THE BREAKDOWN RIDE-DAY 02

“SOME SAND AGAIN”

The plan for day two of my adventure was reaching the foothills of the Romanian West-Carpathian Mountains. Therefore, my black beauty Чернотa and I had to handle first a good amount of the Hungarian-Southern-TET Section, to pass the border between HU and RO and to ride some easy and impressive back country roads along the Romanian and Serbian borderline. This is the ride report about a great dual sport day in the saddle along perfect route- and weather-conditions.

FROM: Bikal/Hungary; TO: Gradinari/Romania; DISTANCE: 470 KM or 292 MI; HIGHLIGHTS: Hills, sandy trails and an abandoned Airfield along TET HU, gigantic vineyards, nice plain side views

My muscles were aching, when I was woken up from the first daylight outside. Still tired and kind of unsorted in my first thoughts at this morning, I opened …

the tent door and sat there for a while, watching over the plain. Seeing my mud clustered riding boots aside the tent door, I remembered the muddy incident from yesterday and the resulting bad mood of myself which came along with it. Especially the broken mirror and the malfunction of the blinkers made me complaining.
But this bad mood was nearly gone after a neat snatch of sleep. Around 0615 I finally went up, brushed my teeth and slipped into the muddy, still moist riding gear. The camping gear was dismantled fast and …

loading the bike was quickly done. Whilst doing the last tasks before leaving, I joyfully recognized that, like the mud-patina on Чернотa, the mud on the surface of my riding gear started to dry out and went crumbly. That will make it easy to get rid of it later during the day.

This riding day started like the last day ended: Чернотa and I followed …

the Trans Euro Trail Hungary further eastwards, …

towards the slowly rising summer sun. The first stop we made, was at this …

interesting wood-harvester. I really like the mix of complexity and sturdiness of the full hydraulic-processor-heads of such machines. The chassis of this vehicle is also a nice piece of engineering due to its off-road capabilities and the wood-floor-protecting design. The …

up and down …

through the …

picturesque scenery continued till I found another …

This is a Harvester-Tresher from John Deer which costs a ton. Most of the modern ones are equipped with an automatic fire extinguishing system, which is necessary to prevent it from catching fire due to the heavy production of dust during the harvesting work, also inside the machine.

interesting machine standing at the edge of a field which we passed. In …

the Hungarian village “Graboc”, I stopped for this big arrangement of wayside shrines at the church there. Near the same village is also a high watchtower located, which was climbed and …

From the top of the watchtower I was able to see the church and its way shrines which we visited before.

provided a great view over the hilly area we just came through.

The steps of the watchtower were very steep. So I had to climb them with the clumpy enduro boots carefully. The way down was way more tricky than the climb up before.

At a chapel near the watchtower …

I stopped for refilling my water bottles. I also used the opportunity for littering some rubbish and the broken mirror at the provided trash can. Next to the trashcan, I found an empty 2-Liter plastic bottle.

Because my indicator lever was still stuck from the muddy crash the day before, I intended trying to rinse the mud out of the left-hand side indicator housing with its fine mechanics.

So I used my knife for cutting a small hole in the found water bottle lid. I filled the bottle with water and closed it with the holed lid. This way, when squeezing the water bottle, it was working like a tiny pressure washer. After squirting about ten bottles of water into the housing through the gaps around the indicator lever, the light switch and the horn button, the small indicator lever gained some clearance.
Two additional rinsing sessions later, the indicator lever came free.
First, it was a bit “crunchy” operating, and the setback-function (pressing the lever to stop the blinking) wasn’t operating properly. I squeezed another bottle of water into the housing, and finally it was working again, reliable enough for road use. So I unloaded the luggage from Чернотa and put the fuse, which I had to remove the day before due to malfunction, back in the fuse box. It showed out that both blinkers and more important on the road: the brake light, which is also wired to the indicator circuit, worked again. So this little breakdown from the first day was solved within about the half of an hour. I was still lacking a mirror, but one will do the job also during this ride.

Happily and proud of the success of this unconventional repair method, Чернотa and I followed …

the TET-Trail again, which brought us along fields, …

hills, …

lakes and …

forests.

The UAZ-452 was first built in the year 1965 in the former USSR. Surprisingly, this type of car is still in production!

Right at the trail this classy eastern car, a rusty UAZ-452 was seen, before entering …

another short mud section of the TET-Hungary. Riding through this one, was an easy task. Some deep, over years and years …

washed out tracks introduces incoming sandy terrain, which is …

the typical sort of soil …

Чернотa and I passed some very big vineyard-areas on this forenoon.

which wine needs to grow. For the first time of this trip …

the mighty stream Danube was crossed near the Hungarian village “Szekszard”. Afterwards, the journey followed some …

swampy land and we went through …

Due to my addiction of buying motorcycle related stuff, this type of house is probably the only one I ever would be able to afford

a few small …

villages too.

