Ride: 100km
Yesterday afternoon was spent wandering around the city of Belgrade; interesting and
relaxing. Nice to walk for a
change. The Serbs have certainly saved
the best for their capital city. Great
malls, clean and well set out. Lovely parks / gardens and some interesting
architecture. It contrasts with the
towns and cities we've seen up to now as they have been a bit ordinary. A fort
we looked around dated back to the 15th century and was very impressive.
Outside the capital however they do need to start a “Don't Rubbish Serbia”
campaign as there is a heck of a lot of garbage around. One place we rode past on a back road was
piled up to two feet high either side of the road. Another culvert had been converted into the
local tip. Worst I've ever seen. Why do they do that to their own beautiful
countryside I will never understand?
An early start this morning saw us pulling away from the motel by 0700 in
order to beat the morning rush hour. We
usually wait and have breakfast, about 0800, but they didn’t serve it here till
0900 so we skipped it altogether. The
owner gave us a packed lunch instead, which consisted of a white bread roll
with ham, tomato and cheese; better than nothing I suppose.
The trip out of Belgrade
can only be described as horrid! The
roads and even the main bridge (one of the two NATO bombed during the war) were
a mess. It was difficult to find our way due to the lack of signage and the
chaos, it was just so busy. At one stage
we found ourselves in a smooth deserted bus lane that I'm not sure we should
have been in but it was welcome relief. However we made it ok and it was nice to finally be on some quiet
country roads at about the 43 km mark. We cycle tour because we love it and nothing puts us off. The rat-race is quickly forgotten as we
cruise along smooth, quiet country roads at 22 km/hr like a well drilled
peloton. Slight tail wind just made
the picture perfect again. An occasional
feed of wild mulberries gave us an excuse to stretch the legs.
I managed to get a front wheel puncture, fixed it with the liquid goo stuff
but about 20 km up the road it went down again so I took the wheel off this
time and changed the tube for a new one. I think we were very fortunate to only get one puncture in the group
today considering the amount of glass lying around the street of Belgrade. Punctures are a part of cycling and they have
never concerned me. And with the wheels
I have on this folding bike it is very easy to remove and replace tyres. One thing that is a rarity in this country is
public toilets. As we pulled into the hotel this arvo my tripmeter turned over to exactly 100.00 km; don't see that
very often. In the end it was a
relatively easy day despite the distance.
The accommodation tonight is bungalows beside a small lake near the town. The locals are all swimming, diving and
paddle boating etc but the water is less than 30 deg so I'm just sitting back
reading or writing. The others went for
a quick dip which must have been refreshing for them.
Dinner was taken at the restaurant overlooking
the lake. Nice mixed grill, salad, a
beer and a glass of red wine (for medicinal purposes only) cost $19.50. The bungalow was A$14 per person.
No comments:
Post a Comment