Granny's Got a Bike: Sunshine to Serbia

What a difference a day makes!!! Total blue skies and although chilly wind, the sun chased away all the blues of yesterday. Again, a day of riding totally on the road, dicing with the traffic, but it was a much more interesting ride... if you can call hills interesting!
The road - narrow and no shoulder - floated along on top of a plateau and then dipped 8% down to river level in tiny towns, which meant it then had to climb up an 8% gradient to the top... A couple of them were too steep, so Hennie was pushed to the top... I can almost ride up a 6% climb, with a wide shoulder or bike path, but not a narrow road like today. Too many trucks meant I had to get off the road as they squeezed past. But this gave me time to peer into people's back yards and marvel at the amount of tomatoes hanging from the plants, capsicum and potato plots as well... Nearly got run over by a tractor, who was coming home and unknowingly, I was almost stopped in his garage... a white fluffy husky dog came running out to greet its master and hardly gave me a glance... all good!
So this area was heavily fought over during the 1990's war and its really hard to imagine what life was like then, when things are so peaceful (well appears to be) now. There are still visible signs of the actual damage to property - scars on building made from bullets just one. But there's quite a lot of derelict buildings, especially in Vukova, where they have kept the damaged water tower as a memorial to those dark times. When sitting on the bank of the Danube at Sarengrad, it was hard to understand that on the other side is Serbia, enemy territory. The old church there was being restored and getting a new slate roof. There does seem to be a lot of owner builders around this place... There is still a sadness here and looks of suspicion are cast - or is it just my imagination? I do hope that they have accepted the borders now and they can just get on with their lives in harmony now.
So more stamps in my passport... I came around a corner on the edge of Ilok and suddenly arrived at the border at the entrance of the bridge. I handed over my passport to the customs guy and he seemed to take a long time, photocopying it and grunting a little, but without too much ado, stamped his mark and I was on my way, up the bridge over the Danube and then at the bottom of the bridge on the other side, once again, hand over my passport for another stamp, and soon I was cycling into Baka Palanca... just a small town, but with a slightly different vibe. after a bit of laundry and a good shower, I went for a stroll around the large mall area - lined with mostly closed shops and bars, but with a little help, I found a place to exchange my Croatia cash into Serbian currency - so alls well in the world. I haven't had any trouble yet, using my credit card - pay wave works well here too!
so another day, another border and no big hassles.
here's a bit of what I saw today!