After the tour in Crai at the end of summer I felt the need to take a break, to get a little out of the socket. We came after a long line of departures and arrivals, running in all directions, and in September I felt the need to rest, to recalibrate and to feel again how the crazy mountain riddle grows in me. And it worked. And when I called the fall, I could not resist.
I had seen Dan Tăuţan some gorgeous pictures from the Tiştii Gorge, a special route from the Vrancea Mountains that I wanted long to come by, and on this occasion I remembered that it is only good to do during autumn, when the colors are given in stubble, mid-October.
The start of the route is from Lepşa on the Putna valley, where I had not been anymore. 14 years old. Fuck, what time has passed! But even though I had passed through the area, I had never made a route in the Vrancea Mountains, it was a premiere. I happened to go to Lepşa in Galaţi, and I was going to take my mother for a walk (my mother and my other mother, aunt :) but I only stayed with the second :) We also went " like girls ": P
In the morning, when I wake up at 5 o'clock, it hits me like this in the depths of thought: I was forgotten to take the front of Bucharest. And on the quay is a tunnel. Hmmmm. I call Gina:
Gina, do you have a flashlight, something?
Yeah ... I have one, but that's a key ring. :))))
No, it's not good.
Close. My mom sleeps, I can not wake her up for that. Hmmm .... good. Let's think. If I were a lantern in this house, where would I hide? :)))))))
I did not find anything. My attempt to personalize a flashlight failed lamentably. But fortunately we were saved. Gina recalled that she had bought a front two months ago and was victorious with her: "Look at what I was doing!"
Yuhuuuu, we have light! Right, we're up to our teeth!
I left Galati at 7 o'clock, just before the sunrise, on a knife-cut gleam. Going past the combination, I witnessed a scene I had never seen in the 19 years I had grown up there: a fabulous fog left by everything, from which only the ends of the combined furnaces appeared. Something fantastic, and now I'm off the ground that I was not in the process of stopping to take a picture, and until I drove myself, I no longer had anywhere to stop.
The fog continued on the way, and until Focsani we had the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. And the sunrise in the car brought me a big smile every time. I like it crazy when this happens. And at the same time I love to drive. Those are the moments when half of me enjoys driving pleasure, and the other half would like to be on the right to be able to shoot or picture :) That both of them suddenly, I think I tried, but I can not do it :) ))
Although in Lepşa theory it's a stone's throw away from Galaţi, I managed to do so no less than 3 hours 45. And I did not even reach the first entrance on the route, nor the Putna Waterfall, where I wanted to stop to start the route (although I really do not know why I was so airy, that the signs are quite visible). When I arrived at the center of Lepsa, I realized that I was running out of speed, so I turned around and managed to climb the second bridge over Putna (details at the end where I put the map). I crossed the bridge, left the car to the left, and from there I walked on foot.
Until the actual entrance to the Tişiţa Nature Reserve there is about 1 km that can be carved in theory, but without it (it's only 15 minutes walking).
We could see the autumn as it was already on the show just before it reached the gate of the reservation, but as soon as we entered it, the surprises held a chain.
Being miserable in the mountains for over a month, any leaf has been of interest. I felt exactly like in 2012 in Cozia, when I'd been out in a half a month and I was like a dog that you held in the house for a thousand years, and you finally let go of it.
Aaaa, look what colorful trees, aaaa, look at the beautiful waterfall, uaaaaa, what special stones to picture! TOOOOT! :))))))) I made about one hundred pictures in just the first 45 minutes :))))
There was a group of motorcyclists and a couple together along the way, but they all came back quickly. And when I thought we'd never see anyone all day ... what to see? I nose my nose with a colleague of the general. Uaaaaau! It did not come to believe! "How small is the world" seems a cliché, but that's right!
We hug, we kiss, we talk a bit, and then we go each in opposite directions, with joy in our heart that we have seen, all the more so since it was an accident.
And we do not take two steps to stay locked. Well, that's the top! What are the chances to meet not one, but TWO known people? There is another niece of my aunt in front of us. We take it from the end: kiss, embraced, goodbye and this time and a selfie all three :))
Mno, I never really did that. Even if we were talking to us, I do not think we could get all of them in there.
But after that, until the end of the route, I never saw anyone else. Only at the end, two young men who wanted to reach the tunnel at an hour late enough, so late that they would not have much time to get back into the light.
But the lack of people was not a bad thing. We were able to rejoice in silence, light, color, fresh air, and every scene that felt from minute to minute that cleansed me and gave me the energy I was so indulgent.
The route itself is not a difficult one, it's practically a walk, not even like a true mountain trail. It is almost entirely flat, and the only "bumps" are bridges, wood floors or stairs that facilitate the passage in more difficult or over water areas.
In one place, until last year there was a rocky portion with a cable, but in the meantime a footbridge was made there. I honestly felt sorry for myself, I had seen pictures before and looked super interesting, but I suspected it was quite delicate for those unusual with that, who do not go there booted in boots.
With her eyes often bent to the colorful carpet of leaves that rummage under her feet, sometimes I forget the essence: look up. Because often, the most beautiful things "happened" at the height. Therefore…. do not forget to look up! :)
I have to say that I so much liked the route and so many pictures I made along that I got to the tunnel after FOUR HOURS. That's when I turned him back and I did the same thing in 2 hours :))))
That's because after we crossed the tunnel, I realized that if we did not hurry to return, it might catch our darkness before it reached the Putna Waterfall, and I really wanted to see it in the light because I did not know when I get through the area.
The big tunnel, preceded by a trail of two very beautiful portals, is 267 meters and we went to the shower in about 10 minutes (a bit less when we return, when we already know the terrain). Inside the terrain is a bit uneven, and it's important to be careful, especially because I've encountered enough puddles, but they could be avoided with little care. More delicate I actually seemed to cross the water right before the tunnel, where I bitterly regretted that I did not have the sticks with me, that it would have helped me very hard.
But with a little balancing a wooden stick that I found there and laugh together at how ridiculous I was trying not to land upside water, we were able to cross both the shower and the back. But I do not know how the water is bigger. Fortunately, I hope I will not even know :)))) What I want you to do :)
For claustrophobic, great attention! In the tunnel it's really dark, and it can not go without a light source (long enough for you to see the other way out as a small, small spotted point when you enter it, that "the light at the end of the tunnel" ). It seemed to me a bit spooky, though, without light (you do not see where you are going anyway, and the chances of you landing in the water or slipping into bumps would be maximum). I do not think I would have liked to cross it myself (not the other but I would have gone solo if no one could come with me), but eventually ... after a single night in a refuge ... a tunnel of 267 meters I think I would have managed to get through it.
I looked so little to nose in Martin's nose, but it seems he was "through the city" with work, he did not have time to play bau bau with tourists in the tunnel :))))
It was a relaxing walk, it's like a 18 km long, but I needed air. I loaded exactly with the energy I needed, and the night I put my head on the pillow I fell asleep with the smile on my lips. After a chaotic summer in all respects, the autumn came as a spring breeze with spring perfume. A wind breeze that set all the old things where they had to be placed and brought me new experiences with it, new experiences, new thoughts, some that I never dreamed, others that I longed for, some that scare me, others make me laugh at the stars :))) Autumn dear, I did not expect, but this year I liked AND more than usual! :)