Emily and Erin bike across Serbia and Romania: Aug. 29: Noisy road, quiet road

[EK]
Getting out of Belgrade, we took a route that was recommended by Simon: it would add some mileage but would take us down bike paths through the city and over a beautiful bridge. The bike path was indeed lovely, and it followed a busy freeway with no shoulder, so I was happy to be separated from the traffic. Then the bike path ended and Emily and I were stranded on the grassy side, staring ahead at several miles of freeway. We started by walking our bikes along the side, then saw a cyclist on the opposite side of the freeway. We let some trucks pass and then swung our bikes onto the road and we were off!

The traffic miraculously gave us space. I think we had the lane to ourselves all the way to the exit. It was a reminder that cars and trucks aren’t necessarily trying to kill you in Europe.

We exited into a small town and immediately took a tiny road full of dogs. Emily got chased for a bit and we rejoined a more major road without dog danger. We have developed a strategy: slow down and get off the bike (and put it between you and the dog) if they seem to be freaked out. We must look like horrible monsters to them: human on top and wheels on the bottom.

We road through towns and past petrochemical factories. The pace of life slowed and we saw more and more local cyclists, especially older women with big baskets on their handlebars, or just grocery bags hanging from each handlebar. We made it to an embankment along the Danube and rode along gravel and dirt for about half the day, with wetlands to our right and farms to the left. The wetlands were bursting with egrets and herons, and we saw a hawk and a vulture.

EuroVelo signs

It's a little hard to see, but this was a monastery engulfed by a petrochemical factory.

Along the embankment, Emily found an opportunity to get some exercise.

There were very occasionally cars parked, their owners down on the river fishing. We crossed paths with a herd of goats and their human, but saw very few others. The embankment was cared for (and we passed a tractor that was mowing part) but it had different grading styles and different mowing patterns as you went. We thought it was cared for by the villages along the way.

We had a beer in the little town of Kovin, then rode to our guesthouse nearby. It was owned by Znazhana and her husband, who had owned a bike shop in Kovin for 30 years. All the decor was made of old bike parts, including all the lamps. They greeted us woth a shot of homemade rakija. After dinner of Karadjordjeva schnitzel (fried pork filled with cheese), we passed out in our bike-themes room.