I took a short trip over the last few days to have another attempt at the Transfagarasan Highway which runs across the Carpathian Mountains. I'd previously foolishly attempted this in November 2013 (see previous blog). This time, in summer and, having checked there were no scheduled closures, we tried again.
It's a drive from here to Bucharest, then Ploiesti then Brasov as a stopping off point. Taking the road west from there gets you to the northern point of the highway.
This is the road travelling by the Top Gear team - which they reckoned was the best road in the world for driving. I'm not sure how they came to that decision although the Romanian Tourist Board probably helped them along the way...the cars they used were probably very unsuitable for most of that road (90% probably) so it makes you wonder logistically how they did it. From N to S, it is about 120 km with some 30 (I estimate) on the pass itself.
The route up from the north is the most spectacular. Last November it was icy with the lake at the top iced over. Now the area around the lake was just full of stalls selling cheese, goat skins, sausage and tat. The view was still impressive though! However, to our relief, the big iron gate in the tunnel at the top was open this time (it's a long way back down). South of the summit was very scenic but with fewer acute bends and so less dramatic. Eventually it leveled out along the edge of a man-made lake which, driving through trees not being able to see the lake got a bit tiring (and boring) after a while. Despite the warning signs, no bears were seen stealing picnic baskets.
So - done. Spectacular over the top (even in a VW Passat) but a long trip, especially south heading into Curtea de Argeş which was just very industrial. I'd seriously like to know how the TG lot got their three cars up there...they seem to gloss over such details in the programme!
