Off from Lisa we go, another flat and pretty uneventful day. Still sunny with a tail wind so I can look around a bit. Two things that are immediately noticeable, one is that there are a lot of EU projects in every village with each town hall proudly flying 2 new flags – one Romanian and one EU. The other is that, whilst there are a lot of impoverished and delapidated buildings around, there are also lots of new ‘mini-mansions’ springing up, often with top end cars in the drive. Is that EU money washing through? Or the CAP? Many people are still working the fields with hand tools and horse and cart combos are common.
A much better day today. I was due to finish at Dabuleni but carried on another 12kms to Bechet. Save myself some for tomorrow .
There is a campsite advertised some 10k away so we head there for the night.
With that disaster over, it was time for another cup of tea to let the nerves return to normal. And once that was done the Sun came out. I just had an easy 25 kilometres to finish the day. Off I went – hey presto- very soon after I finish the day in a town called Calafat. Things were looking up and Hooner had found a campsite online, that seem to have all the services we needed for our our upcoming rest day. The downside was it was about 90 km away, but we had a day off the next day so it was worth the drive.
Overnight, it pours down! First taste of that on this trip. Rain hammers off the roof and the morning is dull, wet, and cold. Great. Back up we go to Bechet to the start for the day and I get going. Plan is to stop after 20kms and assess. I arrive at the 20kms spot to meet Passepartout and am wet and chilly-I get a cup of tea and head on. A three stop strategy today- 20k, 45k, and 70k- finish at 95k.
When I arrive at the 45K spot, I am properly cold, very wet and my waterproof socks have demonstrated that they are waterproof by filling up from the top and keeping all the water inside. Another cup of tea is required so I sit down, begin to warm up, get a cup of tea and a slice of fruit cake, specially provided by KRC. I take about an hour here, feeling sorry for myself getting warm and drying off. Hey Ho, then I look up and it’s brightening up. I change my clothes put on another pair of waterproof socks, some leggings and try again, off I go. Stage three of the day is a cracker, the road is flat, I have the wind behind me and I make really good time so things are looking up. What could possibly go wrong? I get to a stage of road that is being resurfaced, fly along a bit that’s been resurfaced -it’s very smooth. Then I get to the bit that they have dug and roughened up. They’ve only took up one side and traffic is travelling very fast and switching from a rough lane to the the opposite lane that is smooth, vehicles have to then keep switching back. It’s rough and bumpy but I’m making good time. I know the route and I can track my progress by the kilometre posts. I don’t need to look at my navigation. I just looked down every so often to check the mileage still to go. Suddenly I look down my phone with the map on and it and its case has disappeared. Disaster! It Couldn’t dropped off too far back so I head back and try and find it befor a lorry or car drives over in squashes it. After a couple of kilometres, I don’t see it and I realise my best bet is the pedal as fast as I can the last few kilometres to where Passepartout is waiting. I ride up as fast as I can and meet with the van. I know Nick has location sharing on his phone with mine. We can see that my phone is a few kilometres back so we jump in the van and head back to try and get to it before it’s squashed, we follow the tracking signal to a place where it looks as if it is and it’s logical that it’s fallen off. There on one of the big bumps. However, we can’t find it. Worse still, I realise that in the case is my passport and a credit card- proper disaster! The signal is just intermittently jumping and telling us that the phone is now several kilometres away and then still here. We have no choice and I start to gear up for a hands and knees fingertip search of the verge- it can’t be that far away can it? I am on the side of the verge nervously contemplating the search amongst racing, albeit, intermittent, traffic. A lorry approached blaring his horn and I step back. As it gets closer I can see the driver waving out of his window- with my phone case!, Hallelujah! The driver stops, hands over the phone, case, passport, and credit card- all in fine condition. The language barrier prevents a full explanation but we think the road workers found the case- may have seen it fall off- and handed it to him to return. So he chased the bike and mad cyclist- but took the wrong guess and went the wrong way. Not finding me on his return, he saw me at the scene of the disaster and his job was done. A really friendly man who would take nothing as a reward or thank you and was quite offended when I tried to press him. It was an eye opener into how good people can be. These guys have very little but went out of their way and we’re keen to help someone in a jam – humbling. With that disaster over, it was time for another cup of tea to let the nerves return to normal. And once that was done the Sun came out. I just had an easy 25 kilometres to finish the day. Off I went – hey presto- very soon after I finish the day in a town called Calafat. On the way I was passed to and fro several times, each with a horn blast and a wave, from my new friend the lorry driver. Things were looking up and Hooner had found a campsite online, that seem to have all the services we needed for our our upcoming rest day. The downside was it was about 90 km away, but we had a day off the next day so it was worth the drive.
This was approaching the campsite. Should have rung alarm bells.
How it is advertised.
This is reality!
This is reality the swimming pool is empty. No one is on site. There is no restaurant. The washing machine is broken and the proprietor offered to bring out an extension cable so we could hook up for electricity. Looks like another business that has been done for by the pandemic. Sorry, we chose not to stay. Everything gets sorted out sooner or later, so we find ourselves another Continental Hotel in a town of Severin. It’s an interesting little place and I’m happy to spend the day there to chill out and relax. We also thought we could find a Laundrette but they don’t seem to exist in this part of the world. I guess our next stop will be at a big Lidl’s to buy a few more packs of underpants!
Rest day tomorrow. I reckon it is well deserved.😁
Lennytranseurope 
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