Last word.
The end to a fantastic ride, riding over 4,000km through ten countries in all weather. When we started in April we were heading off sometimes in 0 degrees, or colder, riding in jumpers and rain jackets – it snowed in Basel, and there was a heatwave from the Sahara towards the end having us on the road as soon as it was light enough to get the bulk of the kms done before it got too hot.
The people were fantastic, friendly and helpful everywhere. We were both so impressed with the Eastern European countries. When we arrived we had very little idea about what to expect but our experiences of Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania were just great, we couldn’t have been treated better.
We stayed in a range of accommodation options, the quirkiest had to be the Mongolian Yurt. Staying on the boat at Nantes was an unusual and not entirely successful start to the trip (we changed hotels having already paid for the next night). Some places were simple pensions, we stayed in two Retirement Villages, a gastronomic hotel where we were served a fantastic meal, maybe the best food that we’ve had anywhere. Most of all though, it was how friendly the people were, how welcome and safe we felt and how the variety added to the experience.
It was fitting to have finished the ride as we started, into strong headwinds, and pushing uphill – we were only missing the pouring rain. The best thing was being able to have had this adventure together.
It is sad to finish, but in the words of the sign that was once at the Serbian / Romanian border post at the Iron Gates Dam “Good bye. Your are leaving Serbia. Don’t cry because it’s over – smile because it happened. We wish your bike to always have tires full of air, and chain always ready to transfer your dreams to roads and paths”.
Thursday 11 July 2019, Day 57 Jurilovca to Tulcea. 63km (56km to Tulcea and 5km Sulina to the Black Sea) Total 4,390km
Dinner at Sailors Pub was equally as good as lunch, especially for Murray as he had pizza again. Good wine and good company made for an excellent dinner anyway!
As we were having a shorter day today we decided that we didn’t need too early a start and settled on a 7am departure. We needed to be in Tulcea by 1pm to make the ferry to Sulina, around 73km up the delta. After picking up breakfast, you guessed it; ham, salami and cheese and bread at the Profi Loco we were off.
The light headwind from yesterday was now a ferocious headwind and we headed back up past Sailors and very slowly out of town. The road was fine, with very little traffic through pretty agricultural land and a couple of small villages, but the going was very slow and grinding as we battled into the wind. With the number of wind farms in this region perhaps it is not surprising that they get the occasional blow.
Feeling pretty worn out after only 37km we pulled into a little bar in Agighiol for cold drinks and a break, where we met a couple from Holland, cycling in the other direction. (I don’t know why they needed a rest as they must have had a massive tailwind). From Agighiol we had 10km of continuous climbing, not steeply but the headwind that had now turned into a full frontal didn’t make it any easier.
Getting into Tulcea we followed Mike Well’s route – up and over the only cobblestone hill in Tulcea, classic Mike, but we did make it to the the ferry port, bought our ferry tickets and grabbed a quick but luxurious lunch – seafood platter and a bottle of wine – before boarding the Banat up the delta to Sulina.
The semi rapid ferry had us arriving in Sulina at 5.45pm and we made a quick dash the 2.5km out to the beach at the Black Sea for celebratory beers and some photos. We have an early start tomorrow to catch the ferry back to Tulcea at 7.00am and our Pensiunea Pluto are giving us a buffet breakfast at 6.
Wednesday 10 July 2019, Day 56 Mamaia Beach to Jurilovca 84km Total 4,357km
We had a very nice day off at Mamaia Beach, walks along the beach, lots of seafood and watching the tennis at Wimbledon on a very large screen at the White Towers beach bar.
As the temperatures are now back to normal we decided that we didn’t need such an early start, so after breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast followed by a couple of coffees – the apartment had a coffee machine and the owners had thoughtfully supplied us with a full box of pods! – we were on the road at 8am.
We left the Romanian Riviera of Mamaia Beach with its resorts and apartment buildings and once past the oil refinery, incongruously placed, we were soon on a quiet country road and back into agricultural land with more sunflowers, wheat and corn. The mornings ride was generally pushing steadily uphill and into a steady headwind – ahh. We passed through a number of small villages, stopping for cold drinks and ice creams at around 35kms. We continuing on along this very nice and quiet road and passed a couple of German cyclists (their Guten Tag greeting gave them away), heading the other way just before Mihai Viteazu. At Mihai Viteazu we joined the Dn22 (also the E87) a very busy main road without a shoulder where the cars and trucks whizzed by at speed and very close to our bodies for the next 10km into Baia. We were very pleased to get off this road and onto another quiet country road taking us the final 17km to Jurilovica.
We arrived in Juililova in time for lunch and found the Sailors Pub, a great little establishment where we shared whitebait and pizza before making our way to Pensiunea Anastasia. We seem to be the only people staying here and are enjoying the lovely sitting room, kitchen and a huge balcony all to ourselves.
Monday 8 July 2019, Day 55, Adamclisi to Mamaia Beach Constanta – 84km Total 4,273km
We were up and ready to go on what is now our normal early start around 6.00am. After a quick trip up to the Trophaeum Traiasni monument, a 30 metre high monument erected by the Roman emperor Trajan (well obviously not him personally) to commemorate the Roman victory over the Dacians in AD 109 just 800m up the road, we were off. This has been included especially for our history teaching children.
The day started with a couple of climbs, not as steep as yesterday, and then levelled out into rolling hills. The road was busier than yesterday with more trucks and cars passing by us pretty closely and fast and we were already thinking that we would like to get off this road.
