Weather: ☀️☀️☀️🌥️🌤️
Lunch: 🥪🥪🥪 (3 out 5, in the shade with bread, next to the supermarket in Pomi)
Track: 🇷🇴🇷🇴 (2 out of 5, track through forest, roadwalk through villages and an interesting bridge…)
Campsite: ⛺⛺⛺ (3 out of 5, flat spot next to the hotel, that was accidentally fully booked despite our reservation)
Name of followed trail: – (own detour carei-baia mare)
After an ofcourse bearless night with light sleep because of the warmth, we get up and pack our gear. Because we stopped early yesterday, we need to walk 35 kilometers today. Luckily, the first 12 kilometers are in the forest. In the shade, with some turns it’s a lot more interesting to walk. We also see some shelters along the way. Seeing a little bit of hiker-infrastructure is reassuring, since we haven’t seen any other hikers since Kosice! I almost started to wonder if there was any hiking in Romania.
After the forest, we unfortunately return to roadwalking again. We spend our time watching and rating the different crucifixes in the landscape. We’ve by now seen thousands of them throughout Europe! Some are skillfully made by hand others come from concrete molds, or are sawed out of planks of wood. On the road to Pomi we walk in the freshest tarmac we’ve ever walked on. It’s even still sticky and warm, with the rollers flattening the surface right in front of us!
In Pomi we find a supermarket where we have our lunch at one of the outside tables.
From Pomi we continue on the new tarmac to the next village and then into the fields. It’s hot and we are getting tired on this long day. Luckily we’re almost there. We just need to cross a bridge and walk 2 kilometers!
When we get to the bridge, we see an old conveyor belt across the river, with a maintenance bridge attached. It seems structurally sound, and well used, but visually it has a limited appeal for me to cross it, however photogenic it may be. I now understand why google maps didn’t mention it as an option, yet Komoot does…
Slowly, we get across. Probably laughed at by the locals that cross it like any other bridge..😅Relieved to be across, we walk the final kilometers to Cicarlau, to check in to our hotel. When we get there, the lady at the hotel tells us they are fully booked. But I have a reservation! Apparently, this didn’t get through… after showing the reservation and explaining that we are on foot, and already 35 km on our way today, they try to find a solution. They offer us a ride to a nearby guesthouse (which has space). We appreciate the offer, but we rather stay here. So we ask if we can pitch our tent. They look a bit baffled by this suggestion, but they are happy to assist in this. So instead of our hotel room, we get a night of free camping next to the restaurant 😅. We’re sorry that we don’t get to take a shower, but happy with the option to stay here.
We have a nice meal and a Palinka, before we take time to relax and get some sleep.