Ruminations from Romania: Part 7: Ridges, valleys, fields and hamlets.

Our last full day and our final walk. And it was a great one to end with. Just over 10 miles through the countryside, which, being Sunday, was very quiet with very, very few people working in the fields. We again started from our base (and it has been a delight being able to walk straight from the door without driving anywhere) and took a circular route which included some fantastic panoramas from the ridge walking we did. The weather was kind to us even though there were persistent rumbles of thunder all the way around. I'll be gathering my general thoughts on walking in Romania in a final post but, to be getting on with, here are the usual....

1.  A competition for you: can you spot the woodpecker? It just wouldn't keep still long enough for a good shot. Was this the little blighter that kept me awake last night drilling into our chalet? 

2.  What I like about this shot is that it incorporates the major elements of the small farms we passed through all the time - the house on the left, then the privy, then the barn, followed by the well. All clustered around the central space for the animals.

3.  Two suggestions for this collection of stooks. It could be the place where fledgling stookers practice their craft and what we see is them getting better as they progress. Or, perhaps, we've stumbled on the mythical 'stooks graveyard' where old stooks go to die and be resorbed into the soil from whence they sprang.

4.  We came across another wooden church which was similar in overall design to the one we saw yesterday but somewhat smaller. For those of us who like this sort of detail, it was interesting to note that the shingles were all V-grooved whereas yesterday's overlapped. In either case, the work and skill involved are impressive.

5.  A screen shot of what is probably the single photograph from the 950 I've taken so far that I'm most pleased with - a swallowtail butterfly. Believe me, the detail on the original is much clearer. And, as luck would have it, this was the very last shot I could take before the camera battery ran out (Note to self: what a pillock).