Tuesday 4th November 2014 - Breakfast is rubbish, hardly anything left and its only 8am, breakfast is until 9.30am.
Shower is verging on the cold.
Hairdryer, ahhhhh heat!!!!!
Road out of town. Lorries, cars, busy.
Look on map for next town or village the road goes through, at each one the traffic slows for a bit so it's not quite so mental.
Eurovelo route at 30km....bad idea. Path goes along river bank and after the big floods they had earlier this year, the path is either muddy, sandy or covered in wood. Half way along it, so keep ploughing on. At parts I felt like I was an explorer, travelling through a jungle no one has ever been in.
Time is ticking by.
Through a village of crumbling houses. Next part again looks bad, go back to the road.
Cut off to a smaller road to get into Negotin. See some corn stacks. A couple of dog chases.
Into Negotin, stop for coffee, feet getting cold. 18km to border, 2.30pm.
Get there, Serbian border woman couldn't believe where I cycled from!
Short cycle, then Bulgaria border. After the border through a village of really old tumbling down houses. Road is just a pot hole bumpy dusty gravel mess. Definitely not an option of staying here tonight like I had thought.
25km to Vidin 3.30pm.
5km or so later, sign says 24km to Vidin, huh?!
Sun sets, dusk, twilight, darkness.
Last few km in darkness into town of Vidin.
Can't see any lights in distance, then realise when I'm cycling into the town that there are street lights but they are not on.
Roads are all dug up, cars go slow on them thankfully. Imagine if there were no street lights in Belfast, at night, with no big bright shop lights. It makes it kinda crazy on the roads. No one obeying the one way signs or anything. People walking about and other cyclist with no lights. Crazy time.
Round town, up one way streets, just doing what everyone else seems to do. Find hotel hidden down a side steet. Man outside when I stop selling his drawings. He says he's an artist. Tell him I have no money - as is usual for me entering a new country!
Nice hotel, heating on full blast in room and go down for food. Have chicken stew that comes served in a clay pot. I eat it all, along with chips with white cheese and a Bulgarian beer. Hot shower and sleep.
Day 67 - 04.11.14
Kladovo, Serbia to Vidin, Bulgaria
5h 39min cycling
103.9km
2878 calories
750 metres asc
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