Camping In Transylvania
After cycling from Pitesti to Campulung, Romania, I stocked up on food and water and then headed north towards lake Rausor on highway 734 through Leresti. This long, gradual uphill climb took a lot longer to get through than I thought it would and as the sky grew dark I feared I might not be able to find a place to pitch by tent before the sun went down.
A few kilometers before reaching the lake itself the road became much steeper (a sign on the road said it was 10%), so when I saw a dirt fire road heading up into the hills I knew I was going to take it and see where it led me.
About a half-kilometer up the road I spotted a tiny little ledge that was both flat and large enough to pitch my tent on. So I removed the panniers from my bicycle and carried my gear up to the ledge in three separate loads. If you look closely, you can see my tent and bicycle in the trees behind my right shoulder in the photo below. I’m very good at camouflaging my campsites.
An hour after it got dark I sat in my tent listening to the noises outside and thought to myself, “This is my first night camping in Transylvania!”
If you are asleep and some local guys come across your camp in the night, and decide to have a little fun at your expense, you are extremely vulnerable when you are inside a sleeping bag and lying on the ground.
I would like to stealth camp, but this possibility scares me.
I live in Transylvania (Sibiu actually) but I would worry about local guys, but I would worry about bears.
When I do camping, and it’s not windy I prefer to make fire near the tent, and leave any smelly food I have away my tent.