Day 38: Mon 4 Jul - Floating Motel Danube Delta to Tulcea

Ride: 43km

Weather: cool and cloudy

Getting used to the frogs, they didn't wake me as much last night. 

Today we had a casual breakfast and caught the fast boat back to the wharf at Murighiol. Then it was a short ride back to the motel at Tulcea.  

Effectively Tulcea is the end of the cycling part of this tour.  From here on we train / hire car our way around. I am certainly going to miss the riding I am happiest when I am riding regardless of what is passing by. As long as it is not rough cobblestones of course. I am very pleased I came on this tour so that I could see these countries for myself. The local people were wonderful and always willing to help with directions, despite the language barrier. 

From my point of view it was an interesting and varied tour. Incorrectly I expected to see a 'quaint' side of the Eastern part of the Danube, but in the main it is 'ugly'. I don't mean any offence when saying this it is just that most places are quite grey looking and often a bit rundown. Maybe we should not compare the East with the West of Europe. Some countries have towns surrounded by rubbish; I believe there is no excuse for this.  

If you like wide open spaces with 100s of km of wheat, sunflowers and maize then the East is the place for you. Also incorrectly I expected more or improved cycling infrastructure especially around the big cities. It was disappointing that the Euro Cycle Route 6 has not had any obvious priority in the East.  

The countries in the East could do very well out of any improvements as there are plenty of cycle tourists who would come if they didn't have to mix it with the trucks and buses. I appreciate that times are tough and money is tight and there is always something more important to be done than building cycle paths. However improved facilities would help the local population most. 

Would I recommend the Vienna to Black Sea tour? The answer is YES, however only to those cycle tourist who enjoy it a bit rough and off the beaten track. Remember for those who like nice 'civilized' cycling,  there are 1000s of km of perfectly excellent cycleways (on and off the road) in Western Europe. 

However each to his/her own, if you happen to be the adventurous type who likes to get away from the crowds, then the East would be perfect. We found it very safe and never once felt threatened or intimidated. 

Tomorrow we catch the train to Bucharest.