Salcia Serbia to Bechet Romania - 120 km 74miles
19 October, 2023
Whatever does PlanLessNess imply?....
Well,
1) we departed from E/DV6 in Serbia to cross the river to somewhere(🤭), earlier than planned to help preserve life and escape some seriously crazy roads, and to also find a shorter route to our destination of Constanța.....
2) we had some vague idea that EV6 may present itself without any degree of certainty, with no DV6 to fall back on..... as it was now on the south side of the river, with us north of it.
3) without DV6 (as it were), any and all previously heavily relied upon accommodation options are now non existent and rendered useless for the next 150km......
But, it really was a snap decision we both agreed upon, based on both of our experiences riding together, and alone along this long journey across Europe. And you know what?; without having made that decision, our understanding of humanity, like we'd never before understood, may not have happened. That being Romania's unique take on kindness to strangers. In it's own right, a major learning for us both.
Furthermore, we have since been informed by young Nick, who's cycling the world for the 'Book in a Bag' Charity (Educational support for kids in war torn or poverty/famine stricken areas).........that both ferry river crossings between Bulgaria and Romania are not operational for low water problems thus making the pure EV/DV6 options disjointed at best, with no wiggle room for changes of plans! So, well beyond the weather, and the people, the general happenstances of this trip, so far seem to be working in our favour far more often than not! We are being looked after by good karma, or call it what you will!
Today began with a terrific breakfast, again prepared, and served up by our most gracious hosts Lilley and Iulica! Then we packed to go, and Iulica was desperate to find some ways to contribute to our success! He didn't have to look hard, and soon presented Paul with two inner tubes for his bike after inspecting his tyre size, and he gave us both two bungee cords, as each of our's were getting rather slack from overstretching. Just then, as I mounted my steed, he looked in horror at my rear tyre which by now had about 5psi in it.
The day before, it was getting soft and I told Paul that I'd have to top up the sealant level and pressure before morning, but the events of the last 15hrs overtook that thought. Iulica rushed over and suggested he could pump it up with his compressor.... I knew however, it did need fluid, and that pumping it up would only delay the inevitable.... so I went into an F1 style pit stop that I think gave Iulica faith in our tenacity.... I unscrewed the valve insert, squirted in 3-4fl.oz. of sealant into the rear tyre, re-inserted the valve, and hit it with compressed air to 25psi.... a big amount of air in my 2¾" Massey Ferguson inspired tyres (vs. c. 400 strokes of my small hand pump!!🤬), all in about 3½ minutes flat!
We then bid farewell to our new friends and rolled out following the routing we'd discussed, and agreed as quiet (relatively speaking....) with Aline and Iulica, with some towns to be 'watchful' of. Being on a bike is kind of the perfect way to travel, as we can exchange 'Hello's' with all good people on route on a continuous basis unlike being in a car, without becoming engaged in potentially 'hazardous' negotiations with some of the mystical people of this region, Iulica was worried for us in this regard, but we're pleased to report that not one exchange with any of the many people we've met has ever been anything but pleasant and totally nonthreatening in any way, shape, or form..... as for the street dogs, I'll leave that for another chapter.
We had no target today, or town to aim for, but we didn't want to have to rely on the sort of luck that presented itself last night once again! So, when we stopped at our 95km lunch break, Paul did some digging and found us a great accommodation in our now 'target' town of Bechet at a whopping 74miles, 120km!! No mean feat for a couple of old guys.
Incidentally, we made our last major compass direction change today in Pionna Mare, that being our final turn to due east towards Constanța and the Black Sea some 600km away! The home stretch is upon us!
We made it to Bechet by 6pm, got settled, showered, and dressed and out for a beer at our local hostelry!
Paul did a fine sausage cassoulet back in the room whilst I 'Booking.com'd' the next four nights with relatively easy distances (47, 74 and 90km) to our next and final Rest Day City of Ruse in Bulgaria..... just over the first bridge crossing from Vidin some 350km up river!! (with no ferry options)
After Ruse is the final push of 3 days to The Black Sea!! Mixed emotions of the entire trip are beginning to be felt by us both!
Doug&Paul
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