Golubac-Donji Milanovac - 31st May 2010

An entire day in the Danube Gorge, between the mountains,

An entire day without sun-cream because it's rainy (and it's nice because less hot and wet),
An entire day almost alone, which is not good,
And a short day to relieve my body and bottom (yes, still, still...).

Here is one mathematical problem :
1/ Before the Danube Gorge, the river is 2 kms wide and flows at 1000 m3/second.

2/ At the entrance of the Danube Gorge, the river is 200 meters wide and flows at 1000 m3/second

Question : How deep is this Danube Gorge ?

On the road along the Danube, there are several (24) scary tunnels : some are quite short (100 meters), but some are 300 meters or more and inside, it's absolutely black...Even with my poor little bike lamp...I think I haven't pedaled as fast as in these tunnels in my life to run away from the cars in my back and this darkness !

Tonight, I wanted to rent a room in a Penzion (10 Euros) and look what I got : an entire small house for myself !!!

NB :
1/ For the first time of my life, I made a dog jumped ! It's a kind of revenge for all the f...barking dogs that made me jumped in my life !
2/ What a nice leopard wheel...

Pozarevac-Golubac and Eros Ramazotti - 30th May 2010

For the breakfast, after the Turbo-Folk music I slept with this night, the waiter decided to put Eros Ramazotti...On the road, Gajic, an old man on his bike, who was speaking very loudly english as a substitute to his bad english (we all do this actually, I think :-), came with me and showed me some kind of Romans excavation with skeletons. He drove me across a forbidden field, full of water-pipes and guardians, to the next village.

After a break lunch in Ram (from where I can see for the first time Romania, across the Danube), I rode till Golubac, where is the beginning of the Danube Gorge, that marks the border between Romania and Croatia. The landscape is very nice (finally...) and starts to be completely different, as you will see on the pictures. In the afternoon, as I was asking for a Cybercafe, a guy offered me a drink : Serbians are really hospitable ! If I accepted all the drinks that people offer me, my trip could be called "Pivo in Dunav" (Beer and Danube) instead of "Bike and Danube" !

In the evening, I felt very tired and my belly started to bother me...Tomorrow will be a shorter day, then. I still have some troubles to find the happy medium between enjoying people and landscapes, having breaks and moving forward.
NB :
1/ In the villages, I think that these small posters announce who is dead !
2/ I saw the most beautiful gate I've ever seen, completely made out of silver hubcaps...Bad taste, bad taste !

Belgrad-Pozarevac : pink flower and red face - 29th May 2010

My goodness, going out from Belgrad was never-ending ! Hopefully, in between 2 hills, Zoran, a serbian cyclist, decided to come with me, offered me the lunch in a bakery and invited me to his friend's house to have a coffee, which was more than welcomed after these steep hills, as you can see on the picture he managed to take...

Bobdan's house was quite refreshing, as well as his jokes, Turkish coffee and the rose he offered me :-).

The last 10 kms of the day, before Pozarevac, were peaceful and much nicer than all the heavy traffic roads I followed from the morning...The night in Pozarevac could have been more pleasant if there wasn't this music band playing as loud as they could some kind of Turbo-Folk...

NB : For weddings, the first car of the procession waves a serbian flag !

Belgrad - 28th of May 2010

I've learned 2 important things, today, thanks to Dragana (between a walk in Belgrad, which is a dynamic and nice city, especially the park of Kalemegdan Fortress, and a good repairing nap for my body, still tired from the last 6 biking days) :
1/ There was a man in Serbia (and also in Bulgaria) who cut one dog's 4 legs
2/ Serbian people don't like Emir Kusturica and his movies

In the evening, I went with Dragana and Barne, one of her friend, to have some beers in a nice square and discuss about Serbia and Balkans. Very interesting !
Tomorrow, I'll start again the Danube bike road, alone, because Matthieu planned to ride twice faster than me...

NB : I saw a little girl with the same pink poodle bag than me !

Novi Sad-Belgrad (by train) or how to put 4 bikes in the train ? - 27th May 2010

Ce qui devait etre une "petite journee relax" en train (pour eviter les alentours de Belgrade, surcharges de voitures et gros camions) s'est avere plus eprouvant que prevu : a la gare de Novi Sad, apres avoir attendu fort longtemps, un peu hebetee (l'attente des voyages...les heures s'egrenent, on a rien fait mais le temps passe), je rencontre 3 dames allemandes munies de leur velo. Nous decidons de mettre en place une strategie infaillible pour faire rentrer nos 4 velos et nos bagages dans le train, en un temps record. Le train arrive et un serbe un brin saoul decide de nous aider a soulever tout notre bazar : il a foutu en l'air notre strategie au profit de la sienne, beaucoup plus ingenieuse, mais farfelue : je vous laisse regarder sur la photo.

