June 16th Turnu Magurele to Giurgiu.

June 16th  Stage 54  Turnu Magurele to Giurgiu.  116 kms

Today was probably the most difficult of the entire journey from Ireland: 116 kms in 34 degrees and little shade. The riding, however, was pleasant with virtually no traffic whatsoever until the final three kms in Guirgui itself, and the experience of riding through village after village, encouraged by young and old alike, was much as it has been for the last three hundred kilometres since we entered Romania in Severin. Zemnicea was nowhere near as gloomy as we had been led to believe although it is true that there remain a fair number of gaunt buildings, gaping and unfinished after the earthquake of nearly forty years ago, and the town has its usual quota of sad, derelict factories. However, we found a delightful park in the town centre with shade to eat lunch, and there are definitely worse towns that I have been in!

I rode some distance today with a delightful French couple of our age from Brittany who, when they reach Constantja will have satisfied a retirement dream, and we hope to see them again, and Stefan, somewhat younger, who has been all over eastern Europe but who worried me somewhat when he told me that he had had to use his ultra sound weapon against dogs every single day; I confess I am afraid of dogs but I was unable to buy an appropriate defence mechanism in France or Switzerland. So far I have been troubled only by a few small yapping beasts , quite easily outpaced by a spurt of acceleration. Stefan told me that a whistle is equally effective and I do have one of those. I will make sure it is handy tomorrow; I certainly do not want to push my luck.

I was too exhausted in Guirgui to take the trouble to pedal the extra distance to look at the Friendship Bridge which, I think, I really ought to have done, or even gone further and driven over the bridge to spend the night in Bulgaria in Ruse which, by all accounts is a far more interesting city than Guirgui. To be honest, there is only one objective now: to get to the Black Sea.

116 kms, 386 kms from Tismana, 4451 kms from Galway.  

What a difference I’m finding in this section of the ride. The roads are quiet, there are no difficult ,big towns and with only one, well paved road to choose from there are no route finding difficulties. So I travel along at an average of 60 kms , careful of all the bikes and horse drawn carts but having time to look around, enjoying the fantastic flowers on the verges,  and the long views across fields of sunflowers, maize and wheat to the distant Danube.  

Whilst waiting for Richard to arrive  I’ve spent a lot of time spotting the storks’ nests and interestingly noting that that the mass of branches and twigs also seem to be home to countless small birds who have added their own pieces of soft grass or hay and spend the time going in and out whilst the stork and 3 chicks perched on top, take no notice whatsoever.  Katherine

June 15th Stage 55 Bechet to Turnu Magurele

June 15th  Stage 55  Bechet to Turnu Magurele  80 kms 

Back to Bechet in the car to ride the 45 kms into Corabia which was mainly remarkable for our visit to the Roman ruins of Sucidava just before we entered Corabia.  We were resting in the shade when Mr Dimitro Sapca, the curator of the site and the sixth generation descendent of a famous revolutionary Sapca insisted on showing us around.  And very interesting it was too. Not only were we captivated by Dimitro’s enthusiasm but he showed us some interesting things, but nothing perhaps more interesting than the well which we accessed through a door, down 18 metres of steps to a delicious pool of cool sweet water.  He claimed, and I am sure he is correct, that the well is unique in Europe. We went to his house to collect more fresh water from his well before continuing the ride into Corabia past the huge but utterly derelict textile factory on the outskirts into the tree lined centre of the small town which though distinctly unlively seems to us to be very friendly.

But we had to hurry because another fierce storm was brewing and I tore along the completely straight road into Turnu Magurele but not before the rain began.  Our hotel was immediately next door to the cathedral of Saint Harlambie with its curiously spiraling towers where the wedding march played at least twice;  As at Sremski Karlocva in Serbia we appeared to have hit upon the wedding centre of this part of Romania. We enjoyed sitting in the park in the early evening with all the locals en famille, and especially the children enjoying the play parks, of which these southern Romanian towns seem to be well supplied.

80 kms  270 from Tismana 4335 kms from Galway

June 14th: Cetate to Bechet

June 14^th, Friday,  Stage 54 :  Cetate to Bechet  105 kms.

 

Back early this morning at the long straggling village of Cetate and very quickly covered the first ten kilometers to Maglavit where I saved myself at least 12 kms, not to mention the hassle of riding through Calafat, by taking an excellent short cut which brought me out at the surprisingly lively village of Poiana Mare on the road which eventually would take us to Corabia some 140 kms away. With hindsight maybe we missed something very significant in Calafat because, coincidentally, today was the day, according to the BBC, that the bridge over the Danube to Vidin in Bulgaria was opened after, someone told us in our hotel in the evening, a wait of four years. In fact, he clearly didn’t believe it had been opened today.

The next section of the ride continued in much the same w

 ay as yesterday;  For nearly a hundred kilometers I cycled through quiet villages, greeted everywhere, even by the women or girls whose job, it seemed, was to look after the geese in the narrow space between the front of the house and the road, all day long. Goatherds and shepherds are similarly employed. There are animals everywhere: stray dogs which, thankfully, so far, have been no danger, pigs sometimes wandering in the road, scores of horses tethered by the roadside grazing on the fresh grass which, it seems, has been left particularly for them, and in Bistret, and its two neighbouring smaller villages, for example, close by the lake
Bisteul, we counted at least fifty storks nests on the tops of the electricity poles. Occasionally a newish car would scream past, scaring the wits out of everybody and watched by locals shaking their heads but mostly life in general and traffic in particular was very sedate. Village after village passed with stretches in between which felt remote but weren’t really, and which often gave quite extensive views over pasture to the distant Danube. Eventually, I came to Bechet where traffic was a little heavier and after a long day I decided to load the bike into the car and drive to the well- placed Hotel Sucidava on the very banks of the Danube in Corabia, although not before, a large group of men who, observing me crawling on the ground to look beneath the car, had put my mind at rest by assuring me that what I had thought to be a leak was only the air conditioning. They were
though most helpful. A very satisfying day which brings us even closer to our destination in Constantja.

105 Kms Total from Severin 190. Total from Galway 4355. 

June 13th 2013 Dobreta Turnu Severin (Tismana) to Cetate

Thursday, June 13^th 2013.

Dobreta Turnu Severin (Tismana) to Cetate 85 kms

Stage 53

 
Back at exactly the place (just above the village of Tismana some thirty kilometers from Severin) where we finished cycling last September the day’s riding started with a climb over to Burila Mare. The views from the open summit over the Danube and across to the hills in Bulgaria on the other side were splendid and I was soon in fine form. There is so much of interest. I was myself the object of interest, lots and lots of people spurring me on with encouraging shouts and waves, children stepping into the road to give me high fives, old folks sitting in the shade outside their houses cheerfully waving. It was tremendous and a great boost to the spirits. Traffic was very light as the road wound its way attractively through simple quiet village after simple quiet village, although some villages were not so quiet, some folk appearing to have a penchant for playing local music extremely loudly from amplifiers at the front gate; Maybe not surprisingly the horse and carts were a great attraction. I would come up behind them frequently and spend a moment or two smiling a greeting at the children in the back and then, overtaking, wave cheerfully to the mother and father perched on the seat at the front.
  Farmers ploughing with horses, working wells in every village, storks nests perched precariously on the tops of electricity poles and many of the houses, though often in need of maintenance nonetheless had beautifully tended gardens and were brightly painted.  We retreated after 85 kms in the face of a black storm in the village of Cetate, returning by the main road to Severin.

85 kms. from Tismana - 4,150kms. from Galway