To Croatia through Serbia to our destination!

Yesterday we arrived at the house in Ceric, Croatia, our destination!

After Hungary, we spent three days traveling through Serbia, which seems poorer than the other countries, but the friendliness of the locals is not diminished and they are very open to us. In the middle of a national park in Serbia, we have to wild camp because of the dusk (usually we avoid camping in national parks to avoid disturbing the animals) and find a beautiful clearing in the middle of nowhere. But once it gets dark, the romantic atmosphere turns into a horror show, as dogs-like creatures (were they dogs, wolves, or coyotes?) start howling all around us in the forest. We don't feel very comfortable, but with earplugs and pepper spray, we manage to fall asleep. Along the way, we meet four other cyclists who have even farther and longer goals than us. They tell us that they knock on the doors of the locals and ask if they can stay overnight and exchange stories. We haven't tried this ourselves yet, as it is currently still outside of our comfort zone and we are afraid of burdening people. The last kilometers again cost us a lot of strength and patience, as we still have to deal with a flat tire on Jakob's bike daily. However, we are now experts in repairing bikes and have learned a lot! In total, we need four bicycle tubes and 7 patches to reach our destination, and we did it :)

A summary of the Danube cycle path:

Our legs have covered 1300 km that we pedaled from Furtwangen to Ceric, Croatia. We had a lot of fun and it was a whole new experience for us to explore the countries by bike, which we really enjoyed because it takes you to unknown areas and gives you a lot of flexibility. As a result, we got to know the rural life of Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, and Croatia and experienced a nice mix of cities and country life. Of course, it was not always easy: the road conditions, the cold at times, the heavy legs, and the flat tires wore out our strength and patience, but it was worth it! It is a very intense feeling to be exposed to the weather for days and nights, but that's how we could enjoy the solitude of nature and our togetherness. And we are a little less afraid of wild camping ;). We encountered many animals (deer, kittens, snakes, toads, birds, spiders, mosquitoes, ...) and bathed in the Danube as often as possible and learned to appreciate the flowing water (for rinsing, for a cat wash, ...). Our zip-together sleeping bags were also a good decision, as you get a large blanket this way and it becomes nice and warm and cozy in the tent. Overall, we were incredibly lucky with the weather - in four weeks, we only got wet four times and often picnicked and relaxed in the sunshine. We practiced patience while fixing the tire and danced to music on our phones to stay warm and in a good mood. One evening we ate 1000g of gnocchi together and had a chocolate bar for dessert. We now appreciate warmth, running water, and a good warm coffee in the morning much more. We managed to reach our destination economically and stick to our 'No alcohol on the Danube cycle path challenge'. Overall, we liked it so much that we are considering coming back to Ceric in the summer, where our bikes are anyway, and doing the rest of the Danube cycle path to the Black Sea.

But now we are enjoying the days in Ceric and planning our further journey more concretely (Spoiler alert: the next stops will probably be Sarajevo - Mostar - Dubrovnik. In Dubrovnik, we will meet Miriam's mother, Heidi.)