Day 34: Thu 30 Jun - Silistra, Bulgaria to Cernavoda, Romania

Ride: 100km

Weather: rain

Country number seven.

Breakfast was at 0730h so it was 0845h before we left the motel, a little late for a 100k day. The breakfast was adequate but certainly not up to the standard of the dinner or the motel. It refueled us for the day ahead that's the main thing.  

And what a day; hills, cobblestones, rain and Romanian dogs. There's only one thing worse than riding on cobblestones that is riding on really rough ones up hills. That's what we copped on about seven occasions this morning. We stopped to eat our packed lunch at Baneasa and after that the cobbles dried up but the rain came down, in buckets. Often the surface debris of side roads would end up within a stream across our road, along with gravel, mud and assorted rubbish. The hills continued right to the door of our motel, Yahoo Best Restaurant, located of course on top of a big hill. Wonder how they get away with that name?

Despite the hardships there's many positive points that came out of the day, Romanian dogs weren't quite as vicious as we had heard, Romanian drivers are careful and always gave us plenty of room when passing and the roads (except for the cobbled bits) were fairly good and mainly free of any serious potholes.

During most of the 100km we were surrounded by good looking and well maintained fruit trees, vines and other crops. The only "attraction" we saw was the St Devent Monastery not long after leaving Silistra.

You certainly notice that Romania is poorer than all of the countries we've been through thus far. The housing and the infrastructure is more basic. But they are still recovering from the despot President N. Ceausescu many years of mis-rule. They seem such a happy lot and are always willing to offer advice if they notice that you are not sure of the way. Surprisingly a greater proportion of the people we had dealings with spoke English compared to the neighboring countries we've just passed through.

Dinner tonight was in the motel restaurant and it was excellent. Fred and I had a traditional pork dish with a type of polenta and it was magic.   

Tomorrow is another adventure as we catch a local train part of the way. Will we manage to board the correct train? 

As I sit in the foyer writing this there are about 100<> neighborhood dogs barking, might be an interesting night's sleep, or not. The Bulgarians and Romanians certainly love their dogs.