit cold at the feet in the morning, since I didn’t put my warm socks on before going to bed.
Feeling good, just a bit of muscle pain in my left leg, shin, and ankle, and a bit of contact discomfort at the hips and shoulders.
All in all, in good spirits at the start of day 2.
This was the day we shared the trail with two other hikers from Bucuresti, we kept passing one another and saying a few words each time we crossed paths. The day before, we had been on the same train as a group of four hikers from Bucuresti and a couple from France. We had also said hi to a biker and a solo hiker.
There was a hard uphill section that gave my head time to meditate. This day was quite nice, lots of nature, lots of berries: blackberries, raspberries, and wild strawberries.
This day’s trail takes you to the edge of Ciumarna, where you can get the stamp and also have a few words with the locals. We were offered poale-n brau, which is a kind of traditional pie.
On this day we had to cross a herd of cows with guard dogs. They did bark, but didn’t come close to us, they were just doing their job protecting their animals, without being a threat to us hikers.
We also had to descend a hill on gravel, and I slipped and fell on my left knee, just a little scrape, all good.
We also learned how mother cows call their calves, and vice versa, they were so cute, watching the calves run to their mothers. In our minds, we imagined the mother cows scolding the calves for wandering so far and telling them it was time to come home.
The trail took us to a clearing on a hill, where cows were grazing on their own, it was so idyllic, so peaceful.
We camped at La Banditi, where they had two cute dogs, a German shepherd and one whose breed I don’t know, but the second one stayed with us while we had dinner, so cute. We also had access to a toilet and shower.
And this was the day the craving for french fries began. I always crave french fries after hiking, so I knew this is how I wanted to celebrate the end of our hike on Via Transilvanica.