Day 63

19/10/2011 – Day 63

Silistra to Ion Corvin – 63km

Breakfast was a surprise, coffee and a cheese and ham toasty, not much more to say really, Bulgarian cuisine at its best!

There was no noise during the night and I slept like a log. The two wild dogs sleeping in the yard where the bikes were kept must be well known locally. As we packed the bikes in the morning two of the hotel staff were there to keep them quiet but they only just managed to do that.

Going back through the border was as easy as coming in, a border guy from each country, a quick look at the passports and that was it, we even got a ‘have a good trip’ from one of them. As we left the crossing point there appeared to be a blockade at the entrance, it looked like a picket line across the crossing and the road, fortunately we were going the other way.

The day started with a long climb but the view at the top was worth it, the river spread out in front of us. This is wine country and the roads are lined with vines still bearing grapes. The harvest is in full swing at the moment and the tractors passing us are full of fat blue grapes. The only difference between here and France is that the vineyards are protected by high, barb wired fences.

Something we did notice today was that the roads are much better, we maintained and smooth, I wonder if that has anything to do with the wine companies.

Accommodation is now getting scares and we are only going to Ion Corvin today as the next place to stop is another 40km further on, this does not seem that far after some of the distances we have done but there are some serious hills now and our average speed is suffering as a result.

We didn’t stop at the first village this morning as we had only done about 7km, deciding to go on to the next instead, that turned out to be another 30km away. At one point we saw the sign for a Byzantine ruin and went to have a look, the road, if you can call it that was 3km of potholes and puddles. And when we finally reach the end you had to take a boat to the island where the ruins were!

Not wanting to return down the same swampy road we took a slightly different route that brought us out in the back of a convent. Money must be good here as there was a huge building site at the back and the place appeared to be newly restored. Coming out onto the main road we encountered another steep hill. We were in first gear all the way up and struggling at times. The good news is that when you reach the top it is all downhill; the bad news is that you then have to go up again!

Finally we reached Baneasa where we found one of those shops with benches outside. As we sat there and ate the people going in and out all said hello and goodbye. By this time we had done 48km without stopping but only had about 15km to go to Ion Corvin.

After lunch we had another of those long climbs and it was not easy. Once at the top it was a steep downhill then undulating road to the end of the day. The scenery has changed too; we are now in steep valleys with terraced side where the land has been farmed at one time. Another thing we have seen is people living in tents, at first I thought it was a shepherd’s temporary camp but as you pass you can see it has been here a long time and there are whole families living there.

Arriving at Ion Corvin we found the guest house just before the official sign for the village. It appeared deserted at first but as well looked inside the owner arrived. He could not do enough for us, offering beer, food or coffee, whatever we wanted. We settled for a beer as he fussed around telling us where we will put the bikes and asking what time we wanted dinner.

The room was great; it is the best place we have stayed in for a long time. The heating was on and it was really warm. There were four rooms in the house and they were all roughly the same. Sitting outside were two German women who were also cycling to the Black Sea, they had arrived earlier having started from Belgrade. We must have been very close to them for the last few days but never seen them.

Dinner was the usual pork and chips, but everything he served was from his own garden. He had a large area of land where he grow almost everything he needed. While we ate he talked about his plans and the past. He was interesting to talk to. For the first time since the weather changed we were actually too hot and had to turn the radiator off and open the window.