We had arranged to meet Arno at Cobadin, about 25 km along, for coffee and breakfast. Just as we came into town we found a restaurant which served excellent coffees and slightly strange but tasty omelets. Searching for an alternate route Google maps came up with a walking route which was the same distance to our destination but well away from the main road. At this stage we hadn’t decided which route we would take, we’d wait and see what the main road was like.
Breakfast finished, we said our goodbyes to Arno. He was finishing this part of his ride in Constanta while we are heading on to Tulcea and had already booked accommodation at Mamaia Beach so this would be the last time that we would see him.
The next 18km into Murfatlar was a nightmare and just dangerous in places where there was no shoulder on the road at all. By now cars and trucks were screaming by very close to us and we were very keen to get off this road as soon as possible. We also got chased by a very determined dog along this section. He must have chased us for 500 metres getting in front of and almost under Murray’s front wheel. He seemed immune to the water bottle trick and didn’t give up until Joanne managed to land a direct squirt to his face.
Getting into Murfatlar we had no hesitation in taking the walking route option. Initially it had us going towards Bucharest on the E81, another busy road but this wasn’t a problem as we were still in town and although there was a lot of traffic it was not moving too fast. Soon we turned off onto a dirt road which lead us through a rubbish tip and shanty housing – a bit dodgy but no traffic. We then joined a good asphalt road beside a canal with very little traffic for the majority of the distance and felt very pleased with ourselves. Google walking routes are often a bit dodgy and this one was no exception. At about 8km from the finish we found ourselves entering private property. We weren’t sure what it was but managed to convince the security guard that this was the way we had to go because that’s where our map was sending us! A big loop through a gravel mine took us back along the same canal along a dirt road and although the going was slow it was quiet.
Arriving in Mamaia Beach was a surprise. We had not expected it to be so pretty, that is once you get off the main road and down onto the beach. Our apartment Lamera is lovely with views both over the Black Sea and the lake.
We had a lovely lunch of seafood and pizza to celebrate making it to the Black Sea.
Sunday 7 July 2019, Day 54 Chiciu to Adamclisi 72km Total 4,189km
Hot and Hilly.
Hotel Baden turned out to be such a treat, being able to sit on the terrace last night overlooking the Danube eating pizza and fish. We had ordered breakfast to go again, the hotels don’t seem to mind this at all, and were on the ferry at 6.15am.
Once over the Danube we straight away headed into a gentle climb, followed by a steeper climb which was to be the flavour of the day. This region of Romania looks to be very wealthy with huge fields of sunflowers (think as far as you can see), wheat, corn and grapes. Slow and steady was the mantra of the day as we slowly whittled away the kilometres. The road was much quieter than expected with only the occasional truck and they were very polite not roaring past us so fast. Băneasa, a very nice little place, at the 42km mark was the first major town that we came to and we stopped here to eat our bagged breakfast, some cokes and got coffees from a bar. It was already starting to warm up as we started onward toward Ion Corvin with two steep uphill climbs, a steep down and another climb up to Ion Cronin. We stopped for cold drinks and ice creams before tackling the next climb on our way to Adamclisi where we are staying tonight.
Ion Corvin is the spot where you decide to either go to Constanta or stay with the official route, with the Danube, to Tulcea. Taking the turnoff to Constanta we passed a menagerie of farm animals, a flock of geese, and a raggedy herd of sheep and goats, a couple of donkeys and a few cows thrown in. The climb out of Ion Corvin was not particularly steep but it was long at about 5kms. After the summit we zig-zagged down hair pin corners and then back up again to Adamclisi to our hotel Pensiunea Trophaeum Traiani. We are eternally grateful that we read about this hotel mentioned in a random blog from an American couple as an alternative to Ion Corvin. Ion Corvin was looking like a sad second choice. Sadly the Americans had stayed at Ion Corvin, having what they described as a terrible night, only discovering this hotel’s existence when they rode past to visit the Trophaeum Traiani monument the next morning.
With a lovely room, air con, lunch and dinner, beers and wine we were happy and shared the whole experience with our friend Arno.
Tomorrow we go to the Black Sea.
Saturday 6 July 2019, Day 53 Oltenita to Chiciu 79km Total 4,117km
Our stay at Villa Europa surpassed our expectations, the owners were very friendly and we had a lovely room with a balcony, bikes were securely stored and the hotel has a very nice terrace restaurant where we had lunch and dinner. This hotel is obviously the place to be in Oltenita as groups of locals came in the evening for dinner or drinks. We were a bit more sluggish than usual leaving this morning but once downstairs we were greeted with our take away breakfasts and the offer of coffee. Overall a great stay.
Again on today’s ride there was no navigation required, just head straight down the road, the Dn 31, through a continuous string of villages. It was pleasant cycling waving hola to the locals out and about, the road was almost entirely flat, pretty smooth and we made good time only stopping a couple of times for breakfast on a bench by the road and a Pepsi and ice-cream at a neat and clean magazin mixt where the owners cleared a table in the shade for us a little later.
The landscape was much the same as recent days – crop farming, a few carts and horses, herds of sheep (always with shepherd in tow) and a string of villages that was more continuous today and perhaps a little more prosperous looking overall. We were again on the terrace above the river flat for much of the time and the occasional views over the flat land were welcome changes.
The final 8km stretch into Calarasi was horrendous on a very stressful busy main road with no shoulder. Luckily and unexpectedly we only stayed on this road for about 3km turning off toward Constanta and by-passing Calarasi and most of the traffic which took us directly to the ferry crossing at Chiciu where we had booked into the Hotel Baden.
