Welcome to trackbib

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.

Ciocănești - Viziru

I might have overdone it with breakfast and lunch today—0.5kg of muesli, 0.5 liters of milk, and two bananas left me feeling quite bloated. After that, I could barely bend over due to my swollen stomach!

The landscape became increasingly picturesque after passing Călărași, with more horses appearing along the roadside, adding to the charm of the journey. In the evening, I got lucky when a rain front could not reach me. To top it off, I met some very hospitable Romanians who kindly invited me into their home. Although they only spoke Romanian, we managed to communicate using the iTranslate app.

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 from Gorak Shep back to Dingboche was a welcome descent after our challenging days at high altitude.