On Top of The World

We set out from Babele early planning to either return to Busteni that night or stay at Cabana Varful Omu on the highest peak of the Bucegi mountains. Eva had been dreaming of walking down from Mt Omu to Bran since we started planning our trip but we weren't to sure if we would be up to it as it was described as being quite tough.
We first headed towards the WWI monument we had seen hanging above Busteni the previous day. We could not see very far in front of us due to the cloud we were walking through and realized why the trail markers are spaced at 10 metre intervals. As we walked the cloud cleared up and the view emerged, it was spectacular!
On the way to the monument we saw more of the flighty deer we had seen the other day and also came across a huge hunk of ice, this reminded us just how cold we actually were. We came over a final peak and saw the gigantic cross monument which we guesstimate at about 30 metres high. We were lucky enough to be the first ones there and to have the view all to ourselves before several other hikers arrived. Once again the view was amazing.
From the monument we set out for Mt Omu which is at 2505 m. We climbed from having the clouds at eye level to being well above them. The terrain was all mountain grasses and quite beautiful, we were well above the tree line by now and when we stopped walking pretty cold too. The sky was the bluest we had ever seen it being so high up above the clouds...stunning.
We caught sight of the cabana and meteorological station perched on the peak of Omu and realized just how isolated it was. By now we were all enthused to have a crack at the Bran walk so when we hauled ourselves up to the cabana we arranged to stay the night.
The cabana was basic with no running water (and only fizzy mineral water in bottles), no electricity and a long drop squat round the side. The setting and the lovely lady running the place added to the brilliant feel of the day. Isolation can be sooo nice.
We were the first couple of people to grab a bed for the night (so we scored a room to ourselves) so we spent the arvo lazing around in the sun seeing who else would turn up and soaking up the view.
We headed into the dining room for a beer (served up with some drippings on bread-tasty) and were just wondering how many Aussies are lucky enough to stay at Omu when in walks two guys, Simon, an Aussie and Will, a Pom. They had met in Bulgaria at Rila monastery which is one of the places we hope to visit and had met up to travel this stretch of mountain together.
We spent the evening chatting to these two fellows which was tops as we hadn't had the chance to have much English conversation since Paul and Olga in Ukraine.
As the sun set the dining room got pretty dark due to the whole no electricity thing and we grabbed some sausages and mashed potatoes for tea YUM. The candles were eventually cracked out when we had to start using our torches to eat. There was probably about ten people staying there and it was lovely and cozy. To just about everyone's disbelief a couple of very well equipped but cold looking hikers spilled into the cabana at about 9 pm out of the pitch black - mad!
After a hot chocolate we headed to our bedroom which was heated by a naked gas flame, very, very cozy.

Photos: Mt Omu (If you zoom in you can see the Cabana), The WWI memorial, Eva looking like a total dork next to the block of ice we found