Roads

In Bulgaria, the condition of the roads was always close to a driver's heart.  Driving there needed lightening quick reactions to see an imminent pothole and take evasive action.  It is a skill that all Bulgarian drivers acquire very early on. I thought I'd seen some bad roads around Kozloduy and in similar remote spot.  But now, in Romania, I have been taken to new heights.

Yesterday I returned from the coast and decided to NOT take the boring motorway but to take a more scenic route.  That was the good part of the idea. The road was clearly defined on the map (Route 86, joining E87 to 2A, near Mihail Kogălniceanu).  It started off a bit rough but then got worse - why didn't I turn back?  Because I figured it couldn't get any worse...

I thought I'd take a picture of a bad bit (see right).  However this turned out to be one of the least damaged parts of this 4 km stretch. If the rest had been like this, it would have been easy. 

It genuinely looked like it had recently been bombed by NATO in a training exercise.  The car seems to have survived though the low front end took some impacts.  It was like a test track for tanks. 

It is the season generally here for road repairs.  That, and the painting of white around tree trunks, signifies the onset of spring. The ring road around the NE and SE or Bucharest has some 'challenges', especially in the dark.  They were filling the bigger holes in recently when I did the trip.  This amounted to a moving operation where one guy identified the crater to be filled and the next shoveled in some loose tarmac.  They relied on the following cars to compress it.  I am sure those repairs will last some time.  

Road damage is everywhere in Romania.  The motorway to Cernavoda from Bucharest has such damage in the far right lane to be capable of ripping off a wheel.  They are currently patching the patches. 

And don't get me started on biking on the roads....!