Back on the Danube at Chiciu we had a lovely lunch at the Restaurant Monica, a popular spot with road cyclists and locals from nearby Calarasi. To our surprise, Arno from Brazil turned up and we had a great chat over lunch.
We are looking forward to the first real hilly section of the Budapest to the Black Sea leg as we make our way to Adamclisi tomorrow.
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Fridqay 5 July 2019, Day 52, Ruse to Oltenita Romania 91km Total 4,038km
Another 6.00am start today to get over the “Friendship Bridge” before things got too unfriendly. As usual we had the normal delays, the first one waiting needlessly at the toll station (bikes don’t pay the toll) and then queuing to get through immigration and it wasn’t until 7.30 that had made the 12kms to the start of the day’s stage and we were back in Romania and on our way.
The stay in Bulgaria and Apart Intrigue was fantastic. We have been very impressed with our two short forays into Bulgaria and enjoyed the more cosmopolitan feel to the place.
We ended up by-passing Giurgiu again. Perhaps it is a very attractive city or maybe we missed nothing, but we were on our way to Oltenita and still looking for breakfast. The route was once again very straight forward firstly on the very busy Dn5, which we were very pleased to get off, and then on the Dn41. Once on the Dn41 the route is mainly undulating with a few steeper climbs. Today would rate as one of the more hilly days that we have had for some time.
After passing lots of Magazin Mixtis and small bars that didn’t look all that inviting we found a Profi Loco where we were able to get a very fine but now very repetitive breakfast of bread, cheese, ham and salami. Cycling on passing a number of villages, including one particularly pretty village with the streets lined with trees and rose bushes in full flower, we met a French couple who were heading to Oltenita as well. They had stopped to replace a tyre and tube, with the surprisingly good luck for them that there was a bike shop in the little village that had the right sized tyre and tube. I think that we would struggle if the same happened to us, with 28 inch tyres not being very easy to come by.
We said our goodbyes and headed on, hoping to see them either on the road or in Oltenita, as the sky was becoming increasingly black. The wind was picking up and so was our speed as we raced along searching for somewhere to take cover. Just as the first huge splodges of rain fell we turned a corner to see some grain storage sheds. We quickly rode in, sharing the space with four dogs and a farmer who had pulled in in his tractor just after us as the rain and the wild wind lashed the sheds. We hoped that the French couple had managed to get into the last village and find some cover as well.
Off again, but not really sure that the storm had passed we headed for the next village, with the sky still looking threatening, 7km down the road. Oltenita was now only 15km away but we still had another couple of short climbs before reaching the very nice Villa Europa where we are staying tonight. What we saw of Oltenita was not encouraging – lots of industry and very little in the way of restaurants or even pleasant places to stop – so our little hotel with its lovely garden restaurant was a real find.
Border crossings, more hilly than in recent times and a wild and woolly storm made for a good and interesting day, passing 4,000kms.
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Thursday 4 July, 2019 Zimnicea to Ruse, Bulgaria 74km Total 3,947km
Another early start, we were on the bikes just after 6am with feast of a breakfast of ham, cheese, salad, bread and bottles of water, enough for four to go, provided by the Hotel Inter. It was not going to be as hot today, 29 degrees instead of the crazy 38 yesterday, but it was still good to be riding in the cool of the morning. The route was again very straight forward – stay on the Dn5c all the way to Giurgiu. The scenery hasn’t changed much again today, more sunflowers, corn and wheat. On the quieter road there were more horse and carts today and we saw a lot more Romany gypsies. The villages seemed poorer, and we had our breakfast in a not very salubrious spot on a bench outside someone’s home because the bar was full of men having their brekky beers and wine and who looked like they had been there a while (really? At 8:30?). We did get coffees and Pepsi’s from the little shop that was doubling as a bar though.
Continuing onward after breakfast, riding fairly quickly, it looked like we would be in Ruse by 11!. Just before Giurgiu we diverted to a very rough road along a canal by-passing Giurgiu to the Friendship bridge and over into Bulgaria. The Friendship bridge wasn’t very friendly, being 2.8km long, narrow and without a cycle path – the footpath was too narrow to cycle on. Luckily we managed to get across without too many semis screaming past. We will make sure that we are on the bridge early tomorrow morning to avoid too much traffic when we head back into Romania.
We ended up not getting into Ruse until midday having to queue firstly at the Friendship Bridge toll and then at the border crossing into Bulgaria. The Bulgarian border official was questioning why we weren’t continuing our ride in Bulgaria saying it was much more beautiful than Romania!
After a delicious long lunch at the Happy Bar and Grill in the lovely old town centro of Ruse we found our way to the very impressive Apartman Intrigue. There is a reason that it scores 10 on the Booking.com site. A lazy afternoon in the heat of the day and a stroll back to Centro for dinner rounded out the day nicely.
Wednesday 3 July 2019, Day 50. Islaz to Zimnicea 67km Total 3,843km
Another embarrassing early arrival, 10.45am at our destination Zimnicea. We left the oasis that is Villa Giulia at 6.45am after a great breakfast. Breakfast doesn’t normally start until 7am but as we wanted to get an early start to beat the heat the owner was happy to get up early to make us breakfast at 6:00 – good coffee, cold meats, omelettes, freshly made apricot jam – couldn’t have been better. We didn’t end up leaving quiet as early as planned as there were problems with the credit card machine but the few extra minutes didn’t make much difference.
Once back through the village of Islaz we powered along past farmland with fields of sunflowers, corn, wheat and some grapes, similar to the last few days, to Turnu Magurele. Once through Turnu Magurele we turned onto the much less trafficked Dn 51a, a mildly undulating road passing through a number of small villages. Although the speed limit is 50km/hr along here many of the cars were whizzing by much faster than that, a bit worrying on such a narrow road with no shoulder.
