Romania & TransAlpina | Season 20 | Episode 1

Good morning! The day of my trip to Magadan, Russia. This is the bike Tenere 700. I've got soft luggage. In this saddle bag I've got exactly 12 kilograms. My tent is also inside. All the gear that I'm gonna need, some spare parts, tools, everything, plus my clothes. And this tank bag is around three kilograms. And inside is all of my camera gear that I'm gonna need to film this journey. It will be a long and interesting trip. Almost 30 000 kilometers. It will take about three months. I hope that I will be able to go and do it without any problems. On the first day, today, I have to reach Bucharest. It's around 220-230 kilometers. In fact, the whole trip I split to no more than 300-400 kilometers per day. I want to do it slowly, with the pleasure. So, no rush. As usual, I have some doubts that will disappear in the next few hours. And the doubts are, is this the right moment? Am I taking the right decision? Do I have to do it now and many more? But as I said, all of this will disappear after a few hours. And then I will go to riding mode and everything is going to be clear and smooth. I'm not gonna film much, because there is nothing to film on this road to Bucharest. The first 100 kilometers are highway. After that, I'm gonna have another 100 kilometers, just two-lane roads. And when I cross the bridge, I'm gonna be in Romania already. I'll film a little bit in Bucharest and probably right around the area of Bucharest tomorrow with a friend with Transalp, which will be good to see the Transalp, the new Transalp in action. And yeah, this is the plan for now. The first 100 kilometers are gone, but also the nice weather. So it's starting to rain now. I have to remove the camera, have my rain gear. Anyway, there is nothing to film. The traffic starts three kilometers before the border. This is for the Dvinet, for the bridge, but for motorcycles it's free, so I don't need to wait. Welcome to Romania! It starts raining again. I crossed the border for just two minutes. They let me go in front of everyone because of the rain. And now I'm on the way to Bucharest. The rain stopped and I don't think that it's gonna rain anymore, so I'm gonna stop and remove this rain cover. Now I have my second telephone mount here, but I'm gonna use it only when I need a specific address. To find Bucharest I don't need the GPS, there are more than enough signs and basically on this trip I plan to travel mostly with the signs and paper maps. You go, Bucharesti, 30 kilometers. But when I enter into the town and need a specific address, then I'm gonna use it. Yeah, it is what it is here. This is the transit road that goes around Bucharest and it is always like that, always. Maybe except Sundays. So it doesn't matter what I like, I have to be a little bit more aggressive, otherwise I'll wait with hours here. One kilometer more. A lot of new buildings here. I think this was the neighborhood. I've been here twice to meet Artur. And yeah, it will be nice to see him again. I know the place. And I know that this is his car and his scooter and he also has a new Transalp. So yeah, this is the place. Good. So we're gonna spend the next few hours riding around Bucharest, north of Bucharest, really beautiful roads. So it will be a long day for me, but I really look forward. It's not an easy job to get out of Bucharest, but luckily we're with motorcycles. So this place is actually a decoration for a TV series. And it's very popular for motorcycle gathering here. It has strange decoration like this. Romania is nice to ride. And it is not only two passes that everyone knows, Transfagarasan and Transalpina. Even around small villages, roads like this are fantastic. And now we are going to the place even better. This type of roads are not very popular through motorcycle community. Everyone goes to Transalpina, Transfagarasan, these famous passes, or go to the main roads. But this one is brilliant, brilliant. Thanks to my friend Artur, I'm able to see it. Wonderful. This was a nice attempt to see the top. I like these stone terraces, and the wall, and the dam. Good morning! 7 o'clock and 12 minutes, and I am on the way to Cluj-Napoca. Of course, I'm gonna use Transalpina at least to have some kind of beautiful views, instead of going to the busy, boring Romanian roads. They're not exactly boring, but with all this traffic and buses, it's not a good idea to have it now. Early morning traffic is madness here at the moment. You can see what it is. I cannot even move with a motorcycle, but cars and trucks, oof, not good at all. Here, for about 15 kilometers, I have to make a connection with the main road. This road is not bad at all, but because of the traffic, because of the people that cut corners, and a lot of trucks, it's, I would say, a little bit not preferred. Like this guy, see? If you have the chance to ride it without traffic, yes, fine. But it's almost impossible. Finally, away from the main road. This is much, much better. Big difference, isn't it? Full with cars and trucks, and no one here. Of course, depends on the direction, but I love it. Welcome to Romania. around Cluj-Napoca. Tomorrow I'll be in Hungary, the day after that in Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and then go to Russia. Very windy as usual here, but that's, that's all right, I don't mind. The last time when I was here was two years ago, with my old Ténéré. Now it's with the new Ténéré. Of course, big difference, but bike is just a bike. The seas are incredible. Anyway, I'm very well, as you can see. Cannot complain at all. Look forward to see the rest of the trip. It's 18 degrees here. Not cold, but you can still see the snow. Bikes, bikes, bikes, bikes, a lot of bikes. Stop just for a minute to see the view and check the elevation. Nice. From here now I am going down, direction Sibiu, and from Sibiu I'm gonna have a very interesting road to Cluj-Napoca.