Well, today is going to be one of the most memorable of the trip.
It should have been fine, I mean I had a bike in top working order and stayed at a hotel which was as clean and comfortable as it was sterile and uninviting, although I just didn't sleep well for some reason. Breakfast was in a cavernous dining area with a couple of Romania business execs to fill the void.
The staff were surly and couldn't wait to get off their shift. To give it credit, the place is probably more pumping at weekends or during the summer.
I was looking forward to getting to Romania, which I think is the 9th country of my trip. I knew nothing about the place other than the capital was Bucharest and had no expectations, which is always a fun way to be.
The route out of the town involved passing the Water Castle, the emblem of the city and a main crossroads all in one.
The navigation to leave the city was spectacularly inaccurate and kept leading me into a dead end car park of yet another grim looking block. At lease I provided amusement for a smiley couple of ladies who kept laughing and pointing at the dead end and then saying something, perhaps trying to give me directions. In the end, I just gave up on the sat nav and aimed for the river and that really kick started my day out of anything approaching comfortable lethargy.
The main expressway out of town was route 6 and the truck drivers there could clearly not give a toss about cyclists. Even though I weaved a bit to left and right, they just ploughed on past giving me what felt like a few centimetres leeway. Huge, towering dirty beasts, one after another after another, endlessly sucking me into their slipstream. Honking at full blast, as if I wasn't aware of their presence in the first place. Just as my nerves of steel were frayed to the core, along came the dogs.
When I say dogs, the only passing resemblance to these powerful, terrifying, snarling, satanic monsters from Hell was, perhaps, the presence of a tail. They were huge, and I mean huge. Huge and unchained, they leapt at me baring their teeth, showing the pink of their gums and making the most unholy of guttural sounds that came deep from within. The loathsome sound was drowned out to a large extent by horns of the massive trucks that passed on the other side. These animals just didn't give a shit about the dangers of roaring into oncoming traffic, and I even got the sense that they would be just as happy to pick up a truck in their mouths and shake that fucker until it came to pieces. Just horrible.
And then it got worse. At least on main roads, there was other traffic that you felt would somehow protect you from these beasts but as you went into some of the quieter roads, you really were their only entertainment for the day.
I followed the Danube, but on my right, every house seemed to have one laying in the driveway and no gates were closed. With luck, they only noticed after you had passed, but on a couple of occasions they took notice ahead of you and came roaring down at you with those foaming pink gums and sharp bared teeth. In one lawless looking village in particular, all the male dogs appeared to be brutalising some poor bitch, but she was certainly relieved when they saw me and a bloody pack of them started howling and chasing me. At another village, the I could see that the route took me past a pack of snoozing dogs, who looked smaller than the other monsters but it was still a horrible moment when I decided I had to take the plunge and just drive through them. I learnt that if I shout as loudly as possible and threw stones as I went, they sometimes backed away but still, the sight of them sitting in driveways just pumped my heartrate to dangerous levels.
I thought back to the guy in the campsite at Donji Milanovac with his fortress of equipment that he had come prepared with and wished I had paid more attention. I also thought back to the super cute pair of dogs at my dinner table in the same town and tried to fathom how these animals came from the same genus as they. I did pick up some large pointy stones, put a few in my saddle bag and kept others in my hands. I gripped them so tightly that I actually pierced the skin of one hand and I spent the next 25KM pedalling furiously on pure, naked adreneline. I cannot remember a time when I have ever felt so vulnerable and bloody terrified, quite frankly.
My nerves settled slightly the further I went into the countryside and the roads were passable. Not a great deal to see, although there were several groups of locals driving their horse and cart and grubby weather-beaten old ladies pushing wheelbarrows up and down fields.
It didn't feel like a very prosperous country and the overall impression was of a hard life, although this was only based on about an hour of cycling until I found the closest passport control to get the hell out of the place and back into Serbia just as soon as I could. The guy at the desk was smiley and welcoming, much needed after my nightmare of a morning.
I trundled on with much relief to the lovely town on Negotin.
I wasn't too sure what to do, whether to push on and maybe catch up with the others. The Campsite for Urban Adventurers was very higly recommended by many and as I stood outside deliberating what to do, the owner Malisha came out to meet me and said I was welcome to come inside, use the WiFi and offered me a coffee whilst I cleared my head.
The place was astounding and there was availability, so the choice was easy. Time to be good to myself and I ended up in the most amazing room with a gorgeous balcony, super comfy seats overlooking lush green plants and vegetation beneath.
The closest thing to Mrs Madrigals house at 28 Barbary Lane in the Tales of the City that I could imagine.
There was even a free washing machine, although I decided to use a full hot wash which took ages and I don't think was particularly eco and irked some of the other residents below. But boy, was all my stuff clean at the end of it.
I went out and bought a load of pizza, a couple of cold beers and hoofed it back to my little oasis of calm.
In fact, it was so lovely I tried to book another day, but sadly it was already taken. I made contact with Iraj and Ernst who had really covered some KMs and realised that it was unlikely I would ever catch them up. I wasn't in such a rush wheras they wanted to make it to Iran as quickly as possible. I wandered around the town at night which had loads of squares and restaurants and had such a great vibe.
What an extraordinary day of contrasts and boy did I sleep soundly after the exertions of the morning.
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