Along this section are a stretches of ornate but unfinished houses which according to Mike Wells have been built by Gypsy families as a way to demonstrate their wealth – very strange as they are unfinished and mostly boarded up! Shortly after this stretched-out village the EV6 takes a horse shoe bending back on itself on onto Zimnicea. As we were stopped to check our maps a driver stopped and directed us, pointing to a side road that cut off about 3km from the official route. As it was now starting to heat up we were happy to take a short cut. We have found the Romanians to be very friendly and helpful even when they have little or no English.
It was along the short cut that we saw two German or maybe Scandinavian girls (cycling just in nicks and sports bras!). We have not seen any other touring cyclists for a few days, not since meeting up with Arno in Drobeta, but then just outside Zimnicea saw two more guys at a bar.
Zimnicea is a pretty non-descript town with one big building, our hotel – Hotel Inter, which is quite modern and nice. We will reserve judgement when we hear that they have got the air conditioning to work. The restaurant is good though – a pity that it is way too hot to use the very nice terrace.
Tuesday 2 July 2019, Day 49. Bechet to Islaz – 69km Total 3,776km
Today was a shorter day, just 69km but predicted to be very hot. AccuWeather’s description for today was 36 degrees, blazing sunshine, hot and humid and dangerous for outdoor activities! So it was another early start and we were on the road with our packed breakfast from the hotel at 6.30am. We feel a bit like frauds as we arrive at our day’s destination before lunch but it is nice not riding in the blazing heat of the day.
Today’s route had us sticking to the Dn54 which was busier than yesterday, with more ups and downs and some long straight sections. Sadly we saw an accident just outside Corabia where two horses had evidently been hit by a truck and killed.
The scenery is pretty much the same as yesterday, with more fields of corn, wheat and sunflowers. There were still horses and carts on the road, but fewer with the traffic building.
We arrived at the lovely Villa Giulia at around 11.30, which is undeniably an early end to the day, but we were able to enjoy a lovely lunch in their large gardens – initially thinking we were the only ones staying here until a big group of young people arrived to dominate the pool! A relaxed afternoon in the gardens and pool – couldn’t be better in this crazy heat.
Monday 1 July 2019, Day 48 Vidin to Bechet Romania 112km Total 3,709km
After a very pleasant stay and rest day at Hotel Anna Kristina enjoying the pool, pizza at the bar and great seafood at the Danube-side restaurant just a spit way, it was time to be back on the bikes. Today was a big day, 112km and with temperatures predicted to top 35 degree we decided that an early start was needed. As we were leaving before breakfast started the lovely people at Anna Kristina prepared breakfast boxes for us. We were on the road before sunrise and 10kms on at the bridge before the border post to Romania as the sun rose over the Danube – a beautiful start. We found a much quieter route to the border than we took coming in, not having us on the E79 at all, although at this time of day even the E79 was pretty quiet.
Over the border and back in Romania we were back on the 55A but now much, much quieter without all of the trucks, it was like a different road altogether. We were to stay on the 55A for the whole day passing numerous small villages but with only a few places for us to stop for a drink or a break. The villagers here are very friendly, waving and wishing us “bon courage” – I’m sure in my best Romanian that’s what they were saying.
Cycling along we passed endless golden fields of sunflowers as well as corn and wheat and there are apricot and cherry trees lining the road. Perhaps one lady was not so friendly when she caught Joanne stealing cherries from the tree in front of her house (more than a bit of her father in her)!
We also passed dozens and dozens of horse or even donkey drawn carts, they seem to be the main form of transport for the locals in these parts. That, along with the sheep or goat herders or shepherds with every flock and the cutting of grass with scythes and loading of hay with pitch forks, made it feel like we had transported back in time as well as to another country.
We really did get on with the job of making the kilometres before the sun really punished us and we made it into Bechet by noon, not bad considering the distance, and enjoyed lunch at a pizza place not far from our Hotel Tata Si Fii (Father and Sons). It must have been the sons who checked us in and offered cold beers – they are very used to welcoming cyclists here.
It was by now very hot and we were thankful for the early start. A good day.
Saturday 29 June 2019, Day 47. Gruia to Vidin Bulgaria. 67km Total 3597km
Today was a day of fields of sunflowers and later endless trucks.
We got off to an early start from Pensiunea Gruia back up a steep climb to Gruia church, not because we had a big distance to go but so that we cycled in the cool of the morning. It was quiet at this time of day with just the older folk out getting the bread and some old codgers having a brekky beer, is 7.00am too early!
The sunflowers seem to have come into flower overnight and there are fields of them as far as the eye can see. There was very little traffic at this time of day as we came upon farmers out with their herds of goats and riding along in horse drawn carts. All too soon we were to turn back onto 56A and the onslaught of semi trailers. They were continuous but really pretty courteous and not passing too close. We managed to get some breakfast at a supermarket in Cetate and ate on a bench at a nearby children’s park, we had hoped for a restaurant but it wasn’t to be. Once we turned onto the E79 the number of trucks multiplied making us keep our heads down as we again clung to the edge of the road until we made it to the turn off to Vidin and the Bulgarian border.
