Day 169, Faraoane valley -Vatra Dornei

Weather: ☁️⛅⛅⛅⛅
Picnic: 🥪🥪🥪🥪 (4 out 5, wraps and cheese from the cheese farm!)
Track: 🇷🇴🇷🇴🇷🇴 (3 out of 5, mostly easy going 4×4 track with some slippery parts and a cheese farm as an added bonus)
Hotel: 🛏️🛏️🛏️ (3 out of 5, ok appartement in the city centre)
Name of followed trail: E8

We wake up to a beautiful sunrise after a bit of a restless night. The both of us had to climb back up on our mattresses due to the angle of the tent. In the middle of the night I needed to get out of the tent to pee, but I heard some animal noises that really made me want to stay inside! Not sure ifit was bear or boar, but I sure didn’t want to check!

I woke Mark and we made noise together. This was enough to make the animal leave. But I still needed to get out of the tent…

So the sunrise is a welcome thing to watch. We start on our 18 kilometer walk to Vatra Dornei.

We mainly go downhill today, sometimes on a very slippery track, due to yesterday’s rain. We do enjoy the beautiful views we get, with the cloudy valley below us.

We walk past a house, where an old lady comes down to us and asks if we want some cheese. Ofcourse we do! So she takes us along towards her house, past the big barking dogs, who are luckily tied up 😅.

We also meet the man of the house. With translation on the phone, we can communicate enoygh to make it work. We enjoy the hospitality of the farmers couple and get some fresh cheese, and even fresher cheese to eat. It’s all delicious! They also offer us some pieces of cheese to buy. We go for a small round, smoked cheese. Before we leave I ask if I can take a few pictures. They pose like it’s a. official portrait, and the man rushes inside to get his hat 😂.

Before we leave, we get a bit of extra cheese for ‘on the road’. When Mark hugs the lady, she’s first a but wary, but then a smile from ear to ear brightens her face 😄. We say our goodbyes and head to Vatra Dornei after this hart warming, confusing, wonderful intermezzo.

Meeting people like this is what traveling is about! The rough night is forgotten, and the day seems brighter. So happy a d grateful for all the beautiful things we get to see, the people we meet and the things we can do ♥️!

We have lunch, with the cheese and wraps and dry our soaking wet tent, before we get to Vatra Dornei.

When we get there, we walk to our appartment. It’s in an old building, but the appartment is nice enough.

We first relax a bit and take a shower, before we go into town for some coffee and some shopping. We find less shops than we would have hoped for, but we’ll see to that tomorrow. I start with our planning dor the next section, which proves challenging. There are less huts along the way, and after the disturbed night yesterday, I’d like to have one. The rest of this struggle is as also for tomorrow. First, get some sleep!