31/05/16

We left Beograd on an extremely busy bridge with fast traffic crossing over the Dunav…. two lanes of traffic in each direction with the road edges showing signs of wear near where you cycle ! Not a pleasant ride.

We were glad to reach the other side and find the EV6 to take us along the river…. we weren’t glad, however, to discover the EV6 degenerated into a grassy track along a flood bund… where the grass was so long we had to stop to clear the derailleur from grass caught in it, as the gears would not change.

Following this for about 8km we eventually reached an asphalt road that fortunately wasn’t carrying too much traffic..

Our route then took us along rural roads surrounded by areas of maize, sunflowers and wheat. We elected to stay on roads rather than pursue the alternative route following the river bank along bumpy and grassy tracks.

We were aiming to camp at a small town that was indicated by our guidebook to offer both camping and accommodation…. when we arrived there was no sign of either, so we decided to press on as far as we could to reach a ferry crossing.  This meant we would stay in Serbia rather than continue  on the same bank into Romania.

Eventually, after a total of 100km (60 miles), we were following a grassy track again!  We reached a lovely spot beside a small canal which flowed into the Dunav which looked good for a spot of wild camping.

Being just 3km from the ferry we were planning to take ( which sailed across once every 3 hours) we pitched our tent…… with dinner half cooked we noticed a herd of cows coming towards us to reach their new pasture for thr night. A bit of trepidation, but with only one cow slightly catching a hoof on a guy rope,  all was well and we had a peaceful and quiet night with a little rain shower.

Nerd’s Corner

Beograd to Stara Palanka: 63 miles.

Total distance travelled so far: 2082 miles.