Ruse to Silistra Bulgaria 131km 79 mi
24 October, 2023
Indeed, we had very few options to choose from, but once we decided we wouldn't go back over that ghastly bridge into Romania, and thus stay in Bulgaria for today's journey east on the south side of the Danube the die was cast so to speak!
We did make a good choice in our routing out of Ruse though, as we followed our own foot steps of yesterday for a delightful 3½km ride through the pedestrianised sections of the city, the city park with all those 'beyond the Iron Curtain' statues, memorials, and even our favourite spaghetti tree!
Shortly after the spaghetti tree park, things became more standard for the day ahead! Dusty back streets, potholed pavements, and aggressively driven cars , and trucks! There is a noticable lack of motorcycles here, most curious indeed.... perhaps it's the winters.
Before long we were back to the border crossing area where we could somewhat eyeball the road ahead, and from what we could see; endlessly parked trucks on our route 'stacked' and awaiting their border crossing, and many fast cars and trucks on our Route 21 four lane highway.... now perhaps, that ghastly border crossing wasn't such a bad option after all!
We decided to stick to our plans for myriad reasons not least of which was that if we did cross back to Romania now, it would add another 10km to our already 130 km day. So we decided to give it a go and turn back if necessary!
My friend George kindly messaged me about his daughter Chlöe's sentiments about Bulgarian roads, 'Chloë said the driving in Bulgaria was on another level😳'! Thanks Pal, I thought!
Well she wasn't wrong! But it could make great television viewing for people in saner countries! I reckon if you had an excitable 'Murray Walker' type person doing the commentating you could have wildly good ratings, become fabulously wealthy on advertising, and create an entire new genre of daytime television viewing! So here's what I'm thinking, imagine figure skating's 'double lutz', well 'Bulgarian Roads Thrills' could have the 'double clutz', that's where a car driver overtakes both a truck and a bus in one maneuver, on a hill, with a blind bend approaching at the top, crazy isn't it.... Then there's the 'triple jump' of Bulgarian Road Thrills we're calling the 'Triple Trump' when a car overtakes a truck that is simultaneously passing you on your bicycle! If the car on the far side of the road has his (usually not women driving, I hasten to add, it's still a man's world here!!🤣) tyres on the unpaved gravel shoulder extra points are awarded! Paul witnessed one Double Donald, which effectively is the Triple Trump, combined with a sharp right hand turn down another road immediately upon completing the overtaking resulting in screeching of tyres, and heavy braking by both the truck and cyclist. It had Paul scrambling to call his lawyer, Rudy somebody or other!! Incidentally, the Double Donald must never be combined with a U-Turn as very very bad things can happen! ☝️
I am beginning to believe that with all these roadside tributes to fallen comrades that there is an element of honour, or duty associated with perishing in an RTA (Road Traffic Accident)..... or perhaps just good old fashioned machismo! Yes, that's it, I'm sure!
On we pedalled into Bumpy Bulgaria and over 800m of hills ranging from 50 to 80m each, literally dozens of them, one straight after another until the last gave us commanding views over our target town of Silistra, the first town of any consequence (in other words, it has a hotel!!) since Ruse 131 km behind us.
We found our lovely hotel, a very posh, well appointed 4 star hotel. In we fell, showered, discussed tomorrow's routing, checked out the restaurant, and wandered the local area in search of a beer!! We found two(!), then returned to eat in the restaurant. Paul asked if he could have some bread to accompany his medallions of pork, some kind of flat bread would be nice he thought. The waitress agreed and returned a few minutes later with one piece of toast, and burnt at that! The most heavily burnt side was facing down, thus the less burnt side was up. Upon inspecting his piece of burnt toast he flipped the toast over, exposing the most incinerated side. When the waitress returned she was most horrified at the most heavily burnt side and whisked it away, with a further description of the style of bread Paul was most interested in, she nodded, obviously had a word with Chef, and returned several minutes later with a perfectly toasted piece of the same bread. He ate it most graciously!
I indulged in a rather large Metaxa after my mushroom risotto, and we rushed to our beds lest we fall asleep in the restaurant.... after all, toast like Metaxa can have a very soporific affect on one!
Doug&Paul
PS - I failed to gave a mention to Daniel, from our hotel in Ruse. He is a travelling Israeli who has already spent almost 2 years on the road travelling heavily in Latin America. He came into the kitchen area just as Paul and I were tucking into the great feast he'd prepared! We exchanged thoughts transcendentally, and invited Daniel to join us. A delightful chap of 41 years, he spoke admiringly of an American he met who'd just completed his world walking tour by walking the Darién Gap in Panama.... hitherto, it has been far to dangerous to do so! Good Luck Daniel!!
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