The tunnel at the top is a fridge

Nobody warns you that the tunnel under the ridge stays at four degrees in August. I came up the southern side sweating in a mesh jacket and rode out the other end shivering, with condensation on the visor and no way to stop for two kilometres.

There is a lay-by on the northern side about 400 metres past the exit. Everyone stops there. Everyone is putting a layer on.

If you are riding the Transfăgărășan north to south you get the opposite problem — you arrive cold and descend into thirty degrees.