16 Repair - Danube Crossing - Nature Pure

Monday, 20.8.2018

Route: Danube Cycle Path 5 (Kovin - Golubac)

distance covered: 83 kilometers

Highlight of the day: the nature: the Danube meadows and the Danube near Golubac, the good repair in the morning, that we caught the ferry so easily.

At 6:00 the alarm clock rang again. At 7:00 we had breakfast and at first we didn't realize that we had to order breakfast, because the day before we just got it. So we were still having breakfast until quarter past 8. After that we pumped up our bikes and drove to the bike workshop. It had just opened and it was already quite busy. The guy there immediately made two chairs for us and made some remarks about our bikes and replaced all the tubes and the tire on mine. It didn't go very fast because he always had other things to do, for example there were other customers and the phone was ringing. We took one of the broken tubes with us as a "souvenir". I can't say exactly how many patches there were on it, but there were about 10.

At around half past 9 we started. At first we went along the road. According to the map we should have ridden on a field path, but the signs said something else. Then we went up to the dam path, where there was quite a lot of gravel and sand, which I found difficult. Julius, on the other hand, had no problem with it. We went forward slowly, but that didn't matter because the nature here was really beautiful! On the right the Danube was flowing, in front of it there were still meadows, i.e. floodplains. It was a stagnant water with many plants, algae, but also many animals and in between there were older men who were fishing there with their boats. Unfortunately, we couldn't concentrate so much on the beautiful nature because there were potholes everywhere that we would have ridden into otherwise. At some point we saw the mountains in the distance.

Later we came back onto a large, paved road, which was not very busy. We drove there for some time, then, about 5 km before the ferry, we went onto a strenuous path along the dam and through meadows with potholes. On the right there was a Danube canal. We don't know where it led. On the left there was a shepherd, also with a dog. Very idyllic. Then we came to the village. There we were a bit silly. We passed a father with son on a horse-drawn cart. They were standing. We were a bit surprised, but didn't think much of it. I guided us through the village as I had looked at it on the map before: left, then sharp right, towards the ferry. However, where the ferry was supposed to be, there was a sign with "Ferry 50m" to the right. So we followed the sign - and came out again about 3 m from where we had turned left before.

There we waited for the ferry. We arrived there at quarter past 12. According to the sign it should have arrived at 1, it should depart every 3 hours. It actually arrived at half past 1, but we filled the time with eating and taking a nap. In addition to us, there were many cars, the horse-drawn cart and a few cyclists. The Germans from the hotel were not there, which surprised us, but instead there was a French couple. I chatted briefly with the woman, but a conversation didn't really happen. Finally, the ferry came. Surprisingly, all the vehicles actually fit on it.

The crossing itself was cool. We left from the canal where we were. The river here was somehow like a waterway or a large intersection in the middle of the water. As a result, we had a great view, which constantly changed. After the ferry we went uphill at first, then downhill again, the whole time uphill, downhill. I found it very exhausting, Julius found it easier. The road conditions were not so good either. Then we came to a nice little town where we looked at the city center a bit. There was a bathing lake called Silver Lake. We bought a Fanta there because we urgently needed sugar. And my bottled water tasted incredibly bad.

After a short break we continued. We always followed the map, but at some point it seemed strange to us, that was shortly after a roundabout. We stopped in the shade and an old man limped towards us. Unfortunately, we didn't speak the same language. Through sign language he indicated that we had apparently driven too far and had to go back. Then we simply followed the traffic signs towards Golubac. That went quite well, despite the constant uphill and downhill again. Suddenly the clouds moved in and it started to thunder. We feared a thunderstorm. My energy was completely gone, we crawled along. Nevertheless, we finally arrived in Golubac and after a short search we found our accommodation. In the evening we ate in a restaurant, it was okay. But it wasn't really great. After that, we went to bed soon.