We woke up to a blue sky and sunshine that glittered in the snow covered roof tops of the medieval houses in central Medias. Water from melting snow were flowing down the roofs and it looked like a beautiful day.

Completely exhausted from yesterday’s ordeal we couldn’t make up our mind if to cycle or if to take a rest day and enjoy the nice weather and stroll around in the beautiful city center. The arguments for cycling was that it is 330 km to Bucharest and two hilly sections so it would be difficult to do it in three day and that we would have tailwind and no rain if we started today. The argument against was that we were tired and my brakepads probably needed to be replaced (I replaced them yesterday before going up to those hills). We also thought that it could still be some snow and ice on the road.

An inspection of the brakes showed that there was no problem. They only needed to be adjusted a bit. The sun was shining and we decided to go after lunch and ride for half a day, i.e. the 55 km to the city of Sibiu.

Before leaving Medias we circled around in it for a while to check out the major buildings and the architecture. It is indeed a very cosy little city that I really recommend you to visit if you have the chance.

Medias medival city centre

As soon as we started to ride, some clouds came and the nice sunshine disappeared. Everything once again got dull and the fields on both sides were all snow dappled. There are few trees and the landscape didn’t probably show its most pretty face.

We passed a couple of villages and we saw hardly nobody outside. No lights in the houses and no people walking around in the village. Not even any horse carriages were out. We started to discuss if the villages we rode through were abandoned or if it was some sort of holiday that made people stay indoor. The only living things we could see as we rode through were the dogs that run around freely on the streets.

Medias city centre

We had hoped that a cafe or gas station would be open somewhere along those 55 km so that we could drop in to buy a coffee and warm our feet, but there was nothing. We took our break after 35 km at the side of the road. While sharing a snickers bar and half a bag of peanuts we jumped to get warmth back to our feet.

The cycling today was easy, but boring and we just kept going. Sibiu is a large city and we had to navigate around a bit before we found a cheap guesthouse where we could stay.

Looking for accomodation is always the issue at the end of the day. When camping we start to eye for good camp spots before it is time to stop and even though we are not camping I can’t avoid pointing out good tent spots. It seems to be some sort of afternoon instinct for me.

No place open to have a coffee so we had Snickers and peanuts beside the road

At the dinner table we discussed the situation. We both find it convenient to stay in guesthouses and hotels as long as they are as cheap as they are. What we don’t like is having to go out to eat and we will probably start arrange our own dinners and breakfasts soon.

Another thing that we discussed and that we both (luckily) agreed on is that none of is is bored of the cycling, not even when it rains or is shitty weather. Both of us find it meditating to sit on our bikes and just keep going while watching the villages and the landscape pass by. It is when the weather makes the landscape look dull and there is nothing to see that can bore us. We are not tired of the cycling itself so let’s hope for some better weather soon.