Weather: ⛅⛅⛅⛅
Lunch: 🥪🥪🥪🥪🥪 (5 out 5, rolls at Ioan and coffee at Zen in Sebes)
Track: 🇷🇴🇹🇩🇹🇩 (3 out of 5, nice trail through the cities of Alba Iulia and Sebes, tough sticky clay track through the fields in the hills at the munti rossi. Last part through beautiful autumn forest)
Hotel: 🛏️🛏️🛏️🛏️ (4 out of 5, nice room, good food, friendly host and a jacuzzi!)
Name of followed trail: Via Transilvanica
Time to get hiking again after 2 days of rest. We start around 8.30, but with a detour through the citadel and a few coffees at Centro Coffee Roasters (including a small tour at the roastery), we leave Alba Iulia around 10.00. On a 35 km hiking day, this means short breaks to make sure we get to our destination before sunset.
From Alba Iulia we hike towards Sebes through the hills. After yesterday’s rain, the clay soil of the tracks got really sticky, so our soles fill up with compacted lumps of clay every 10 steps. It’s a tiring process of hiking, removing lumps, hiking removing lumps, etc.
The landscape is pretty, but the sticky track makes for a few challenging kilometers. We do enjoy the view we get of the Red mountains, beautiful red and pink rock formations close to Sebes.
We hike into Sebes and find a bakery there, close to a cafe. a perfect combination for lunch!
From Sebes we continue through the fields (again sticky clay) to our destination of Piano de Sus. We enjoy the autumn colors of the forest on the hills and the beautiful view we have over the valley. The last few kilometers we hike through the forest. Our favorite part of the trail today!
In Piano de Sus, we find our hotel and are welcomed by our very friendly hosts. After putting our bags down, we get dinner and of course… Palinka 😅
After dinner, we get the offer of using the jacuzzi. We can’t say no to that! So we relax in the jacuzzi for a while, before we shower off and go to bed.