After passport control there was a queue of cars opening their boots which seemed to be all Romanian and full of fruit and vegetables so there must be a price differential for people to shop over the border. There was an argument with the car in front about some hanging baskets and I wondered how my Hungarian sausage would stand in this legislation. It came my turn but I was asked where I was from and then waved on and wished a good day, phew I got away with it!
I then had a climb for about 4 miles and after this dropped down to be reunited with the Danube at a point where it expands into a lagoon some 5 km wide which I suspect is caused by The Iron Gate dam which is some 80 miles downstream.
I did not have a detailed map for this area but again at Pojejena there was a poster I could use to I took a photo for reference.
I stopped at the next town and had a pizza for my lunch at a riverside bar where there was a short promenade along the bank which I rode along but I soon got cut off by industry.
I rode on along the lagoon section and you could see reminders that this was not always part of the Danube like this one below.
Then I approached the point the river is squeezed into a tight space between the hills
At last I was back to what the Danube route should be like getting close to the river and the scenery on a relatively quiet road. Looking on the Serbian side there was a busy dual carriageway with lots of elevated sections and tunnels I had made the right choice!
I also deployed my ebay ultrasonic dog taser in a handy position to cope with the notorious ferrule dogs and it was not long until it was required as they were everywhere!
I turned the corner and the scenery was destroyed by this but I guess so much natural resources next to a cheap and easy mode of transport was too much to resist.
I made good progress in the day making 70 miles despite the time taken making my traffic diverter and at the border so searched for some food and a place to stop.
This was difficult due to the steep gorge I was now in but eventually I found and abandoned factory, or so I thought!
What looked like a derelict accommodation block had washing hanging on some of the balconies and soon there was a barking and a dog chasing me away.
I fled to the other end of the site and given I knew I was not alone, chained my bike up to a nearby navigation light.
The next morning I awoke to the sound of two huge barges passing one another on the river outside and there was mist on the hills.
I thought it might lift but once I had breakfast I heard the rain coming down. So I packed up my tent in the rain and headed off. It was not heavy rain but soon I was soaked.
I was again fortunate I was not on the Serbian side because there looked like an indoor Centre Parc type of oasis about 10 miles in which given the current weather might have been as far as I got!
With no such temptation on this side of the river I pushed on into the gloomy conditions thinking this reminds me of some of my sailing trips to the west coast of Scotland.
Eventually I came to this tourist hot spot which is the face of one of the Romanian kings carved into the rock which I had heard about and was glad I was able to see.
Further down the road I stopped and the next town Orsovav, bottom left of the map below.
It was from here were all these pleasure boats were setting off from and had a long lunch to get out of the rain pizza again!
Soon my quiet back road jointed a main route and I had a frantic 10 miles on a dual carriageway which had an intermittent hard shoulder that handily disappeared at each bridge or tunnel. There were what looked like a pavement/cycle path section but this sometimes had no ramp to get onto it or was blocked off by barriers or piles of old tarmac so were very hit-and-miss.
Eventually with my nerves shredded I dropped down to what is called The Iron Gate dam that is also a major border crossing back into Serbia
The road improved but the weather didn't! As I was then in the City of Drobret-Turmu Severin and jumped onto a bank's WiFi I was outside. I saw I could get a room in the hotel opposite for £34 it was 5pm I had done 60 miles which was OK so instead of pressing on I booked in and set about drying all my gear.
The next day the weather was great and I had a nice tail wind developing I was on a main road but there was a decent hard shoulder I could work with.
I took the direct route away from the river you can see on the map and over the hills to re-joint the Danube further east and follow this until I reached the crossing to Bulgaria.
As I climbed I discovered this in the first lay-by I had seen a few painted wagons over the last few days. I wondered what they were and now I knew, mobile honey factories. The produce stacked up out the front with an honesty box and a dog chained up to make sure you paid!
As I climbed further I stopped for a break and snack next to a poster showing the plants and animals that live in this protected area.
As I was preparing to leave two men arrived in a van and were seeming to also admire the view. As I rode of I thought they did not look like they were on a day out then realised they were partaking in the national pastime Fly Tipping. This was deduced by the fact that as I rounded the corner I heard the crash of rubbish being hurled down the hill.
As I approached my lunch stop I had a 7 mile section that was into the wind and I started to fade fast but I had done 60 miles and it was only 2 pm.
I rode passed another bridge across the Danube but it looked like the border guards were having some sort of industrial action as there was a big queue of lorries and an empty road so looks like not much trade with Serbia going on today.
I made the most of the tailwind but after 80 miles I was ready to stop but struggled to find what I wanted for dinner and breakfast tomorrow so pushed on to two more villages I was really in Romaine country with horses on the roadside and Spanish being the second language which everyone was trying to communicate with me in.
I then struggled to find a secluded spot which had not been fly tipped and finally pulled over in a dip between two hedges which gave some shelter from the wind. Looking down I saw I had 98 miles on the clock the biggest day yet!
The next morning I awoke from a difficult nights sleep what with the wind, yapping dogs and my deflating sleeping mat. I didn't hurry as there would be a strong tailwind today and got up at 6 am. The bottom of the tent was wet from the damp ground but I held it up in the strong wind for 5 minutes and it was soon dry.
I packed up and pushed my bike to the road I left the bike on it's stand but as I was doing my stretches the wind was pushing the bike and it was trying to set off without me! This could have the makings for a big day.
I made a start and was soon getting up to speeds of 20 mph rising to 24-25 in the exposed sections between the villages. I made my first break after 25 miles by 10 am grabbing a coffee and a couple of pastries which I ate backwards having what I thought was the savoury one first which was fruit and the second being pizza!
Before I leave one thing I noticed in this region was that some of the graves had ornate wooden crosses which to protect them were given a little roof which was different it was not all cemeteries that had these so must be unique to one religion maybe the orthodox church.
I rode on and at 12.30 had covered 50 miles so was making really good progress and decided to keep going as I was not hungry and wanted get to the next major town which I did by 2.30 pm and was now on 75 miles covered.
There were about 30 miles left to go to the ferry across the Danube and the end of Romania. My plan was to get there tomorrow but it was clear it was going to be tonight. I grabbed a sandwich and savoury pastry thing at a café and fuelled up on cake for the final push
I was back on the bike by 3 pm and thought I could do this by 6 but the route include a loop and climb around a lake which when it came and I turned into a wall of wind and battled my way forward with my speed cut right down.
I make the climb had 7 miles to go but the fuel warning light was on, so I pulled over grabbed some chocolate with nuts in out of my bag and this bottle I had picked up last night.
That is way too orange to be legal but what would Lance do?
I did the same, I drank it and with the rocket fuel on board just made the town of Zimnicea by 6 pm having covered 109 miles another new record but massively wind assisted.
I pulled up at the hotel I had set as my destination but it was boarded up and for sale. The only other one next door looked closed as there were no lights on but as I locked my bike to investigate I guy came out and said "hello I am Eric I am also on a bike where are you going?"
We were both heading to Istanbul but via different routes with Eric continuing along the river to Ruse whilst I was to cross here and go south. I said I would see him around freshened up grabbed some food, guess what, pizza and hit the sack.
The next morning I met Eric at breakfast. He said he thought my route was the best and maybe we cycle together to Istanbul. I agreed, plans made and we set off for the ferry at 10.30 in good time for the sailing in an hours time.
The ferry was delayed by customs checks, but we pushed through and got on and waited for the lorries to be loaded looks like there was just commercial traffic today.
Eventually it was 12.15 and were off on my last crossing of the Danube.
We were waved past the lorries and first off the ferry up the ramp and into Bulgaria