We realised why there were so many truck as we saw them queueing at the border post. After cokes and coffees at a very neat and tidy cafe at a petrol station just on the turn-off to the border we skirted around what must have been kilometres of trucks waiting to have their papers cleared and cross over the border. Into Bulgaria to our surprise there was no border post and we headed along the now quiet E79 – all the trucks were stuck back at the border, and into Vidin. Vidin is a strange sort of town, with heavy signs of the Soviet days here in run-down concrete apartment blocks. We are staying over by the river which is lovely with bars and cafe/ restaurants and our hotel Anna Christina, but other parts of town are not so attractive and the centre seems low-key (Armidale on Saturday afternoon?) We are looking forward to a day off tomorrow – by the river and in very pleasant surroundings – before heading back into Romania for a bigaturday
Friday, 28 June 2019. Day 46, Drobeta to Gruia 66km Total 3530km
The road out of Drobeta was horrendous, we were back on the E70 and then on the no less busy 56A for the first 16km, great roads for semi-trailers, but neither a place for cyclists to be.
We had planned an early start from our Hotel Clipa but with our breakfast supplies having spent a hot day in the panniers and then overnight in the fridge that was either turned off or didn’t work we were lured to stay later for a fresh breakfast. Possibly better than the food poisoning that would have ensued – ahh, memories of days in Basel. We were at breakfast at 7.00am where were we met Arno from Brazil who we had cycled with a few days ago. Poor Arno had come to grief with a cracked rim and had to change his plans and come to Drobeta to get a new wheel and new tires – all well though and he had a day off to recoup the spirits.
The E70 was no less busy than yesterday as we came into town and the 56A was no better as we clung to the narrow shoulder where it existed with the speeding cars and trucks screaming by. Turning off at Hinova after 16kms things improved substantially with some quiet and the ability to look around without worrying about being skittled. The road now stuck to the wide and fast flowing river until Batoji where we turned away into quiet farming country, some hills, a cold drink stop and a bit of ad hoc route changes heading toward Gruia. The heat was gathering seriously and there were no stops where we would have liked them, but the route to Gruia and our Pensiunea Gruia way down the hill at the river was smooth going.
Our stop for the night is a riverside hotel in the middle of nowhere – no signs to it from the main road, a closed gate at the hotel and good luck that a man with some horses at the farm next door saw us and headed in to alert the management. No one here speaks English and things were looking a bit grim as the young woman on duty didn’t seem really in charge, but then the owner arrived (still no English at all – but a lot of rapid Romanian and plenty of expectation that we would understand) and we managed lunch (like dinner – just arriving with a smile), drinks and a relaxed afternoon. We also have the company of a group of locals who have arrived for a night of partying – with all the fresh (and not so fresh) Romanian hits that everyone is enjoying.
Very good to be here – and very conscious that we didn’t really know if we had a room
Thursday 27 June 2019. Day 45 – Donji Milanovac to Drobeta-Turnu Severin 67km Total 3462km
Today is described as the most spectacular stage of this last section of the EV6 and the day we enter Romania.
Our very simple guest house Rooms Jankovic turned out to be a lovely surprise despite the shared bathroom and no air con. Our room was large – not having a space wasting ensuite, and with a balcony opening over the Danube. It was quiet enough and mozzie free to allow us to have the windows and shutters open and get a good night’s sleep (unlike our Irish neighbours who kept the windows tightly sealed in fear of mosquitoes and complained of not getting any sleep).
Today is another shorter day of just 67km but the weather is predicted to go above 30 so we made an early start, after a very nice but unexpected breakfast, and headed off towards Romania. We also had the last 4 tunnels with the first one 371 metres, being the longest of the numbered twenty one tunnels. The second tunnel was not much shorter at 285 metres. These tunnels are pitch black and often with bends and we had a truck passing us during the second tunnel, extremely nerve racking as it is hard to see where the edge of the road is and it was not the time to come off the bike!
The stage lived up to its description and the view was spectacular with Danube cutting through the last part of the Iron Gates gorge and now just 150 metres across at the point called The Cauldron (reducing from 5kms wide a day ago to 150m is something and the power of this mighty river was awesome).
We continued on alongside the river looking across at the towns and villages on the Romanian side before a 4km climb passing the largest rock sculpture in Europe – a huge head of Decebalus Rex. Very impressive. It was hot by now and we enjoyed the cooling wind on the long descent back to the river, finding a lovely beach-side spot for a beer and relax before heading on to the border.
The crossing into Romania is via a road over a dam, complete with official border posts and the promise of dire consequences for photography. The cloud cover which had kept us cooler early in the day had now lifted and it was hot as we joined a very busy road, riding along a very narrow shoulder, with huge trucks whizzing by into Drobeta.
Our home for the night in the quite big city (86,000) of Drobeta is the Hotel Clipa, a great place with a big room and a fabulous terrace restaurant that seems to be the place to hang out for the young and upwardly mobile here.
Wednesday 26 June 2019. Golubac to Donji Milanovac 56km Total 3395km
After making breakfast of fried pancetta and eggs, orange juice and apricots enjoyed on the balcony of our lovely Apartment Bogic we were cycling out of town beside the Danube at 8.30. Today was a shorter day of just 56km firstly passing the Golubac fortress, a Mesolithic village dating from 5000BC and the four gorges collectively known as the Iron Gates. Unfortunately the fortress was not opened yet, meaning that we missed the chance to cycle through one of the castle gates and had to make do with views from the road.
We had not even got out of town when we discovered that Joanne’s lights were not working. This was an issue as today was also the day of 17 tunnels! Luckily we were prepared for this happening and had bought along spare attachable lights, Joanne’s lights have been dodgy ever since they were damaged en-flight to the Hanoi to Saigon ride in 2016-7.