Ensuite, Dragana (mon hote serbe) m'a recueillie au pied de la statue Cheval de la place Republika pour me faire grimper les innombrables etages menant a son appartement. On mange des bricoles avant de retrouver son copain pour aller au Mikser 2010, un festival de musique qui a lieu dans les usines du port de Belgrade !!!

NB : Les serbes qui m'accueillent m'ont fait un petit topo sur la Serbie qui peut se resumer par "On avance, on avance, mais y'a encore moult problemes a regler dans le pays". Sinon, en bonne europeenne occidentale ayant lu des articles sur Belgrade, je leur ai parle des bars et boites Turbo-folk...ils detestent et appellent ca la Silicon Valley (rapport aux seins des chagasses qui s'y tremoussent). Quant aux bars a puree.....nul ne sait de quoi je veux parler !

Et jusqu'a Novi Sad - 26th May 2010

A short day to reach Novi Sad (45 kms away from the Serbian border), with a nice and strong wind in the back :-). Then, I walked in the old city, where thousands of schoolboys and girls were gathering (I don't know why) and to the Petrovoradin fortress. The center of Novi Sad is very pleasant (cafes, restaurants, pedestrian areas).

Now, it's the third night I sleep in some kind of hostels but I'll try to change my way of travelling because it's boring and not very funny. So, as I had already got in touch with the few people on the way of my trip via Warmshowers (a website similar to Couch-surfing, but for bikers more or less), I registered also on the "Couch-surfing" website where I managed to contact more people (especially in Bulgaria). And as, after Belgrade, there won't be big cities anymore, I'll try to stop in small villages. For now, in Belgrade, I'll be hosted by Dragana and I'll meet Matthieu again, maybe for 1 or 2 more days of trip together. I'll see...

D'Osijek a la frontiere serbe - From Osijek to the serbian border (25th of May 2010)

Now, I can say it : this Hostel in Osijek where I slept and in which I was absolutly alone (no customers, no housekeeper...no one...nobody) was quite scary. Hopefully, I hadn't seen the movie called "Hostels", I guess...

The road from Osijek to Vukovar was really boring : big and flat roads, a lot of destroyed houses, bullets impacts. The only enjoying thing was that inhabitants of the crossed villages started to wave me, more and more while I was getting closer to Serbia. But in the middle of the afternoon, hills and vineyards appeared : good for my calves and the landscape !

At the end of the afternoon, I crossed the Croatian-Serbian border to sleep in Backa Palanka (Serbia), where a South summer atmospher surprised me : so I walked in the streets in the evening, eating my favourite ice-creams (Sladoled, sladoled...discovered in Slovenja) and listening to a women choir.

Health Info point : Mitosyl, silicon and sun cream

In between 2 stages, a few thrilling news about my health as a biker...
So, for the first time of my life, I'm very proud to say that I haven't been sunburnt yet, whereas I am riding under a big and gorgeous sun. The reason is that I'm using more than ever sun-cream. I have a trailer to carry a 100 liters can, which sprays sun-cream on my skin every 5 minutes !
Well, that was the politically correct part of this Health Info...Now, I'll dare to talk about my bottom...which is suffering a lot from this trip ! First, I bought a SiliconGel cover on my saddle to relieve my bottom. Then...well, in the evening, I apply this well-known cream used for babies' bottoms, which is called Mitosyl...
Hopefully, I'll stop riding my bike the next 2 days to enjoy Novi Sad and Belgrad, so...we'll see what will happen :-)

The game "Jesus-Christ Super Star" : where the hell is Jesus on the pictures ?

Pentecote de porc croate - de Mohacs a Osijek (Croatie) - 24 mai 2010

En francais :

Qui a vole le plateau argente de la Penzion ou nous avons dormi ?
C'est nous !
Et pourquoi ? Hein ? Tout simplement pour amener le petit-dejeuner au bord du Danube, agremente d'un the dont l'eau a ete chauffee grace au Bush Cooker de Matthieu, qui fonctionne au petit bois (le "rechaud de la brousse", et non, le "rechaud de WWBush").

