53. Echinocțiul de toamnă în Țara Moților 21 sep 2020

Technical data: September 21, 2020: departure by car from Bucharest: 3 a.m.; arrival in Bucium Sat and start of the race: 9:15. Return to the car: 4:45 p.m. Departure by car: 5 p.m. and return home: 11 p.m.

A wonderful autumn day dedicated to the Land of Moților. I knew the route had a paved road (it was like that in 2012, I think, when, by car, without a clear intention, I crossed the Apuseni 'caught' by the wonderful road between Întregalde and Mogoș). I was planning to reach Abrud and Roșia Montană as well, but the route changed with Detunata. Perfect weather, cool to cold in the morning; luckily I chose the right route again with the first part uphill because if I had been on the descent, I would have been freezing despite my sweater. Acceptable asphalt in the first part, then worse and worse, destroyed, as if it had not been immaculate eight years ago. It is being arranged as part of the Transalpina Apusenilor project (Aiud - Bucium Sat). In Bucium Șasa I found a sign and a bit of information towards and about Detunata Goala; the road was a perfectly paved village lane so I took it alongside my bicycle because the incline was very steep. A fairy-tale landscape, the road climbed steeply towards the mountain peak, chainsaws were working hard with friendship for the old forest around (Drujba - (дружба) was the name of a well-known Russian chainsaw, the only one the Romanians had at their disposal in the past and which became, like Xerox, from a proper noun to a common noun - it means friendship). I was scared of the lumberjacks as they might be (very likely) clandestine and do not look kindly on a visitor who might alert the authorities.