Most of the tunnels were not too long and you could see through to the end but a couple were long and dark and it was hard to gauge where the side of the road was. One of the cyclists that we met yesterday at Stara Palanka caught up with us just before the first tunnel and followed through with us – we didn’t think that he had any lights. Thankfully we didn’t come across one of the many trucks inside the tunnels.
After a stop, and a very welcome coke at the Mesolithic village, the temperature was really starting to build up as we heading on to a steep 2 km climb followed by a steep descent into the outskirts of Donji Milanovic and continued into town and a very nice lunch beside a tourist market at the docks.
Despite the building heat today was a good day with a couple of short climbs, one a steep one, with fantastic views of the Danube across to Romania on the far bank arriving at our guest house Rooms Jankovic in the early afternoon. Rooms Jankovic has been a lovely surprise as despite having shared bathrooms and not having air con it is a lovely family run small hotel where the host has washed our cycling clothes and provided us with beers on the terrace.
Tuesday 25 June 2019. Kovin to Golubac 78km total 3339km
There were definitely two stages to today’s ride separated by the ferry at Stara Palanka. The ferry only runs every 3 hours so it was important to arrive at the ferry crossing in time to avoid a long wait. We headed off from Kod Cileta hotel restaurant around 8.30. We weren’t in a hurry this morning as we had decided to avoid the very slow and bumpy unsealed dyke and take the road, only rejoining the dyke for the last 4.5km into Stara Palanka. The road was smooth, fairly flat and with not too much traffic and the occasional truck. We made good time, having just one cold drink break at the junction of where the dyke route meets the road and got to Stara Palanka just before 10.45. Once there we discovered that the timetable has changed with the ferry departing on the half hour every 3 hours so we ended up having just missed the 10.30 ferry. We spent the next two and a half hours relaxing in the shade with a couple of beers followed by lunch being entertained watching the Serbian army going about their training with heavy vehicles and semi submersibles. Not very much seemed to be getting done, but they enjoyed lunch at the restaurant too – beers and all.
Getting on the ferry we met an Irish couple who had come via the dyke this morning and they reported that it was very rough, potholed with knee high grass – not pleasant. We were glad that we took the road option. They also BOTH had punctures having ridden through an area of wood thorns. There are signs warning cyclists about this – they showed us the photo!
Once over the Danube to Ram, an attractive small town, with bars and restaurants and the Ram fort right on the riverside. After a short climb out of Ram it was mostly undulating or flat for the whole of the second section but it was getting getting hot and we were racing what looked like savage thunderstorms coming across the river from Romania – that didn’t arrive after all.
We arrived in Golubac just after 4 and headed straight to our lodgings at Apartman Bogic for showers before beers by the Danube and a relaxed evening in this quiet riverside village. The river here is 5kms wide (!) and magnificent – facing the iron gates gorges that we strike tomorrow.
Monday 24 June 2019. Belgrade to Kovin 58km Total 3,261km
We headed off this morning after a very relaxing 2 days off in Belgrade staying at our lovely apartment Basco Knez Mahailova. While not the actual centre of Belgrade, Knez Mahailova is the Social Centre with bars and restaurants just everywhere. While this break was planned for Murray to do reports and catch up with general emailing and correspondence it was also an opportunity just to relax for a couple of days.
After hauling panniers and bikes down the tiny elevator it was back on the bikes, but later than anticipated due to the heavy morning rain. The route out of Belgrade was straight forward enough but after the build up of heat over the last few days Sunday evening saw a huge storm with extremely heavy rain which caused flooding in the city streets. We crossed over a long bridge over the Danube, one of the few sightings of the river again today, heavy now not with rain but traffic. The cycle path only starts about a third of the way across with a 10 inch high curb to mount in the traffic. Luckily for us there wasn’t much traffic at that point and we were able to very quickly dismount and lift the bikes onto the cycle / footpath. Once over the bridge the route turns firstly onto a gravel track and then the first of the unsealed dykes for the day. Unfortunately the rain flooded the gravel track and made the dyke impassable with mud. Only 500m down facing the completely flooded track we decided that the only way today was along the E70. Who would have thought that the E70 would have a lovely bus lane all the way to the turn off to Pancevo and we whizzed along.
Stopping for a coffee break at Pancevo we met another cyclist, Arno from Brazil, who was going the same way but had got 4km down the muddy dyke before turning back to join the main road. Arno rode with us for a while, but he didn’t have a Serbian sim so had no maps and was struggling with his navigation. Arno is a real character, he has done a lot of cycling and we met him again in Kovin where we had lunch together.
The last stretch into Kovin continued pleasantly along the paved country roads with minimal traffic. Today was a short day and after the morning storms developed into a lovely day with perfect cycling conditions. Kovin is a small and pleasant town with cafes, restaurants and a good feel. We are staying at the guesthouse Kod Cileta which has a restaurant and bar and has given us a great afternoon.
Friday 21 June 2019. Novi Sad to Belgrade 95km Total 3205km
Today started and ended on busy roads with heavy traffic so close they could have shaved our legs but there was a lot of pleasant riding through small pretty villages in between as well.
With another early start we were on our way at 6.00am but very soon onto the busy main road out of Novi Sad, then too briefly off the main road through the small and very pretty village of Sremski before rejoining the main road to climb 4km up a steady 5% grade. The climb itself was fine but the road had an intermittent and very narrow shoulder which had the passing cars, buses and trucks scarily close to us. At the top of the climb we thankfully turned off this road and were then on small sealed and sometimes quiet rough roads through a series of small villages.
