Because we had one Czech colleague with us(Jakub) I thought it would be a good idea to write this down in English. I’ve never had a blog entry in English so I guess this is a good moment for that. I don’t know how many people are actually visiting nowadays Romania but for those who are into this kind of wilderness adventures I guess Cerna Valley would be a good place to consider for several reasons. This valley is accessible from the well-known spa-city of Băile Herculane. It is a city founded by Romans and even the Auto-Hungarian empress and emperor enjoyed this place and the surroundings. The valley is part of Domogled-Valea Cernei national park.
Luci also wanted to come and have some fun so on Friday evening we gathered in the base at Domașnea and enjoyed a fantastic traditional dinner. We had coleșă(a.k.a. polenta, corn flour in boild water), fried cheese, home-made bacon and of course a few small glasses of răchie, the traditional alcoholic drink from Banat region. We then also took a beer and went to sleep because we were about to make a long hike next day. We planned to go in the Mehedinți Mountains in “Crovuri” and then descent through the Țăsnei Canyon.
We’ve tried this hike few years back and that ride didn’t went very well as we missed the part between “Pietrele Albe” peak and “Poiana Țăsnei”. But this time we knew what we have to do and we also knew that the route was marked and we just have to make sure we are following the signs.
We went there with two cars so that we can avoid the 7-8 kilometers walk at the end of the hike. We’ve left one car at the Dumbravă motel and continued with the second car to the starting point of the hike.
The first part of the hike is on the steep terrain and we ended up in a glade. The vegetation was pretty high and there was also very hot. This is normal considering that it is only the beginning of July. We’ve stopped for a break and somehow my father left his phone on a slammed tree. We realized that after a few minutes and we came back to search after it but without success. There was a shepherd there and we believe that he might probably took it but since we had no proof we had no choice but to continue without it. It is not the first time this is happening. A few years back he lost it as a tribute to Zamolxe(a priest from the old kingdom of Dacia) on a descent from his cave in the Godeanu Mountains.
When we’ve reached the last “crov” which also has a fountain I’ve realized that this is actually also the deepest one and probably the most spectacular. After leaving this behind we’ve found an indicator. This is the point from where we actually had chosen the wrong direction. So, this time, we just switched 90 degrees in direction and continued the ascent to the “Pietrele Albe” peak. All the area was full of wild berries so we just had hard time resuming our hike even if were threatened by the storm from all directions. It rained in the Almăj Mountains, in the Semenic as we were able to see from this point at 1300 m. altitude. I found the terrain around this place similar with the terrain around Domogled peak. From this point we’ve started to descent though a rough and wild terrain with lots of nettles. We were barely able to see the track because of the vegetation. It rained a lot in the last months and this might had been influenced the way it developed. After leaving the track on this ridge full of vegetation we’ve entered the forest and the track here was actually pretty good. At some point I was thinking that even a bike would have been useful here.
We’ve met a family with one child(7-8 years old) and they tried to reach Crovuri. Other than that we haven’t met anyone in the area even if it is actually summer and vacation period. I guess most of the people are not having fun anymore hiking in the mountains. I don’t feel the need to see crowded spots anyhow so I think that was actually good.
I knew that we should reach in a glade at some point but I didn’t knew that right before that glade there is a small canyon also. I was just surprised to see that spectacular part which we climbed down with caution to avoid an injury. The hike up to this point was not easy and a moment of lack of focus would be enough for a bad thing to happen. When reaching the river we stopped for a well deserved break and we washed ourselves and also ate some of the bio food we had with us. After the break we continued climbing down the Țănsei canyon and also enjoyed the incredible view. Still hard to understand for me how are these black pine trees from Banat standing on the cliffs everywhere around. Being also very hot I would have expect to see some vipers in the area but we weren’t able to see any.
We came back to Domașnea where we opened a bottle of roze french wine and we enjoyed it till midnight. We wanted to take a ride next day but we weren’t sure which route. Next day we’ve decided to visit Gărâna from Slatina Timiș on the Transsemenic. When we’ve finished the ride Lucian and Jakub left to Timișoara and I went back to Domașnea because I will spend one week of vacation there. I’m not sure if I’m going anywhere and I guess just staying in the countryside and just do nothing is also good from time to time.
