Granny's Got a Bike: Final Destination

You all know by now that the drivers here have little regard for others and sometimes even for themselves! this stress has caused even more of my hair to turn white, so last night I did some serious thinking. the day ahead was going to be on major and then minor roads, then back on to the major road. Now these roads aren't Major, just the only one around and they are not wide, nor do they have shoulders and Yes, there are trucks and huge tourist buses (usually filled with rowdy teenagers!!) plus the usual drivers and Farmer Brown on his tractor or driving his huge corn reaper.... so am over it... What if I find somewhere nice in Donji Milanovac for 2 nights, then I can just duck up into the first really narrow gorge and back for 2nd night in DM... There's a daily bus service to Belgrade from Donji Milanovac and they take bikes and its just under 4 hours (how many days have I been pedalling from Belgrade?). That would mean one less border to cross into Romania - one less currency to work out, no catching trains and worrying if I will get back to Belgrade in time for my flight home on Wednesday! so Ms Google is called up and she suggests staying at Petrovic apartment for 2 nights and then I checked my credit card balance and geez!! I can afford some "comfortable" lodgings in Belgrade, so keeping away from the sites that suggest if you like partying and music, I tracked down the grand old Marquis (hopefully its not too old! - just sounds like it would be!) its breakfast table looks pretty good and reviews say so too AND they offer a shuttle to the airport! Click click clickety click! done deal... Plan B is sounding just fine! and really it is only half of one stage of cycling that I am opting out of... so....
the morning dawned another warm day ahead - temps in the shade are supposed to be around 25, but out in the sunshine, its quite a bit warmer, so much for autumn chills!
On the outskirts of Golubac is their castle - a mighty fortress that over the past 700 years has been front line protection between the Hungarians, Ottoman Turks and Austrian Hapsburgs... Eventually Serbia took control of this area in the last 1800's but with the building of the massive dam downstream by Romania, 1972, the lower parts of the castle (and Donji Milanovac too) was flooded but its upper parts are still sticking up out of the water... Old DM is completely underwater, so this DM has been built since then... but still in a smiliar style, to has echoes of Soviet times too! Of course when I pedalled past at 9:30, I find that the castle is not open to the public until 10 and well.... I have been in other castles... so onwards we went...
I was sorta dreading today's ride as it was all on the road, but it wasn't as busy as I imagined and actually wasn't in too bad shape... the traffic wasn't too bad either, just the stress of always checking the rear view mirror, especially when oncoming traffic approaches, because its too hard to someone to slow down for a nano second... There was one serious climb - 2km drag up to 500m and although there was a slow lane, I still chose to walk the last 1km! Maybe the old legs are getting tired!
Autumn has really arrived and if it cools down soon, winter will be just around the corner... the hillsides are almost all brown now, not much green to be seen anywhere... Still some wonderful red and yellows and I am still enjoying seeing them... I spy tiny old farmhouses, with their lifestyles hardly changed for years... It makes me wonder what the old people are thinking here... Can they remember when there was no blue haze and that, from their front verandah, they could clearly see the receding mountain ranges... I wonder if we will ever get our act together to clear up this air pollution that as been caused by the oil industry... but lets not get political, political!!
Most of today was spent pedalling along the shores of Lake Delap (caused by the dam) - which is still the Danube, but it was over 5km wide in some places and Romania was fading into the distance... It is always strange to be sitting on one side of the river and seeing life go by on the other side, in a totally different country... At one stage I could hear voices of Romanians down on their beach. so close! Bit hard for an Aussie to get their head around that... and wonder about the wars that have been fought over country... sigh...
And before I knew it! I was arriving in Donji Milanovac, a couple hours sooner than I had expected. There was an Information centre - and it was still open! - and a young guy with very good english, informed me that yes, the bus does stop across the road, there would be one on Sunday at 11:10 and yes, it should take Hennie no problems... Phew!
I had been given clear instructions on where the apartment was and that the key would be in the door and sure enough, here it is, just like the photo and yes, there's the key... I am already inside and half unpacked when a young girl arrives (also with very good english) and after a quick walk down to the ATM I hand over 8000 dinar ($110 for 2 nights) and she heads off home and settle into my little home for 2 nights! I really wish that I had got onto these apartments earlier... I have loved every one and they are really cheap but also really private... I like that... so that's it... am just under my 1000km October challenge by 7km, but I am planning a quick dash downstream tomorrow, so that will cover that!
And there's a washing machine here, so a nice hot shower and all my grotty clothes are chucked into the machine and while that was churning away, I skuttled down to the corner shop and bought some grub. I tried to buy 2 stubbies of beer, but was told that I couldn't buy bottled beer unless I had 2 empties to replace... Now I had seen an old geezer in Golubac, get out of his truck with 2 empties and rush into the corner store there and come out with 2 full ones, so that explains maybe why there aren't so many bottles on the side of the road... now they need to start doing the same for the plastic bottles and cans... anyways, I was able to buy 2 cans of beer, so all is good in the world...
I bought a packet of Leek soup and a small bag of fruz veggies and that will be tea for tonight. Got milk and yoghurt for my muesli in the morning and there's Nescafe here and that will do... And!!! I worked out how to switch on the TV with the 2 remotes... but couldn't find "Open All Hours" I have loved seeing 2 episodes of that the past 2 nights!! Never too much of Ronnie Barker :)
Good night!!