A day after our swim in the Black Sea we knew that the inevitable end to our trip was coming. We had after all reached our destination which was the sea itself, and now we slowly rode closer towards Poland with every kilometer.

We had planned around 3 more days of riding around Romania when my Triumph riding friends remembered they had an event to attend back in Poland that weekend. We decided to part ways so that they can ride home in a hurry while I stick around and visit a couple more places on the tourist must-see check list. Before leaving, Bosy marked up a route for me on the map, wished me good luck, and for the first time on this trip I was left all alone. Just me and the Tramp.

I was off to a rocky start. First, I got pulled over for speeding the very next town but got off with a warning which slowed me down considerably for the reaming of the trip. Then it started to rain, and that’s just when the asphalt ended, again, and the inter-city road turned into a dirt road through water soaked woods. Mountain side on the left, raging river on the right, mud and storm fallen trees all over the place, and me all alone sweating bullets hoping that I don’t fall over. I had laid down my Trasnalp once so far, gently on a parking lot due to a side stand mishap, and picking up a loaded motorcycle was a bitch then. Getting it upright in mud would most likely be next to impossible all alone. Falling was not an option, and that’s the only thought that went through my mind as I slid in mud kilometer after kilometer. Talk about conquering my fears! With time the road got a little better and that’s when I had a chance to actually look around, and wow, what beauty all around!

I wanted to kiss the asphalt when I finally reached it some 3 hours later. But that also didn’t mean the end of the road for me. The asphalt was just a tease and a foot deep water covered potholes were the norm. At one point I stopped trying to avoid these puddles and simply sped up to fly right over them. This worked most of the time, I got completely soaked when it didn’t. But here’s what it looked like as the day was coming to an end.

I spent the night at the first pension/boarding house I found in a city nearby. No price haggling, no dinner, just a hot shower and a warm bed. My first experience in riding alone sucked.

I took off early in the morning for the Barsana monastery. The complex includes the Church of the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple which was built in 1720 and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The church features some of the most representative baroque indoor murals in the Maramures region.