Transalpina

Day 5 of Roadtrip: The Transalpina Highway.

This road was not mentioned by Topgear, but has since been classed as better than the Transfăgărășan by other people. Notably this video which I repeatedly watched before this trip to get me in the mood.

Splitting from the Audi and 850 (as they needed washing before vinyls were to be applied) the rest of us (the Saab and the little runabouts) headed off for the Transalpina. The Lipguna headed off to die elsewhere.

It took a while to get to the start of the Transalpina; we had driven parts of it and the Transfăgărășan on the first day on the Jiului loop, but even so we had to avoid the motorways as some hadn't paid the road tax to use them when entering the country.
However once we had cleared the main roads and the bumpy sections we were used to, it quickly smoothed out. The rain came down and the Saab required some quick nut-checking and tightening - glad I am used to the feeling so it wasn't anywhere near as bad as last year. Obviously the rain stopped a few seconds after we got back in after this, but who cares - all of these are small issues in the grand scheme. Because this road is something else.

The newly paved nature of it did help to make it stand out from everything prior, but an entire mountain road of swooping curves, dips and crests and some of the best scenery I've ever seen from a car. certainly helped as well. This road made it worthwhile coming out to Romania. The Transfăgărășan has absolutely nothing on it.

Once we had reached the top and admired the view for a while, I had a ride and a drive of the (pictured) Peugeot 205. To me this really was a perfect car on a perfect road. Driving this thing was incredible frankly - the engine revs more freely than anything I've ever driven and it truly loves to be thrown about. Its not the fastest, its not the most composed but by god is it the most fun I've ever had on the road.

On the way down we stopped to admire how un-circular the 850's wheels now were by changing a flat tyre. The decent roads were over though so it was a relaxing drive to the main road (in the 205 still) until changing over and heading out to Targu Jiu. A pain to find the hotel, but it was nice to do so.

And a frankly very nice couple of beers and pizza for a late dinner. As I've said before - the company really makes these trips and this year has definitely been better than the last.

Sadly my bowels decided something was not so great and the night was not peacefully slept through. At least we were in a hotel and not camping. Such a shame for a terrible ending to such a perfect day.