Continue on the E3: from Anina to Gârnic

Day 3: The queen stage

From Anina there's a whole 28km on the agenda to the next rest area, so I'm particularly happy that I can cover the first 2km to the cemetery by bus - and it's free!

The tour itself is not very scenic, as I spend most of the time in the dense forest and there are only a few views. After about 20km, when my legs were already heavy enough, I met five forest workers who had just completed their day's work. Fortunately, the Palinka circling between you, to which I was immediately invited, was not to be my downfall today. After a very nice hour and several small sips from the bottle, I was allowed to move on and even arrived in the daylight.

My campsite that evening was nothing short of spectacular. The Lacul Ochiul Beiului shines in all possible shades of turquoise. Of course, I didn't know that I had ended up at the region's tourist attraction. However, this would become very clear the next morning. However, since I was by far the first person in this heavenly spot on Saturday morning, I had plenty of time and peace to simply enjoy the place in silence (preferably from the hammock).

Day 4: Lots of landscape in just a few kilometers

After the queen stage there was a short day. The 12km with luggage + 8km without were quite scenic. First, I walked half an hour in the other direction to Cascada Beuşniţa without luggage. Unfortunately, this waterfall had little water due to the time of year.

After breakfast and packing up, we went on to the next and much more impressive waterfall, the Cascada La Vă ioaga . Since there is only one path in the valley, I had to share it with the approaching Turi storm heading towards Lacul Ochiul Beiului , of course mainly by car.

The crowning finale was La Tunele novels . For a change, the E3 leads over a small hiking trail instead of the usual forest highway. The tunnels lived up to their name. After the penultimate one, the valley opened up and I had a wonderful view over the Nera and rugged rock faces.

Of course, the daily test of courage couldn't be missed: 500m before my current hostel I had to cross the Nera over an aging suspension bridge.

Day 5: Half time

I decided that at the end of my tour through the Banat I would rather have an extra day at the Danube Gorge near Dobova and shorten a section here. So instead of going back through La Tunele and then over Lacul Dracului to Cărbunari, I took the direct route over Cascada Şuşara and walked to Gârnic. When I thought I was close to the goal, the path repeatedly led through small depressions with extremely muddy puddles.

Of course I slipped in one of these passages. Luckily I fell into the soft mud, but I looked like I had taken a mud bath. The landlord of my accommodation today didn't think it was particularly funny and asked how I planned to get into the hut, dirty as I am, and wanted to see the little room first before I left tomorrow. Taking off my clothes at the door and then carefully getting into the shower worked quite well and I'm confident that I won't have to clean tomorrow before I can go running.

Robert