This is the top of Romania's roof road. Near here the Transalpina crosses the Parang range at Urdele pass, at about two thousand one hundred and forty metres, making it the highest paved road in the country. The landscape is almost treeless, rolling alpine grassland and bare rock, scattered with glacial lakes and patches of old snow that can last into July. On a clear day you can see ridge after ridge folding away into the haze, and on a cloudy one you can see nothing but the next hairpin.
The Parang mountains are less jagged than the Fagaras but broader and wilder, with a lot of high plateau, and the grazing here is the reason the road exists at all. Hikers like the area for its lakes, including Lake Calcescu and other tarns on the northern side, which fill glacier-carved basins at around two thousand metres. A few mountain huts exist for walkers, though in an emergency this is a place where you are on your own, and phone coverage can be patchy.
Riding along the crest is a pleasure for the width of the views. The road is well engineered, with a good surface and wide bends, though the exposure is complete and the wind can be fierce. A cold front can drop the temperature by ten degrees in an hour, with hail or sleet in summer, so dress for the weather you could get rather than the weather you have. Livestock on the road is common, with sheep, cattle and horses wandering across at will, and the habit of stopping in the middle of a blind bend deserves particular respect.
The road is normally closed in the colder months, with snow often lying until the beginning of summer, and it can close temporarily at any time in bad weather. Petrila and Petrosani on the northern side, and Novaci to the south, are the places to refuel. Take a few minutes at a safe pull-off to walk a short way from the bike, listen to the wind in the grass and watch the clouds move. It is the sort of silence you do not get at lower heights.