The riding terrain went flat again and the first hardpacked …

sand trails appeared along …

Hungarys …

Lowlands. Now, in the …

midday heat of this day in July 2021, …

it was time for a nice refreshment at this open source, which was found accidentally along a small detour. I used the water from this tap to moisten my protector shirt and my bandana. This abundance was used for downing about a liter of water, which was the most ferrous sort I’ve ever drunk. After a power nap in the shade of a tree nearby, it was time for the visit of a …

close by watchtower. Right at its …

entrance was a sign mounted, which explained how to make/extinguish fire the right way. I didn’t understand anything of the written Hungarian words, so I only can estimate that this is also some sort of forest fire prevention. Whatever! I went upwards, following the metal stairs of the tower. On …

top of the tower the view was nothing special. It seemed like most of the trees …

in this area had been planted just a few years ago. I went back down to Чернотa and we went on along our planned route, which brought us in a …

artificial forest, where uncountable fine, white, hairy blossoms light up the forest floor. I’ve never seen this before and I’m still curious where this white stuff came from. Next to a …

narrow single trail …

the riding…

surface changed to more or less deep sand. It took …

me a while and a few fierce wobbles, til I got used to the new surface conditions. Once the key of riding technic was found , it was a pleasure to ride those lonesome sandy trails. Directly at the edge …

Near the Hungarian city Szeged is this airfield located.

of the South Hungarian TET is this airfield located. I already have been here about two years before, when my black beauty did some other sections of TET Hungary.

This time, I used …

the tiny shade of this little hangar hut for a break. Whilst having …

a high caloric snack, I let my eyes wander over the airfield. Whilst doing so, two cars appeared …

and rode onto the airfield. It turned out that both drivers began to make a photoshoot with the red classic car in front of the old airplanes. Чернотa was …

parking in front of me and I also had an inspecting eye to her, like always when having a break. I found out, that the rubber underlay of the exhaust clamp has skewed. Maybe from a hard hit of a rut, a branch or similar. With a flat screwdriver, it was no big deal to push the underlay back on its place. So this third little “breakdown” along the “Breakdown Ride” was a repaired fast! ^^

When the tool was stowed back in its place, I rode on and quickly arrived in …

the big South-Hungarian-City “Szeged”. I traversed the city, without having any cultural interests in it. An unreal …

long straight lane later ….

we reached the border to Romania.

Nobody cared about Чернотa and me crossing the borderline in walking speed. Just behind the border…

in Romania, it was obviously visible, …

that this part of the European Union is one of the poorest one. We passed many empty and/or rundown little manufacturing buildings. Old, nowadays …

seldom used railway lines confirmed this impression. Like always, when I’m in need of water, I look out for churches or cemeteries aside the route. Most of the time at least tap water is available at such “holy” places. This time I stopped for …

this old graveyard. While I was strolling back to the gray main building, I wondered myself about the amount of …

Engraving: “Restingplace of family Mathias and Barbara Mangol (nativ Bauer); Mathias missed in war 1914 – 36 years old, Barbara 1880 – 1960; Son: Josef 1903-1917, and others …; Rest blandly!”

German family names engraved in the gravestones. This probably depends on the fact that the biggest ethnic minority in Romania are history related Germans. ➡ Germans of Romania.

An already booked, but till the time of the photo unused grave …

A already booked gravestone for an FC Bavaria fan or for the soccer club itself? 🤷‍♂️

of a Bavaria-Munich-Fan was my personal highlight of the seen gravestones on this yard. Now it was time to leave. The route …

led us on along abandoned …

former farms and …

huge agricultural used plains, with far visible big corn silos. Some old …

buildings like this still used school building, …

an unfinished church and …

wide spread – dense populated village areas accompanied us on our way further southwards, following the Rumanian/Serbian border along backcountry roads. Чернотa and I stopped …

in the afternoon for some fuel. Due to the high temperatures around 35 °C or 95 °F, it was time for some yummy ice cream in the shade next to the fuel station. Having still about three hours of daylight left, I decided to continue our ride a bit further. In the …

distance first parts of the Romanian Carpathian Mountains appeared. We climbed the …

first …

calm hills of this mountain range and found near the

village “Gradinari” a …

wide open field next the border to Serbia. Due to upcoming strong wind from the East …

a hay ball was used as cover for the tent. When the shelter was ready, my old girl Чернотa and I took a seat in the first row and …

enjoyed the light spectacle at the horizon, which was playing on the opposite side of the border in Serbia. With the …


sun, also the wind lost its strength.

Just a gentle breeze was touching the tent sheet softly while the daylight was slowly fading out. This riding day was a good one! Satisfied, I went into the tent and had read in my e-book til I snored away.

Total ridden distance this day: 470 km or 290 mi


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