Lying down and finding a comfortable position has been almost as challenging as some of the hottest and toughest roads on the ride. But morning finally came and breakfast in the Hotel Drustar seemed like it had been created in the 1970s. The jam was bright red in a plastic pot, some items were identifiable but, oddly for me, didn’t have that “eat me, I might be delicious” vibe. You can’t go wrong with a bit of muesli, yoghurt and honey, though. We set off shortly afterwards and reached the border crossing in 5 minutes. There were three cars and a van in front of us. We handed over our passports and then waited. People watching is great at the best of times but at a border crossing it goes to another level. One woman in particular was clearly having a bad day. She was getting more hot and bothered by the minute – she opened the back of her van and seemed to load more stuff in it just after she got clearance and another woman magically appeared to help her. A lot of the cars were from Ukraine – packed to the gunnels with holiday stuff. Another cyclist turned up – traditional Romanian with a plastic bag brimmed with what looked like Mother’s Pride. She tried skipping the queue but was sent back to wait behind us. Slowly slowly she crept up again and five minutes later she was on her way. I wondered where the bread was heading – seems to be a big effort to cross a border just for bread!
So the wait was about 20 minutes – it’s always a good feeling when another country lets you enter – it’s like passing an exam. We turned right after the border and cycled along a road with vines stretching for miles on each side. Within five minutes, we passed a horse and cart with a large family sitting in the back. Soon the vines turned to sunflowers. We were parped at and waved at by every vehicle. So much to see and so much to photo – we kept overtaking and then re-overtaking one particular horse and cart I think the guy must have been roaring with laughter when having his beers that night.
Neil took on the role of film director and cameraman for the day – capturing some of the amazing sights. We stopped at a creek on the Danube for a short break. Everyone jumped in, save me. I probably should have but didn’t want to spend the day riding in damp shorts. I twinkled my toes. The water was lovely. We stopped at a monastery which had healing waters so I washed my battered arm and drank from the spring. I saw a few poorly folk also making the trip to the healing water fountain, which was dedicated to St Andrew and highly decorated inside.
We waited a little while for Deyan to arrive – he was stuck at the border for 2 hours – he said there was a lot of queue jumping going on which slowed everything down. Lunch was inside the monastery and was mossaka, beetroot/carrot/Apple/dill salad and mushrooms with rice. Very delicious. With 30km still to go we reluctantly got on our bikes and pedalled off up a hill in the ever increasing heat of the day.
It was a great afternoon’s ride, though. Beautiful scenery, challenging physically and mentally and when we arrived at Lake Oltina we stopped for a rest and a packet of ritz biscuits. The path round the lake was lovely – we saw loads of birds, a massive herd of goats, sheep and donkeys, a large snake, and people fishing by hand – chasing the fish into the net while standing waist height in the water.
There are lots of dogs here. Lots and lots. I am not great around dogs I don’t know. So it was tough cycling through barking dogs that seemed to be chasing me. I think my Fitbit bpm peaked a few times!
The boys made a special dinner – eggs with yoghurt and a broth, and roasted whole peppers washed down by some Romanian beer and then wine. A great meal to end a lovely day.
Snoo's kitchen 