June 17th Guirgui to Ulmeni

June 17th Stage 55 Guirgui to Ulmeni  79 kms

Another difficult day in the heat, especially as today I felt very tired indeed. The first 9 or so kms up the E85 towards Bucharest were not as bad as I had feared they would be and there was even a cycle lane of sorts to distance me from the traffic. Then just before Plopsoru I turned off onto the quiet side roads for some delightful cycling across mildly undulating countryside and through small vineyards and villages which certainly appeared to be more prosperous than the ones we had grown used to. We were, after all only 60 kms or so south of Bucharest.  Prundu was especially attractive with roses in full bloom flanking every street and young saplings which in a few years time will provide all the shade that anyone would need.  We took a welcome coffee sitting outside a small shop, greeting the children on their way home from school, watching the world go by, not unlike most other people in these villages to be honest, before enjoying one of the few shady sections of the route in a tiny national park some half a dozen kilometers further on. A local man passed on his bike and insisted we accept a couple of peaches each and then took the live snails he had been collecting in the woods and wanted us to take a supply of these too! Incidents like this were happening all the time. We have been delighted so far by the open friendliness of the Romanians. By the time we arrived in Oltenita (73 kms) I was tired and a fascinating but rather unnerving funeral procession that we became caught up in with the body of what must have been a local dignitary judging by the size of the procession in full view in the open coffin did little to improve our spirits and after only another 6 kms we called it a day in the village of  Ulmeni.

79 kms  465kms from Severin 4530kms from Galway