Ride: 105km
Like most cities in Europe Vidin has had many rulers. The Romans built a fort / walled city here
during the years 10 - 14 ad. The Turks overrun it and knocked it
down......etc. There's a history lesson
in just about every city.
Vidin was a real surprise, despite its rather austere communist looking
architecture it has a lot going for it. Being on the Danube you can enjoy the
lovely tree-lined promenade and floating restaurants. Plenty of ice-cream and popcorn sellers
around for that after-dinner snack. The
mall is quite stunning; wide enough to drive a squadron of tanks down it and
the paving is a mixture of marble, cobbles and pavers giving it a very
interesting pattern.
Just as we were leaving our hotel we got chatting to a German lady
returning home after cycling around the world. As she was going back the way we came we unloaded all our useless
currency (added up to a few A$). We had tried to exchange both Hungarian and
Serbian after crossing borders but no one would touch it with a barge pole,
even immediately after crossing their respective borders.
Bulgaria has exceeded our expectations already. The 40 odd years of communism has certainly done a lot to set the
country back, but the people appear resilient and hardworking so they have
bounced back. The fact that they are in
the European Union will ensure that they have all the assistance needed to do well. We've seen some impressive infrastructure
programs, new bridges, roads and even a new railway. The repair and resurfacing
going on with the roads is staggering.
A hard and satisfying day in the saddle, undulating (to say the least) more
ups than downs (that's my story anyway). Immediately after lunch at Lom we hit 4 km of cobbles. That normally wouldn't be too much of a
problem but combined with a 5 - 6% climb it was downright nasty!! A few more long climbs followed but we are
getting fitter...we think. We have
earned our dinner tonight, which is a 10km round trip (ride) into town as the
restaurant attached to this motel has closed down. Where's dial-a-pizza when you need it. Kev, Bob and Fred bravely took on the task of
fetching dinner for us mere mortals, God bless them. They do need the exercise after such a short
day! The hotel is a tarted up communist
era monster right on the Danube so the views
are spec. Not that we had any choice as
the motel in town was booked out by a bunch of kids on "camp".
Lots of roadworks today too, but not a stop / go man anywhere. Maybe the Europeans understand that you need
to SLOW DOWN as soon as you see the roadworks sign. Not even any flashing lights here just a
rather small triangle warning sign just prior to the roadworks.
There's certainly a mix of the old and new here,
one minute you see a 1.5 million dollars worth of John Deere tractor /
harvester / header and then a horse or donkey and cart. We saw dozens of horse and carts today. It seems such a wonderful, carefree way to
go about your business. Not sure the
people who use them and don't have a choice agree with that? Some of the areas we travelled through today
seemed rather poor; however they always had a smile and a wave for us. The wheat and barley crops here cover huge
acreage (often as far as the eye can see) and they are now bursting ripe. If
this fine weather continues we will see a flurry of activity on the harvest
front in the next week or so. The
countryside reminds me of the grain producing parts of NSW and VIC. Not far from us tonight is a nuclear
power-station; please pray for a earthquake-free evening. I believe it was the first one built on the
Danube.
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