30.04.2009 - 03.05.2009

The route: Targu Mures-Turda-Cluj Napoca-Oradea-Bors-Debrecen-Miskolc-Tornyosnémeti-Kosice-Spissky Hrad-Poprad-mt.Tatra-Dobsinska Ladova jaskyna-Abovce-Miskolc-Polgár-debrecen-Artand-Oradea-Cluj Napoca-Turda-Targu Mures.

PARTICIPANTS:

Levy & Timi(Honda Cbr 600)
Zsak & Mendy( Honda Transalp 650)
Pali & Dudi(Yamaha Virago 535)
Me & Szidy(KTM 950 Adventure)

Total km : 1400

1 st of May...hmmm we have 3 days off....what do we do?where do we go?...a year ago we were on a motorbike trip in Ukraine.
I begin to navigate on Google Earth looking after some destinations....BLING...the Tatra mountains in Slovakia, Ok I say let's see where the Carpathians starts, they look like our mountains. As it is well known that the highest peak in the Carpathians is Gerlach Peak at 2.655 m we decide to see it. I don't know a lot about Slovakia so it's time for documentation, begin to browse the internet and found a big, beautiful fortress The ruins of Spissky Hrad: Situated on 634 m high on a rock which rises 200 m above the plateau Spissky and is one of the largest castles in Central Europe,has an area of 41.426 m2 and was built and modified several times between the 12th and XVIII century. Here were filmed The Last Legion and Dragonheart.:P

So much for the fortress ,now start focusing on the Tatras, but the plan is to get there and we see what to visit there, so we don't need a big plan. We don't want to come back on the same road so I choose a different route, a road between two natural reservations, road where we can visit a cave, not an usual cave but an ice cave named Dobsinska Ladova Jaskyna, perfect.

Navigation on the net, documentation, route, km and time calculation, budget checked, so now let's ride.

Day I

The start almost failed, the initial plan was to quickly get out of work and at 3PM we had an appointment, but we receive a phone call from Levi that he had a small car accident (a collision with a scooter). He solved the paper works and at 5 PM we are ready to roll. The infernal traffic on route E60 (100 km in 3 hours) constrained us to check into a nice hostel before we reach the customs.


Day II

We got up at 5:30 AM like in the army, had breakfast and continued our trip to Hungary .In Hungary Pali miscalculated the bikes fuel consumption and ran out of petrol on the Debrecen - Miskolc motorway, Zsák is prepared because he had the same problem last year and in 2 minutes the fuel issue was solved.


The Hungarian motorway it's blowy that we couldn't maintain a higher speed than 110-130 km/h, sometimes I felt like I was getting on the wrong side of the motorway and will reach Russia. At the Slovakian border we had a pleasant surprise, there was no customs just some abandoned building no one around except for an indicator: Slovakia.

First stop in Slovakia:



The landscape in southerns Slovakia looks like the Hungarian landscape, but after we left behind Kosice, a beautiful road awaited us, just perfect for motorcycles, a road with curves and serpentines, that lasts forever. Approaching the castle we saw something that we couldn't believe: gypsy villages composed of huts, tents, dirt, ghetto just like in southern Romania.We expected to see some gypsies, (I read about this on the internet)but not whole villages. Arrived to the fortress we were invaded by gypsy kids who demanded money continuously.




The gang decided not to leave the bikes unguarded so we invaded the castle with the bikes full off luggage on a path. The guys forced the bikes until to a point, where couldn't climb on, it could be done just on foot.

A little help:This is it:Almost: Zsák back from the great discovery:

After pushing the bikes, we took a little air, then Zsák went to explore the place, but he was getting back with his head bowed. He informed us, that we were behind the castle, some tourist told us, that the other side of the fortress had an asphalt road and this is just a shortcut for hikers,okeyyyyyyy, decided to go around, but surprise, the virago had a flat tire. While descending, the CBR suffers a minor injury, Levi managed to break one taillight, but the bigger problem was the Viragos puncture because it was 1st of May and a Saturday afternoon.


Meanwhile we meet with a Dutchman, who was traveling alone and guided us to some camping sites, but had no idea where to fix the tire:


Some local guys guided us to a "pneuservis", but we had no luck, finally we found some tire repair kit in a gas station and the problem was solved at the moment.


Ok, we visited the fortress in a hurry because it was getting late.

Almost there
Inside:



The yard :

Group photo :
Szidy :
Hide and seek :
Landscape :

The interior :
In the watchtower :

Medieval toilet in the tower (what a fall) :


The main entrance :
Slowly left the castle behind us and continued heading toward, we were looking after some camping place, when suddenly, after a curve the Tatras raised in front of us, it was a sensation that can't describe in words, you must be there to feel that. Once we reached Poprad, checked into a nice quiet hostel.

A Slovakian commercial panel :


Trying to decipher the menu :

Slovakian beer :

Day III

This time woke up at 9 AM, Pali with Dudi decided not to come with us in the Tatras, their intention was to look for a service where they could fix the tire, meanwhile got closer to the Tatras and as we approached ewerything came bigger, bigger and freezing. After admired the landscape, the gang had to hurry to catch the guys with the Virago.

Together :
Me and Frank :
The girls and the wind:

Guys :

The gang had an appointment at the Dobsinska Ladova Jaskyna ice cave, but unfortunately it opens only after May 15, so I left with a memory of a 3D wall painting in a restaurant. Riding between two natural reservation, the only problem was the road, which had some cracks and holes sometimes after a great curve.

3D wall :
Had a Pit Bul :


Arrived in Hungary, the main occupation was finding a good campsite.We found a closed camping place in Polgár, but the owner was a very nice guy and proffered us some nice cottages on the shore of a lake, about 2-3 m from the lake,furthermore we could use everything out there: fitness place, water cycling, canoe....and all this at a price that made us laugh .It was a perfect place for a couples of beers, some brandy, I completely forgot about the fatigue.

Sleeping place :
Polgár village :

A new friend :
Water bicycle :
The deck :


Day IV

A quiet morning, woke up about 10 AM, opened the door and the view was absolutely fantastic. Nothing special happened on the road back home, motorway, some stops and a lunch.

We spent 3 beautiful days and several hours without rain, only the sun accompanied us, the landscape was great, of course I came home with a dozen memories and a great experience with my friends.