2 April 2018.
Again, I have booked my flight to Cluj for another leg of walking towards Greece. 

Having returned from the Danube northern shores in full summer temperature (+27o C) at the end of October last year, I will take the bus from Cluj back to Bechet, where there is a ferry to cross the mighty river in the morning of 19 April.

Oryahovo will be the starting point on the southern shores. Probably, I will hitchhike up the steep hills and a bit onto the road to Knezja, a village where I hope to find accommodation. We are now in Bulgaria. Wow!

17 Oct 2017. Once again I landed in Cluj Napoca. Very foggy and clouds but by noon the sky came clear. Wonderful colours in the woods, I met more neutral brownish in the hilly grasslands heading south via Alba Iulia and across the Carpathian mountains (again). Last May, Staffan G and I struggled down a 1,5 m snowy ravine from 1800 m asl. 

Cluj, Romania 8 May 2017
Thanks all of you who made my trip possible across the South Carpathian Mountains especially Staffan, my walking friend from Floda, Sweden. But certainly, man Romanians like Paul in Alba (Castle Hostel) and his father who drove us to our starting point in Pianu de Sus after we learned at the bus station that the 08:00 bus was in operation only during school periods and now was two weeks leave.

25 april. Now is the day before departure for Malmoe and Cluj Napoca with my friend Staffan. We will walk together from a village south of Alba Iulia to, hopefully, reach the town of Targu Jiu ten days later. Not sure of accommodation in the mountains (the Carpathes) Staffan will carry a tent. He is young (61) and an experienced full backpack hiker. Photos will follow.

Den 24 september 2016 flög jag från Malmö till Cluj Napoca. Planen var att ta mig över bergen till Alba Iulia väster om huvudvägen. Litet oväntat blev det bara en kortare och tre "riktiga" men långa, sköna och ansträngande vandringsdagar. Cluj-Floresti-Tauti-Vlaha dag 1 - buss till Iara-Ocolisel-Ocolis-buss till Salciua de Jos-Sub Piatra (Under klippan) dag 2 - Cheia (lift en bit med en munk i hans jeep) - Modolesti - (lift en bit) Poiana Galdei dag 3 - lift tillbaka till Modolesti - Necrilesti - Lunca Ampoitei - Remetea - lift in till Alba Iulia dag 4. Nu hade jag slitet hårt på mitt högra meniskopererade knä, för hårt, och det blev en vilodag i Alba och två nätter på ett trevligt Hostel i centrum. Besökte Gamla stan som låg högt innanför en väldig försvarsanläggning, fint restaurerad. Följande dag tog jag bussen till Sibiu, eller Hermannstadt som den också heter sedan de ursprungliga tyska invandrarnas tid. Där stannade jag också två nätter och förutom besök i den trivsamma men ganska turistifierade Gamla stan vandrade jag ut ur stan till Michelsberg eller Cisnadie som byn heter på rumänska. Där bor periodvis en tysk bekant, Peter Dahmel. Hans barndomshem.
Here, I have written a few things from my tenth part of walking from Sweden to Greece. There will be more text and, of course, also some more pictures from these days in the end of September, which offered extremely favorable type of weather for my walk. Dry, mostly sunny, not too hot. But very much up and down the hills which eventually hurt my right knee.

Gabriel and colleague at the coffee shop Bujol in Cluj. The most relaxing point in Cluj. Friendly staff. Excellent food. And, of course, all sorts of coffee.

A young father with his daughter (and invisible wife) having brunch at Bujol.

Outside the coffee shop or rather a bistro, was this monument, were these pillars symbolizing and commemorating nine of the, very young, victims shot dead here during the 1989 revolution. Sad. 

Warned of stray dogs I manage to pass two of them before meeting with this flock of sheep, too few to be a herd, I guess.

This chart pulled by two oxen took a lot of hay down from the hills above the small village of Salciua de Jos.

 This lady followed me half a day through the hills. A bitch really.

Zoltan Morten was very helpful and I thank him for his hospitality in Vlaga and great patience waiting for my bus to Iara that never showed up (it had passed earlier but I was soon after offered a lift with a car all the way to Iara). 

Michaela and her husband, whom I took for a jogging monk (he wore black pants and there was a monastary just near by, haha...). They said that there were stray dogs around to watch out for but I did not see one that day. 

This friendly man offered me to sit in his garden to have my lunch in Ocolisei before climbing up a steep hillside to reach the next valley and Ocolis. From there at Rd75 I took a bus to Salciua de Jos.

More to come!

Be patient. More will come. Tonight it seems quite alright to pack for the flight to Cluj on Saturday.

Sunday I will take a taxi (yes!) to Vlaha, a small village south west of Cluj, before 1920 Hungarian terrotory. The following morning by bus to Iara from where I will be walking towards Salciua de Jos. Tuesday is scheduled for a montain ridge walk some 25 k to Intregalde or more exactly Pensiune Floare de Colt. The landscape is fabulously GREEN and SERENE. I hope for good weather of course. However, I don't know yet my destination. It could be as far as Sibiu/Herrmannstadt but more likely I will end upp in the village of Sugag near Sebes/Mühlbach. This is the historical area of Siebenbürgen a mostly Hungarian and German explored region from so-called Saxony in the 12th C. and later in the 17th and 18th C. even 19th C. from various places within the "Heiligen Römischen Reich deutscher Nation". Pictures will follow.