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Mizia - Orjahovo - Zimnicea

This morning I was still feeling a bit weak, but thankfully the diarrhoea had improved. However, instead of pain in my sit bones, I was now feeling a burning sensation more in the middle. In Orjahovo, I took the ferry to Romania. On the way, I had to replace an expander that was holding my saddlebag in place. It snapped and tangled itself in my rear wheel. I paid for the ferry by credit card since I didn’t have any Euros or Leva with me. Once in Romania, I started buying bottled water as I had been warned that the tap water might not be safe to drink. Supermarkets here mostly carry white bread and toast, so I ended up needing an entire loaf of bread for lunch.

Later in the day, I encountered my first cyclists traveling in the opposite direction along the Danube cycle route. As I progressed, the landscape gradually improved, and the scenery became more interesting. Along the way, children occasionally waited by the roadside and waved to me in a friendly manner when I drove past. Romania’s countryside is filled with endless one-way villages, many of which had stork nests perched on power pylons. I also spotted lizards sunbathing along the path. However, I noticed that compared to Bulgaria, there are even more watchdogs barking and chasing cyclists. Thankfully, at speeds over 35 km/h, they can’t keep up. Something else that caught my eye was the surprisingly high number of German car brands. In the evening, I set up camp directly beside the road. Unfortunately, I realized I had forgotten some of my tent stakes when packing up in the morning, but I managed to pitch the tent without them. While preparing dinner, I discovered that the automatic igniter of my camping stove had stopped working, so I have to use a lighter from now on. Today also brought a few minor discomforts – blisters formed on my palms, and I had stomach cramps during dinner, probably due to the fact that I had eaten very little the day before and mainly drank electrolytes.

For the first time on this trip, I felt a slight lack of motivation. The region I was driving through didn't particularly attract me. It was similar to the area around Baja with good roads, the occasional smell of dead animals and small, sleepy villages.

Zimnicea - Giurgiu - Comana Nature Park - Ciocănești

Today, I was happy to discover that supermarkets in Romania are open on Sundays. This morning, I had to get creative with breakfast by using sparkling water in my cereal since I had run out of milk. Needless to say, I quickly realized that still water would have been a much better choice!

The road to Giurgiu was relatively quiet, with light traffic for most of the time. After that, the road briefly turned into a two-lane highway until the turn-off towards Bucharest. Every 50km I took a break in order to stay in rhythm and not have to stop too often. While shopping, I always topped up my 6l water supplies. In the Natural Park of Comana the butterflies, which are very numerous along the Danube, were very trusting. By the evening, unlike the past few days, I had to put up my tarp again when a thunderstorm rolled in.

Langer aber gut zu fahrender Anstieg zum Passo San Jorio (Teer, Schotter).
Danach wird der Trail schmaler und bietet entlang dem Grenzgebiet von Schweiz und Italien schöne Aussichten in die umgebende Landschaft.

The trek to Namche Bazar featured numerous suspension bridges and a strenuous climb at the end. Upon reaching our destination, we took a well-deserved acclimatization day to adjust to the altitude and prepare for the journey ahead.