Day 24: Mon 20 Jun - Kladovo to Negotin

Ride: 60km

I awoke this morning with my balance back, which is handy when you're about to ride in Serbian traffic. 

Our hotel last night was another "wellness" place, so called because they have a pool, sauna etc and therefore charge twice as much as anywhere else in town. The rooms are up market and they did put on a good spread for breakfast making it worth the A$54 a head.

While having dinner we met a couple and a bloke from Hungary who are riding around the world! But they are doing it on recumbent bikes (you sort of lay back) and on a shoe string, so they are camping. Not my idea of fun, but they appear to be enjoying it so far. 

Just as we were finishing dinner we were hit by a dust storm that made us hurry back to the motel.

One thing you notice here is that just about everyone smokes, and it doesn't matter where you are, restaurant, cafe or hotel/motel. The few no smoking signs are fairly well ignored which is unpleasant at breakfast. 

The ride today had a few nice climbs as we decided to cut out a big bend in the river and cut straight across the countryside, saving 30km. We ended up on top of a dryish plateau which had broad acre grain crops on it, not quite as good as previous crops but ok. 

Apart from a dirt track along the river we tried (it was too rough) we used the quiet main road. The big blow from last night continued during the day but it was predominantly behind or at our right side thankfully.

On first impressions Negotin is that it is a nice city/town and as we had another shortish day there's plenty of time to look around.

They certainly love their meat in Serbia. They must have a biltong type meat here too. Hard to find veggies on the menu most nights, which limits the two vegetarians to salad, chips and pizza.

Walking back from dinner we passed by this church and flowers