After a bumpy cobblestone section we had a picnic breakfast at a busy intersection in Beska and were thankful for the early start as this first 25km took us 2 hours to complete with the heavy traffic and the climb. It was warming up and we had short break for ice cream, Coke Zero and to buy more water at the end of the first stage at the road junction of Stari Slankemen and Novi Slankamen and then another break at a bar for more Coke Zero 15km along at Belegis.
From Belegis we continued on generally descending through farming villages through to an urban sprawl of 3 villages where a random vehicle nearly took Murray out – it looked deliberate as the driver seemed to take no notice at all, even as we crawled passed the car door. From there it was on to Batajnica where the traffic started to build up again and we found ourselves again in heavy traffic for 10km, although it seemed a lot more than this, until the small riverside village of Zemun. What a treat Zemun was, right on the banks of the Dunav lined with restaurants and boats – a delight for lunch before heading into Belgrade.
Today we saw our first flowering sunflowers. No photos unfortunately as we were concentrating on not being squished. The final short section into the Serbian capital was on bike ways through parkland and then over the river – all lovely and scenic and returning us to calm before arriving at Basco Knez Milhailova which is really the people centre of Belgrade – walking streets, lines of cafes and restaurants and full of life – a great place to be
Thursday June 20, 2019. Vukovar Croatia to Novi Sad Serbia 85km Total 3108kms
Yesterday’s early start inspired us so we skipped breakfast at the hotel, much to our host’s dismay, and were on the road just after 6am. The day gets going a bit later in Croatia and it was difficult finding somewhere open to get breakfast. So, it was on to the next village or maybe the one after but we came to an open Bosco at 7am, so it had just opened, and managed to get bread, prosciutto, cheese and a couple of peaches – lovely. I know that this sounds very much like lunch but on a cycling trip meals become interchangeable.
The first stage of today’s ride was 40km firstly through undulating farmland and then including the steep-ish ups and downs through four Coombes (and English term used by the guru Mike Wells – a village in a short valley). Our EV6 app became very confused through Ilok towards the end of the stage just before the border crossing and after a scenic detour up to the church and a fort we managed to find our way again. Both border crossings, out of Croatia and into Serbia, were smooth and pretty efficient. .
Successfully making our way into Serbia at the border town of Backa Palanga we felt we deserved a beer break at a bar. We also more productively got some Serbian cash and a morning snack before starting down the extremely busy road for the second stage of the day.
Mike had said that there were two long sections of dyke that were unsurfaced but there was an alternate route to avoid these. We had had enough of unsurfaced dykes so decided to take the alternate route. That was until we had spent half an hour with cars and trucks whizzing by at speed and very impatient so that they felt just centimetres away. We both decided it was the dyke whether they were unsurfaced or not. As it turned out the dyke gods were smiling on us. Since Mike’s book was published the whole length of the dyke is now beautifully surfaced in dark grey bitumen with only the very occasional car. Sometimes you can place too much faith in Mike, but that’s another matter.
The new dyke path took at least an hour off from the time it would have taken to ride into Novi Sad so we were there in time for a late lunch of pub burgers and chips just near Apartmani Eleganza @ La Vista where we are staying tonight – a great little place. With dinner at a trendy bar just by the apartment Novi Sad has been a lovely introduction to Serbia.
Wednesday June 19, 2019. Mohacs to Vukovar 120km Total 3,023km
Cracked 3,000km !
With a big day ahead of us we planned an early start, wanting to be on the road at 6.00am, and we made it. It was lovely cycling this early, cooler and with just a few people about. We started the day riding along a friendly dyke right beside the Danube or the Duna in Hungary. We soon left the dyke and also left the Danube, only to come upon it briefly during the day, onto small roads and then the much busier Route 56, also known as E73 (read scary international road) to the border crossing with Croatia. This is the first proper border crossing that we have come across (uniformed people with weapons who want to see papers) but it was very efficient and friendly.
Into Croatia the landscape hasn’t changed very much, still lots of vegetables, corn and wheat, grapes and apricots but the the cars whizzing by are much more humble. We even saw a horse drawn cart but we think this was for “joy rides” not as transport.
There was one hill just after coming into Croatia which had us briefly back into low gears and standing on the pedals. It was a bit of a shock after so long cruising along beside the river.
We made the first stop at Osijek for cool drinks and to pick up some lunch. Osijek is a big town, but had a nice feel to the area around the fort that we stopped at. 75kms in before 11:00 was a bit surreal, but needed, and we were away with lunch by 12:30 for an hour before our proper stop – some seats in a small village that did the trick.
The final 30kms into Vukovar was uneventful really – more traffic than we have been used to, a minor 1.5km hill and plenty of agricultural scenery. Making it to our very nice Villa Vadin Pansion for the night. Just us and two other cycling tourists here and just us for dinner – complete with entertaining attempts at translation. Happy to be here – and to have the mosquitoes outside (they were described by the owner here as ‘catastrophique’ and not normal, so that is encouragin
Tuesday 18 June 2019 Day 37 Baga to Mohacs – 34km Total – 2903km
A very short day on the bikes today, just 34km with the idea for Murray to get on to the next bout of report writing. After initially heading off on a completely wrong path, really a walking path of loose gravel that had us skidding all over the path, we quickly regained the route but straight away ran into roadworks. A new bridge is being built where we were meant to cross. Taking a deviation was going to take us way out of the way so it was worth asking the construction workers if we could walk through. They were happy to let us through but that hasn’t always been the case at other roadworks sites.
We were then on a small country road for just a few kilometres before rejoining the dyke. After the heavy rain last night the dyke was wet, soft and very slow going. A kindly old farmer explained in very fast Hungarian that the adjacent road joins the EV6 route a few kilometres along and getting the gist of what he was saying we took his advice.
