Woke up feeling powerful. Brilliant night sleep, a super sunny morning although the breakfast could have been a bit more substantial. Had a lovely chat with Blaise and Mila and promised to spread the word about the awesome Garni Hotel 11tica.
Today was going to be 90K to Belgrade and looking forward to a day or two off whilst there. On the way out, I dropped by the restaurant to pick up my fleece and set off over the newly constructed Varadin Bridge, the previous one having been blown up the year before during the Kosovo war. Again I think about lucky I am not to have experienced such hardships and political environment that resulted in such wars.
As I neared the end of the bridge, I saw a very smiley, happy looking guy with a very impressive set of front and rear panniers, exactly the same set up as mine - even the same colour. His looked a lot fuller than mine though. He was a French guy called Bart and exuded positive energy.
Turns out this was his second such trip, the first one was around Albania and this time he was planning to make it to Iran. We cycled and chatted a bit and he told me about a great app called EuroCycle and how he was a firm believer in Warmshowers which he used for lodging and also meeting locals. I had heard about this, but just never tried it out. I was pretty sure I would bump into him again and I shot off at full pelt.
Wow, the day was just so brilliant and once again, I found myself shouting out and singing loud to noone in particular as I flew past small village after small village. The ride had involved a pretty tough 4km climb, but I was feeling strong and ready for it. There was noone around to hear me and I whooped and hollered with unconstrained joy. God, it was good to be alive.
I took some short videos of the places I passed and eventually I decided to stop off for a lunchtime beer at the small village of Novi Slankamen. The owner of the bar was a huge bodybuilder of a guy and as with everyone else I had met in Serbia thus far, a super friendly guy.
I only intended to have a cheeky half but one of the locals insisted I try some of the local schnapps. Bloody strong, but I boshed it nonetheless and truth be told, felt fairly pissed.
And off I set again, relentless roads that were in pretty good nick, I thought, although much of it was along corn fields which was a bit relentless. Happy to have my speaker and podcasts, interchanging between anything by Simple Minds and a podcast about crypotcurrency scams. Getting very used to the sound of tractors pulling cart loads of produce, which was very often - you guessed it, corn.
I was making awesome time in such perfect conditions and decided to stop off at Novi Banovci and got chatting to a very switched on owner who was mad about English soccer. We chatted and the conversation veered towards the war and as always, my job was to listen to his side of it and nod quizzically and in an understanding manner to his comments. I know enough to realise when I am in the midst of something I don't know enough about to make an informed opinion and the war was not something you messed with.
Just as I was finishing up my chicken salad sandwich, along came Bart again. I knew it I would, and how lucky I was to have someone to cycle into Belgrade with. Really, one of the most pleasant entries into a city I have ever done.
Huge trucks but both Bart and I were expert at these by now and they didn't phase either of us. We whistled along the shores of the Danube, both loving the setting sun, she sound of our wheels turning beneath us and being truly in the moment. Huge smiles on both our faces.
I had been recommended a hostel by Alan and Bart was staying at with a warmshowers host, so we decided to stop off, have a beer and then separated at the bottom of the lift at Branko's Bridge.
Wow, Belgrade looked awesome, but truth be told I felt a bit uneasy as I couldn't seem to find the hostel and anyway, not sure I was ready to share a dormitory. Then I remembered my time on the Camino and stopped being so fussy.
Eventually I found the entrance to the hostel and hoofed my bike up several floors. Truth be told I was a bit nervous about leaving it unlocked to anything immovable, but figured that it was hard enough for me to make it upstairs and that it would be hard enough for someone to pinch it, if they ever found it tucked away as it was.
Given I was so late, the only bed left was a top bunk, never ideal. But I showered, changed and went out into the night to sample the delights of Belgrade, which consisted of pretty mediocre food but company in the form of a bar owner from Montenegro and a regular customer who was a trombone player for the Belgrade radio station. Hit the sack at around 4.00AM, full and tired.
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