Puis, nous partons chacun de notre cote : Matthieu, le grand voyageur aussi genereux que ses mollets, va rejoindre un eco-village hongrois et moi, je vais passer la frontiere croate et pedale jusqu'a Osijek. Premier jour de velo-voyage toute seule, donc.

Je passe ma premiere frontiere a velo : Hongrie-Croatie. Et pour inaugurer ca, je fais tomber l'integralite de mon sac a mains devant le douanier qui m'avait ouvert la barriere : passeport, argent, tampons, factures, medocs...Mais il ne bronche pas, imperturbable...

Ensuite et presque jusqu'a Osijek, les grandes routes rectilignes s'enchainent : c'est assez laid en fait. Mise a part une petite colline couverte de vignes ! Dans les villages, on sent que la guerre des Balkans des annees 90 a battu son plein : maisons entierement renovees, maisons entierement abandonnees et marquees par des impacts de balles et maisons en briques rouges en cours de (re)construction s'alignent. Heureusement, le mini-centre ville d'Osijek est fort mignon. J'ai d'ailleurs decide de louer une maison sur la place principale pour la nuit : une auberge de jeunesse, et comme il s'avere que je suis toute seule dedans...
Je vais aller manger un Borek, tiens !

Le voyage en BD - Arrivee a Budapest

(Desole pour la qualite, j'ai pris une photo car je n'ai pas de I-scanner :-)

Raplapla et graisse de porc - Flat and fat (from Budapest to Mohasc) - 21 au 23 mai 2010

En francais :

Zoltan (avec sa casquette, sa Traban et son velo), Matthieu (un francais venu de Tours en velo et que je rejoins a Budapest pour quelques jours de voyage ensemble) et moi-meme, partons de Budapest a velo vendredi matin. Hier soir, la vision des mollets-ballons de ruggby de Matthieu, hier soir en montant l'escalier derriere lui, m'avait quelque peu effaree, mais bon...Zoltan nous laisse a Rackeve, trempe comme ragondin, pour rentrer a Budapest.

Ainsi donc, entre routes rectilignes, chemins caillouteux, pluies capricieuses, fetes folkloriques de la Pentecote, bacs pour traverser le Danube et piques-niques au bord du fleuve, nous roulons a travers la plate Hongrie juqu'a Mohacs.
Samedi soir, un couple de hongrois nous a spontanement propose de venir dormir chez eux (dans une petite maison blanche, qui pour le coup, elle, se situait a la fin d'une cote fort pentue), gouter le vin local et discuter de voyages et de poivrons (specialites hongroises).

Nous atteignons Mohacs (a 20 km de la frontiere croate) dimanche soir, un brin lessivee pour ma part (3eme jour de velo oblige, je suppute) apres avoir tente de louer la caravane du proprio d'un camping : en vain, sa rombiere de femme ne voulait pas en entendre parler !

In english :
I left from Budapest on Friday morning with Matthieu, a french guy who came from France by bike, and Zoltan, our hungarian host who offered us to try the "pig fat spread on bread with raw onions and salt", a speciality from his country.

People said "Hungary is flat" and they are true. It's so flat that I surprised myself by riding 100 km the first 2 days, without real problems. But the roads along the Danube are very nice, more than the holes in it and the rain that keeps following us (I've called the police, but nothing happened). In between, my natural african skin can enjoy the sun, of course.

I'm writing from Baja (55 km from the croatian border), from an empty Cafe because it's Sunday.

Yesterday evening, one hungarian couple (Ana and Jonas) invited us (after 2 mn of discussion) to sleep, eat and drink wine in their house. Nice meeting on the road trip !
For now and till tomorrow morning, I'll continue the trip with Matthieu. But then, our roads will split. Maybe, we'll meet again in Novi Sad or Belgrad.

Caen-Budapest

Après 1 TER Caen-Paris, absolument pas conçu pour les vélos, une virée dans les embouteillages parisiens, 1 pot bière-échalote avec les amis, 1 Roissy-Bus, 1 bel empaquetage de mon vélo à la mode "Zézette", 2 avions Paris-Milano + Milano-Budapest, 1 déballage du vélo et un trajet en navette jusqu'à l'appartement de Zoltan et Eva, les 2 hongrois fort sympathiques qui m'accueillent : Here I am, Budapest !

L'art d'emballer (son velo)