Silistra Bulgaria to Adamclisi Romania 77km 46mi
Had a great breakfast at our Danube Spa and Hotel this morning in Silistra, and after yesterday's monster big day of 131km 78mi we were in no hurry to leave for a modest 75 km day today. Once caffeine levels were returned to safe operational levels after 3 Lavazza Cappuccinos .... (the third with an extra shot!), we rolled out of town in an easterly direction towards our Black Sea Bathing Spa town of Constanța!!
No sooner had we traversed to town of Silistra along the river front area we hit the Romanian border and returned to the 'Home of Hospitality'.
I judge a country by it's border guards, and both entries to Romania began by the most pleasant interactions with their border control people! Today's involved big smiles, and well wishes too! The next interaction was quite normal too, Romanian street dogs almost immediately came out of nowhere barking, showing teeth, thus ensuring we were not going to disturb them any more than we already had done. I got one dog out of this reception committee, but Paul who was 50m to my back was greeted by no less than 3 dogs all giving it 'what for'!! They do seem very much to be a Romanian phenomena! They'll never get immigration visas with that sort of behaviour! Amongst all that, we saw our first road signs for Constanța at 133km ahead! It had the same impact on me as the first sign giving mileages to John O'Groats in '09, and the first Venice sign in '12! It's a great milestone is that first sign! Since then we've been getting a distance marker to Constanța every kilometer on the road side!
Today the hills got bigger, rather the 50 to 80m in elevation, they've grown to between 100 and 150m in height, and much steeper, at times up to 13% gradients.... that's 1 in 7 which is a terrifically steep hill. There is a 13% section in the New Forest that was on my route to Portsmouth on Day 1 of this venture, or as I called it, Day -4 en route to meet Paul for Day 1 on this EV6 caper.... that short section made my legs burn something rotten, and I'd need to be off my seat and standing to beat that thing, now I just remain calm, and in my seat chugging up stuff 10 times the size. The human body boggles the mind.... it responds to stress and pressure by getting stronger, it can repair itself when bust, it manages no end of minerals, chemicals, hormone levels with little, if any conscious input from ourselves.... but it does need proper fuel.... food..... nutrition.... and that is where Paul has been an absolute star. He never tires of producing great food for the table. So we've made a great team on this mission, my pre-planning has been essential, but without great fuel none of this would be possible, and he's a bloody good cyclist to boot! I'm not a bad cook, and if I had to, I'd have produced something 'adequate', but Paul is on a different level indeed. Well done my good friend, you have indeed brought something most priceless to this mission. Bravo!! Furthermore, he has brought a degree of pragmatism also, he's been our conscience, and encouraging us both to review plans, also weather forecasts, and carry out a critical review of what's intended is practical as well as sensible! We've made better decisions as a result, and have missed some hazardousness, and arduousness thus resulting in our arrival to Constanta approximately 1½ days early!! Again, Bravo my friend!
So, up and downs for most of the first 50kms today, then, at about the 50km mark something magical happened, we had literally 15km of tailwinded, downhill to flat stuff. I hit a new maximum speed on a 7% downhill of just over 60km/hr, that 37 mi/hr old money! And it went on, and on to the 65 km mark when it got quite bumpy again for the last 10! Warm, at almost 30°C, riding past vineyards still loaded with grapes, sloe berries that I picked to make Sloe Raki, archeological sites, happy waving smiling faces, cats, some friendly dogs, and monasteries galore! What an incredible place is Romania once you look past the superficial, like India with it warmth, tolerance, humility, friendship, generosity and kindness. It is not a fluke, IT IS SIMPLY THE WAY IT IS HERE!! Long may it last, and I'll help clear up the trash!
Into Adamclisi, by 1530h, and Paul has located a place for us to stay, we bought beers for the local Gypsy people and passed some of the afternoon with them! Now, at our pension Paul and I joined forces to produce our last meal together on the road before Constanța.... a Chicken Kashmiri Rogan Josh, pilau rice, and a brazed cabbage side dish complete with Indian curry spices.... this blog is for our families, Jutta, George and Rothers, for comments rendered! Thanks to you all, and to everyone for chipping in with supportive comments, often when we've had to dig pretty deep to get this 'dragon slain'!
Quite incredibly, tomorrow should be our last day riding, insh'allah!!
Cheers
Doug&Paul
PS - At about 8pm, as twilight turned to night time, I had to pop back to the small grocery store to get the yogurt for the curry and breakfast. The people looked at me as one may look at a martian within hours of them landing!
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