The Times: Rachel Johnson's Transylvania Bike Adventure
The Times journalists and married couple Rachel Johnson and Ivo Dawnay, embarked on what they described as a "his-and-hers" cycle through Romania, otherwise known as our Enchanted Saxon Transylvania journey, in the late summer of 2025. The couple wrote about their two very different experiences, from Ivo's one day, "ordeal by cycle" complete with "medieval villages and schnapps-fuelled lunches". To Rachel's "exceptional and original jaunt" through "peerless landscapes and winding forest paths". What they agreed on, however, was that they would give this trip the "hardest of recommendations from both of us."
Read on for excerpts from their article.
Ivo's View
"My glass seldom more than a quarter full, I was already regretting joining my hyperactive wife, Rachel, on a five-day cycling tour of Romania’s celebrated Saxon villages...The next day the first glimmerings of an answer to the question “What on earth are we doing here?” began to emerge. As cocks crowed, we visited the 14th-century fortified church, and from its bell tower looked down on the sleeping village, skeins of blue smoke rising from kitchen chimneys. Medieval cute."
"After its slow-burn beginnings, the magic took hold. Our eclectic group ranged from superbikers who had climbed the Tour de France’s Alpe d’Huez to sluggards like me — teachers and techies, managers and media types — and the road bonded us."
Rachel's View
"It is obvious to me now why the King has long been obsessed with Romania ... It is a magical place of pristine landscapes cupped by the white-capped, steepling Carpathian Mountains, where people live close to and love the land, where you are just as likely to see a horse and trap as a white van, where hens cluck and cocks crow, and there’s always a pig in the back garden being fattened for Christmas. It’s like going back 500 years without time travel."
You can read Rachel and Ivo's article in full here.
A huge thank you to Rachel Johnson for joining us to celebrate ten years of The Slow Cyclist! Her keynote speech was a highlight of the evening. Watch the full video below to hear more about her Transylvanian adventure and her take on the joy of becoming a member of the cult of slow cycling.
If you are inspired to discover this mystical land that feels at times like an "earthly paradise," look no further than our Enchanted Saxon Transylvania journey, and experience the magic this unique land holds for yourself.
