A few stats: about 25 km, about 565 m elevation gain, about 8:30 hours with breaks. We took the Bistrita Bargaului stamp from Atelier de paine traditionala.
We walked a lot in the sun.
The day started very nicely, as we waited a bit to see the start of the race, we saw the start of the 10 km cross. Then we started our hike, which for part of the way overlapped with where the half marathon would finish. We wished good luck to the runners we met near the starting line, who were waiting for their start time, and we continued our hike.
We met two locals, such nice people, we talked a bit with them and got some encouraging words. We also met two German hikers, and a bit further along, another local we exchanged a few words with.
We also got to cheer on some runners as they got closer to the finish and we were on the same trail. It felt so nice, to feel part of a community. I didn’t expect them to answer or talk to us, since it was hot and they’d been running for a while, but they also encouraged us and wished us a good hike. It was so nice.
Then we got to the hydration station, where the Tasuleasa volunteers made us feel unwelcome. We were already standing to the side of the trail to leave the runners plenty of room, since we know how hard running is, but instead of a greeting or a kind word, all they said was for us to get out of the way. I thought that was pretty rude, especially since we were already at the edge of the trail.
Anyway, we stood there a bit longer to cheer on a few more runners before getting back on our trail.
We stopped at the Valea Strajii restaurant, where we met the Italian group again, and where we had tripe soup, very good, and a meat platter. Then back into the sun for quite a while, until we got close to Bistrita Bargaului, where once again we met kind people who gave us encouraging words and stopped what they were doing to talk to us.
We also met two bikers from Constanta, doing Via Transilvanica bit by bit. This time they wanted to get to Bistrita Bargaului.
We camped at Atelier de paine traditionala, where the woman of the house was so nice, she made us hot pies, and the next morning she made us sandwiches. Her kids were great too, the boy (well…man) made us coffee, and we got to talk a bit more with the girl (well…woman), who’d done the half marathon at Tasuleasa. All in all, such a wholesome experience, and we want to go back when she has a bread workshop.