After another leisurely ride through Serbia surrounded by friendly folk smiling, waving and chatting whenever I stopped, I have arrived in Romania. My frst section of gnarly road surface has been endured without damage to either the bike or my nerves.
I’m staying with the lovely Cristina and Paul. Very aware of their environment at both a local level and a global level, they live a low-impact lifestyle, which includes doing things like growing their own vegetables, being careful what they buy, and using a compost toilet. Yup – I’ve now pooped in a bucket. That whole experience would have been less traumatic if there wasn’t a mirror hanging up in there.
These people and their friends are utterly lovely and generous. A big thanks goes out to Mike Gogan for putting me in touch with them. It’s been nice to just hang out, do a bit of gardening, get all my kit cleaned and dried and do a bit of work on the bike. As a thank you, I’ve made a big bucket of tomato sauce for this evening’s table – not using the same bucket I mentioned earlier.
It’s peaceful here in the countryside, but I don’t want to overstay my welcome so I suspect I’ll push off tomorrow. I’m still trying to source this new tyre in Timisoara but no joy as yet. It’s tempting to push on to Bucharest, find a proper bike shop and order the tyre in. I’ll see how the inbox looks tomorrow morning.
Here’s a view of yesterday’s mad clouds above the community’s back gardens here in Stanciova.