September 21st Stage 50
Romanian border via Severin to Tismana
40kms
We have run out of time! Today is the
furthest east we will get this year. I rode from the Iron Gates dam with the
fierce wind that any moment threatened to toss me into the extremely heavy
traffic and into Drobeta-Turnu Severin which, after a preliminary bad
impression, surprised me with its pleasant parks and wide boulevards. At Simian I had lost most of the traffic and
after Hinova I was in the Romanian countryside. Knowing that I had only an hour
or so of riding left I lingered along the 56B (I was also struggling against
the extremely strong cross wind that was whipping the waters of the Danube into
a frenzy) the better to appreciate my last views of this great river whose
course I had been following for so long. Katherine and I wanted to find a quiet
spot beside the river to “celebrate” and
turned off to Tismana. But the road ran out into a scrubby track and that was
where we called it a day! We still have a missed section between Ram and
Belgrade to fill in, which I must do tomorrow and Sunday morning, if we are to
be completely serious about our route, and we are already late.
And so for the moment, that’s it! More than
2000 kms from Schaffhausen and if I successfully fill the gap tomorrow more
than 4000 kms from Galway. But I am not at the Black Sea which was the
objective. There will have to be a part three to this narrative, next spring,
when I will return to finish the job, either along the rest of the Danube or over
the mountains to the north.
40 kms Total from Schaffhausen 2028 kms
Total from Galway 3938 kms
Today in Romania we have at last seen the BLUE Danube. The final
day heading east for this part of the
trip ( next spring we hope will see us finish the journey ) was sunny but incredibly windy and the river
looked splendid, not only because of the colour, but the waves with their
“white horses” and the water birds skimming the surface left a great final
impression. There’s lots to look forward to when we return. Katherine
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