Now we were properly on our way along a small very quiet road with an excellent bitumen tarmac and a slight tailwind behind us all the way to Mohacs ferry. Waiting at the ferry we were attacked by mozzies but now had super strength insect repellent (more agent orange than insect repellent).
Mohacs is a very pretty little town and today we have seen a steady steam of touring cyclists as they stopped at one of the many bars before heading on. It is a pity that we are not here around Easter when the local folk dress in sheep hides, cows horns on their heads and wooden masks daubed in animal blood. Why not!
A small miscalculation of the daily kilometres will see us on a longer than intended day tomorrow but for now we are enjoying a pizza lunch in the pedestrian mall and tonight’s accommodation at the Hotel Centrum.
Monday 17 June – Day 36 – Dunafoldvar to Baja – 96kms – Total 2,869kms
Today was going to be a slighter shorter day than yesterday and although the day was predicted to be cooler the temperature was still reaching a high of 27 with high humidity as well, so we had planned an earlier start which turned out to be not so early 8.30. Loading the bikes up we were attacked by mozzies, apparently this is a problem during the summer here as we had the same problem, but much more intensive (they were swarming like army ants over a dead body), at lunch time. Murray dashed to the coop for insect repellent and after visiting three shops returned with insect repellent spray (the shopkeepers own partly used bottle as they were sold out !) and coils which did the trick.
Dunafoldvar is off the main EV6 route so we continued 28km down an alternate route along quiet country roads passing apricot orchards, corn and vegetable fields and vineyards to the ferry at Paks. The ferry only runs hourly so it was hit and miss whether we would make it and we only did with five minutes to spare – with some more intensity in the pedaling than usual.
From Gederlak, back on the main route, we continued along small country roads until Fokto where we were again on the Danube dyke with varying degrees of surface structure from grassy track, sandy gravel with the back tyres slipping out to lovely smooth but narrow road surfaces running alongside the Danube giving us occasional glimpses of the river.
Lunch was looking like it wasn’ t going to happen as there is not a lot along this stretch but popping into Fajsz we found the coop and managed to get bread, cheese ham and salami and with the addition of the insect repellent we were able to enjoy lunch, keeping the mozzies at bay, in a park by the church.
We were both feeling weary with the heat for the final section into Baja but from here the track was very smooth making the going much easier. We arrived into Baja around 4.00pm and enjoyed cold beers in the Centrum before checking into Hotel Kaiser Panzio, a very smart establishment
Sunday 16 June – Day 36 – Budapest to Dunafoldvar – 110kms – Total 2,773kms
The past three weeks has been a break from the bikes as we headed to the UK for more business-like things. The bikes had been stored at the very impressive ‘K2’ bike shop in Budapest (big recommendation – lots of work needed like new cassette, chain, bottom bracket, break pads and the rolloff gears needing work too – all done incredibly well done and good value).
First day back on the bikes after being in the UK and we were less organised than we should have been and has been in the past. It was 9.30 before we headed over the Chain Bridge, butgetting out of Budapest was incredibly easy and straight forward. Past the spectacular Parliament House, over the famous Chain Bridge, and onto the bike path heading South out of the city.
It wasn’t too long after leaving Budapest that we met our first hurdle. Road works over a bridge crossing with no alternate instructions (other than from a helpful local who gave great detail in Hungarian which we nodded to and headed off to follow) had us on a busy road and out of our way. Surviving the traffic we were soon onto the first of the very rough sections of road that were to dominate the day – bouncing in unflattering fashion for cyclist and bike alike – and which slowed us down so much. The roads were beautiful though, along parallel tributaries to the Danube and through forests and fields of vegetables.
After a short stop for a diet pepsi at what was clearly a beer and seafood only open-air place, we met the second challenge of the day, following a clear EV6 sign away from the route that our app was showing. We were turning back when two German tourers, also heading for the Black Sea, showed up and said they were following the sign, thinking it was a new road. We followed suit, in a rather poor judgement, and added a good distance to the day and lots of confusion doing it – not another sign in sight, way off track and in traffic. We did make it back to the track though, at Rackeve.
We had expected to make it to Rackeve (supposed to be 54kms) before lunch despite the late start, but it was a long 54kms and we stopped at a very popular lake with hundreds of Hungarian families for lunch – including cold beers. Very nice, but made our arrival at the half way mark very late and we pushed on.
The afternoon session began well, through alternating smooth and very rough sections of paved road, before we came to another dyke. Not as friendly as previous dykes, it was not only unsurfaced, but covered in thick and rough grass. It was a bouncy journey and slowed things down a lot, even though we were motivated by the thunder and lightning all around (for hours – and it did pour down on us later) and feeling just a bit exposed with our metal bikes on the dyke. We made it through though and onto the steady road leading the bridge to Dunafoldvar.
Some clever negotiation at the first patisserie we came to ledus to our digs at an apartment a few hundred metres away – and then a great seafood dinner back at the river. A long and challenging day for the first one back on the bikes – but certainly finished well!
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, Day 28, Passau to Linz – 92km, Total 2091kms
13 May 2019, Day 25 Ingolstadt to Regensburg – 83km – Total 1,846kms
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28 April 2019 Day 12 Paray Le Monial to Saint Leger sur Dhuene 73km – Trip total – 851kms
Cycling Day 1: Realp to Brig – 78kms
Cycling Day 22 – 7 January, 2018 – Phi Nom to Da Lat – 26kms (Total 1711)
Cycling Day 5 – 16 December 2017 Day 8 Coconut Village to Vinh 67km (Total 353)
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