OK. We're starting to come to terms with where we are. A bit.
Today's drive has been intentionally short to allow for some decompressive downtime.
In spite of the resultant limited 'cultural' exposure, we've still experienced significant quantities of the perplexingly manic, but have also had time to process some nuanced and interesting things. Of the more notable have been some really exquisite fully decoratively tiled dwellings that must have taken absolutely ages to complete. We've also seen many entirely shingle-clad wooden dwellings (that also sported shingle roofs), some with incredibly complex inlaid features that betrayed true craftsmanship.
Of course, there have been many counterpoints, too; one has taken the form of several crumbling yet still extremely dominant and foreboding Ceaușescu-era concrete monstrosities betraying an altogether different Romania to the one that's currently leasing to sensory overload.
By lunch we'd essentially found the general area in which we'd decided we were going to spend the rest of the day. It's basically another track off a mountain pass but this time much higher than yesterday's and further from centres of population. The first thing we both did was run. It helped a little with a sense of control. Only a sense, mind as where we ran was dictated by shepherds. Or rather their dogs.
Though high in the mountains and ostensibly in wilderness, we're very much amongst flocks of sheep and herds of goats and cattle. All of these are constantly being semi-nomadically herded by very attentive humans and packs of even more attentive guard dogs. The dogs are quite something. It seems they're trained to range far and wide around the livestock to forage for danger in the form of bears, wolves and any other predator that may take a sheep... or a shepherd (it's apparently quite common).
As well as this omnipresent pastoral activity, there are also still loads of people driving back and forth along the track but at least this time they're clearly mainly common-or-garden tourists in (mainy 4x4) vans, or cars with roof tents etc.
We've even engaged! One interaction was with a Swiss couple in a MAN-based Ormocar overlanding truck who are out-and-about until October. We chatted about travel and trucks for a while and I even climbed aboard and was given a guided tour of his layout, equipment and systems. The couple have ended up camped within sight of us, but inoffensively, and a good few hundred metres away.
The second interaction was with a charming and impressive Spanish family comprising four generations crammed into one hire car (the oldest 93, the youngest in his teens). The main protagonist was a seasoned ornithologist in his 70s who explained in perfect English they were in the national park looking for birds and, furthermore were touring much of Romania to do more of the same, staying at different hotels as they went.
He was clearly a super-bright chap who knew a lot about most everything, including British history. He'd even been responsible for translating several weighty birding texts from both German and English into Spanish. We shared many tales of sightings and associated travels over the best part of a truly engrossing hour.
The evening's been spent looking for birds and mammals. We haven't done brilliantly for birds, crossbills were the only 'new' sighting (the Spanish ornithologist had seen an Imperial eagle). We did, though, as daylight faded, catch a sighting of what we have deduced must have been a lynx. The animal was too far away for a good view with the thermal imager, and the light too faded to get a good view with binoculars, but its movements, size, shape and colouration was very telling. Though we couldn't call it with any certainty, if it wasn't a lynx, we have no idea what else it could possibly have been.
WIth daylight fading, we were joined... not by one of the many milling campers, but by a huge Romanian shepherd dog. He approached us (pic), checked out the truck and then lay down watching us. We made verbal contact and - though he didn't offer any aggression - it was clear he was working; so we took no chances. Within a few minutes he was himself joined by a roaming herd of cows, who - with bells jingle-jangling loudly - began grazing all around the truck. And so the situation persisted as we repaired to bed. One cow then even gave us a bit of a rocking by scratching herself repeatedly on the wagon.
Romania. It's just seemingly never not in your face!
Post composed at 22:00 on Monday 4th August from our intended overnighting spot N 47.62215°, E 24.87059° / http://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:47.62215%2C24.87059