Last morning of a great little ride through northern Croatia, brilliant people. Hills are promised through Serbia and we don't know what to expect in general. Legs and body back to aching 24/7 since Budapest rest, hands and wrists feel broken.
The bikes are feeling the rough roads since Germany and Austria too. Que running cable tie repairs... As promised climbs make the approach to Serbia a slow one.
Passports stamped, the serious but friendly border patrol man laughs and kindly re-adjusts our niave target of reaching Belgrade that day to a more reasonable one of getting to Novi Sad, the country's second city. 'But we did 140km yesterday', we say defiantly... stone faced he looks up, '...it was flat'.
Inappropriately high up for a fixed gear tour with heavy panniers. Sorry legs... Pharmacy sign say 40 degrees C.
On the approach to the city we can see below us we are passed by this chap on his road bike. Competitiveness led to chasing back onto his wheel and waiting to see how he responded. It turns out he's a bit of pro mountain biker on a training ride that he's at the end of, and would love to give us a guided two wheel tour of Novi Sad, his home town. Great city, great food, staying here tonight.
Our guide, who's name meant 'Surprise' filled us in on a lot of Serbian and Yugoslavian history and culture, and helped us plan our route for the next few days as we head through the Danube gorge. He's into the outdoors and Serbia sounded pretty undiscovered for skiing, hiking, rafting and cycling... Novi Sad's huge castle, most of it underground is home to the Exit festival, and remnants of the cities destroyed bridges are seen protruding from the river. Relics of a scarily recent conflict, NATO bombed all of the bridges in the city when Surprise was at school in 1999.
The bishops house...
Hello guys and girl, I hope that pass through Belgrde did not disappoint you , just kidding … Enjoy your road adventure.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, Nenad