Let's travel together #343 - Cheile Borzești (Borzești Gorge Circuit)

As most of the best things don't last forever and actually way too little in most cases, today is going to be my last post from the Romania Tour I and my family had in 2023.

Once, this kind of tours were never missing and were happening at least once per year for many years in a row, but since pandemic many things changed, including this kind of adventures that are more like a privilege lately than what we used to call 'personal tradition'.

As you might already have guessed, this tour was also missing in 2024, just like any other trip as in fact it was the first year since I remember being on this planet where I had no trips at all, not even the short ones we always tried to take advantage of when the longer ones were not possible.

Luckily, I take any trip opportunity very seriously and try to explore as much as possible even if that ends up with lots of fatigue, so I still have some stories to share from my journeys in Venice, Vienna and Prague. But the ones from Romania are going to be missing for an undetermined amount of time since no trips are planned as we speak.

Anyway, the last post that is going to conclude our Romania Tour 2023 experience took place at Cheile Borzești from Cluj county. This wasn't the actual last place we visited before heading home, but it was one that came in a different way than visiting another gem offered by nature because this kind of gorges forming circuits and being composed by waterfalls, cables, and other parts that could describe adrenaline in one way or another, were what made us fall in love with mountains so badly.

However, since our experience from a similar circuit could end up quite badly in 2020, we decided to avoid them and take everything on a lower pace than what we used. Hence why, discovering Cheile Borzești came with lots of emotion, stress and anger as not all of us were ready for this, but promised not to put any barriers to ourselves and only take it as a regular walk in the nature until we meet the point were we feel like we can't continue anymore. Because we often don't put these barriers and risks are not missing.

I've always been fascinated by waterfalls and gorges. As a kid, these two were the most often places I could visit during my time spent outdoors, and I quickly learned how unique each place can be even if in one way or another can be pretty similar with the others.

But when I get to walk on some gorges that share bits of pretty much everything nature can offer, the experience is even more beautiful. And that's exactly what happened with the Borzesti Gorge that started with a walk in the forest, then quickly brought us in front of some sort of river and then a waterfall, the route between these being accompanied by cables and other accessories to make one's hike filled with more adrenaline.

The level of the water was pretty low when we had our visit, which made the walking on cables and staples optional on most of the path, but for the nostalgic memories I created with this kind of accessory, I didn't avoid climbing all of them.

In some of the images, it can be seen how high the cable was, which proves how big the level of the water can be at times and where, obviously, people need to walk on these then. But as mentioned, for us, it was more like an optional thing, being one or two spots where this action was really needed.

Cheile Borzești are some less known gorges from Romania even if they are located close to Cheile Tureni and Cheile Turzii which we've visited in the past and are way more popular with tourists, but we can't really complain about it because we love being in less popular places.

Cheile Borzești are not very long, but they are formed of two different levels, the first one being marked with a red dot until you get to a more difficult part of the trail, which is the 2nd level and comes unmarked. If you end up following the 2nd level as well, you will complete a circuit as in fact Cheile Borzești are going for being a circuit than some other gorges, but as very few actually complete the circuit, the first part (which we also explored) is the one people tend to follow.

Still, from this place, you can reach the other gorges mentioned but also some cabins too. Anyway, having our trip quite late in the afternoon, we decided to call it a day and be thankful for seeing even just a bit of what nature has to offer in that part of Romania. Past decisions teach us the lessons we apply today.

Equal to the amount of time we've spent hiking and exploring the gorges, we also spent time staring at the surroundings and recharging our hearts with as much we could take from nature because we had a feeling that we won't get to meet nature again so soon, which also happened. But again, I am really happy for making it there and it makes me feel proud of myself and my family for leaving in the past our previous negative experiences with the mountains but know our limits better and that sometimes it is absolutely fine not to reach the finish line. You can still be a winner at the end of the day.

Cheile Borzești are located in the village Iara that is 5 km away from Cheile Turzii, being places between Buru and Moldovenesti villages, Cluj county. The access can be made by driving on the national road DN75 until you start seeing road signs leading to Buru Cabin. Right before reaching it, there is a small parking lot where you can leave the car and from where the trail to Cheile Borzeșt and other hiking experiences begin.

Other articles from my Romania Tour 2023:

• The Blue Lagoon of Cluj (Laguna Albastră)
• Ciucaș Waterfall... or beer? (Cascada Ciucaș)
• The Sequoia Tree from Romania
• Șapte culori ale Pământului (The 7 Colors of the Earth, Romania)
• The Gypsy Palaces of Huedin, Romania
• Lacul Tarzan (Tarzan Lake of Romania)
• Gresiile de pe Stânca Dracului (The Devil's Rock)
• Cetatea Trascăului (Trascău Fortress)
• Grădina Zmeilor (The Garden of Kites)
• Tarnița Lake and Tarnița Dam
• Piatra Corbilor (The Raven Stone)
• Mihai Vodă Monastery and His Graveyard
• Fortress of Bologa (Cetatea Bologa)
• Pădurea Hoia-Baciu (World's Most Haunted Forest)
• Cheile Tureniului (Tureni Gorges)
• The Water Mill, The Whirlpool and Bologa Museum (Moara de Apă, Vâltoarea, Muzeul de la Bologa)
• Cheile Borzești (Borzești Gorge Circuit)

^{Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game reviews, lets plays, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 750+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, owning a YouTube channel for each of the two.}

[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 46.51521 lat 23.63949 long A place that is home to silence, adventure and nature in all its forms d3scr))