Vampire Camping

No, really, that's where I am.  The whole place is full of these V logos underscored with drops of blood:

It's in Bran, home of the real Dracula's castle - apparently.  I felt I had to come and take a look having made my debut improvising a movie soundtrack to Nosferatu in Belfast earlier this year.  It wasn't on the route I wanted to take and it was difficult (again) to decide what to do today as a result.  But I'm glad I came.  Here it is, from the carpark.  I couldn't be bothered to pay to go in - it's probably no more real than the inside of Versailles.

Back to this morning, I woke up to loud farmyard noises in surround sound.  Here's a better photo of last night's camping

There was even a hint of sunshine in the morning, the first I've seen on this trip, but it didn't materialise as you'll see.  I noticed some strange marks on the roof of the tent looking from inside, and, getting out, was not pleased to see that a bird had shat, scatter style, on my tent sometime during the night.  There are no trees anywhere near, so I must have been targeted deliberately.  Or perhaps it was put there during the night by a Czech biker.

So, I headed for the Transfagarasan pass.  You get to it by taking route 7c (unsignposted) off the road from Sibiu to Fagaras.  In the foothills of the Carpathians there was a sign to a monastery - I thought it translated as Carthusian, which seemed a bit odd - so I turned off the road onto a stony path to take a look.

A couple of kms like this helped me hone my off-road skills

It turned out to be an orthodox (female I think) monastery and a big sign made it clear that photos shouldn't be taken, but I managed to sneak this snap while pretending to muck around with my phone.

Back to the pass, and I became increasingly aware that the mountains ahead were mostly obscured by very low, threatening looking clouds.  Sure enough for the last 10km of the ascent (above 1000m) there was the thickest fog I've ever ridden in.  Fog lights and hazards went on - being hit from behind or in front was more the issue than falling over the edge.  Hoping that the road would break through into clear sky, I kept going, but was disappointed (and quite wet) when reaching the top.  Here are some shots:

But it should have looked like this:

Oh well.  I had wanted to carry on down the south side and head for Bucharest, but felt it would be a shame to miss out on the Dracula castle, so it was back down the north side and here I am, rather shorter on miles than in previous days.  Heading to Brasav there were some huge downpours, but I arrived in a rare bit of sun.  I got set up early, ate before dark, and should get an early night and get a big ride in tomorrow.  I plan to be somewhere in Bulgaria.  Hoping for the good weather soon.  Bye for now.