In which Sid and Doris bravely ride through tunnels to Lepinski Vir and a friendly B&B.
We have had one of the best days by the river; though we had rain this morning we are relishing these days of river views after the vast dull plains. Golubac town is at the widest part, prompting a conversation about “what is the difference between a lake and a wide bit of a river” which kept us going for a few happy kilometres.
On the opposite shore are Romanian wind turbines. Oddly, S, our scientstificable advisor had not warned us that as we move toward the fort and through narrow rocky canyons the funneled winds will be strong. Despite the buffeting and the unaccustomed climbing today’s 59 kilometres felt quite comfortable.
Our apartment in Golubac had air-con that would not cool. We slept with the windows open and the AC fan full on. Dogs barked and the local ducks (which do not quack and which we are starting to think may actually be frogs) chattered on and on. Still, cyclists just will sleep. The bakers’ this morning was still a bit mysterious. By the time we get the hang of it we’ll be on to Bulgaria. The stocks of knee and bottom salves were boosted at the Apotek. We took a picture of ‘the tractor I use when I am going into town’.
After 20 or so kilometres we pull off the road into shade to eat compressed fruit and drink water. As we stand there a cloud bursts. Several burst, simultaneously. We are under the trees and do not venture out until it is only raining. A few k down the road and it is all over.
Our route takes us to Lepinski Vir. Yes, you nod, the well known Neolithic site where in the late 1960s Yugoslav archeologists excavated an eight thousand year old Neolithic village before the new Danube dam covered the site with water. The whole thing was moved up the bank 100 metres and housed in a steel and glass pavillion, think Crystal Palace or Kew Gardens but much bigger. There were about six visitors.
The statues and pottery they have dug up are about 8,000 years old. We believe the one here has often been used as the subject for a caption competition.
Doris’s vow only to buy a #virtualsouvenir was rather challenged by these replica alters/useful way for a house-proud neolithic woman to present aperitif snacks to visiting stone age people from other tribes at about £30 each, but despite a lively discussion on how they could be fitted into the luggage we continued without them.
Today we rode through about 15 tunnels, some over 300m long. The only ones to really fear are those that have a curve in them. In those Sid rides nervously out in the road with his front light turning night to gloom so Doris can see the road surface and line of the kerb. Doris wears the most reflective jacket and we are both here.
The new road is all tunnels and bridges. Coming out of the museum we use the old road which runs in the valley of a tributary, actually along the dry river bed at one point, before climbing steeply out to the new road. Snaking about under the new road we think of villains like Keith Baud and Mark Appleton with these opportunities for hidden rally controls almost vertically above each other.
From Lepinski Vir to here was over a long honest climb. All knees are present and correct.
In Donji Milanovac we are staying at the Jankovic guest house. We were welcomed with tea and cherry slices and the offer of a load through the washing machine. Oh, yes, not washing our kit in the sink and drying it between the bathroom towels before festooning the bedroom furniture with damp Lycra? The man of the house helped us tidy the bikes’ gears of old dike grass and brought more cake.
Going out to explore we found the town museum, shut these three years, and the unloved remains of a steam powered engine (built Budapest in 1821) with one of the governor’s balls missing. Not one for Miftah Bat.
There also appears to have been a bit of a falling out between the town Vulkanizer (a tyre depot which to Mifter Bat’s delight in Hungary was called Gumi Service, sorry about the absence of pics) and the rest of the town. Consequently the place seemed to be littered with vehicles with flat tyres.
This one outside the police station was most impressive, and we have included it at full size so you can delight in it. While we were there the police team came out and washed the rest of their cars but not this one.
The rest of the afternoon has been spent working out different small-road ways across Bulgaria to Edirne – whichever way we find seems to include a few Sid And Doris kilometres of high speed truck work. Our routes look a bit transit-oriented with a few tough days, probably eight days in all. We will need to find one of the towns pleasant enough to rest up in.
Now we are out for beer and dinner. A very impressive cloudburst has just broken with huge amounts of water coming down. We have ordered more beer to keep our seats under cover before moving to dinner, hoping we will be lucky with the timing again and get to dinner fairly dry. Thundery showers are forecast for the region for the next few days…