2 mountains of pedalling; Sixt-Fer-A-Cheval

Bike route toaster said 70kms, but by the time we'd indulged in a few many wrong turns, it was more like 80 by the time we reached the jawsmackingly dramatic and unruly gradient ladened village of Salvagny. We'd been following Simona's directi0ns - which completely got us there - but in true Dan and Anna style, of course, any such directional aid was very much absent - and one could argue, we completely wing'd it over those two steep mountains to make it there.

For anyone who's been lucky enough to engage in mountain riding you'll know - the ups are relentless; as in , you wonder if you're riding to space. And the downs - well, they're worse than the ups. Your crippling over active imaginations take complete hold over you + grotesque visions of a loose front wheel bolt or an explosive inner tube begin bullishly adopting your front vision - unlike past inhospitably steep rides though, the time ascending gradients out here seems to be so busily filled with with gawping at this way and everywhere, and all around, that the excruciating lactic acids and pulsating eyeballs can be easily ignored, and you are alternatively left to marvel at the shrinking gorgeous towns that you are satisfyingly leaving behind - all the way there, down below your sweating pedals.

The fierce and shear edges of the jaggedly haggedly, completely humungous mountain faces began lurching in on us, as we realised we were soon approaching our Romanian friends snuggly little wood cabin house. The grey crooked faces of the formations were sweating, with fierce rain that had been. And we were left with pulsating clouds, hovered and drifting in front of our tracks, dominating the environment and showing us who owns the atmosphere in the air; but sporadically allowing us gazes above to the vastly intimidating gorges that we were now struggling past, with fleshy bits of exposed skin beginning to burn in the early Autumn chill.

Miraculously we eventually managed to find that little wood cabin, and were welcomed with raging hot showers + homemade lemonade.

And there was this waterfall...