A number of utes and small trucks went past this morning both up
and down the valley. Washing was duly done and rinsed in the quite
cold river water. The plan today was to drive till we got some sun
and somewhere to hang the washing up.
Leaving our camp we
drove up river. The road quite rough in places and where they had
dragged the logs out very muddy.
Came across two
small areas of seedling pines I guess to plant out as renewable wood.
A very lovely drive. Every so often a picnic table would be perched
above the river. I assume for the guys logging.
The small creeks are walled in with concrete with just a slit up the middle to let the water through. Not at all sure why?
As we got a little
higher in altitude the road became quiet gorgeous with its dropped
leaves and switch backs. I got out and took some photos of John
driving up. This little road we
were on is an orange road on our Map so we thought it’d be a good
road.It once was with guard rails and all.
Towards the end of
our road we came across a marble/limestone quarry and further down
the valley was all the associated works, cutting, crushing,
polishing, carving, etc.
At Sarmizegetusa we
looked into a camp site but cost $10 so we continued just down the
road where an old amphitheater was. We had a bit to eat at the
restaurant, sharing a vegie soup and fried pork and greasy chips.
Soup was good.
Spent about one hour wondering around the site of Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa one of the oldest Roman settlements in Romania.
As it was time to
find a camp. We drove in towards the Retezat
National Park, and found a little camp down on the river to hang
our clothes out. We sat in the sun for the hour before the
sun hid itself behind the hill. It gets cold very quickly when the
sun is gone. Very little traffic and the road is not well looked
after. A bit strange with a hydro electric dam further upstream.
92km Camp
site