Budapest to the Black Sea

Budapest to the Black Sea

Wednesday 6 November 2013

Black Sea or Bust - Day 16 Oltenita - Silistra (Bul) 76Km (48 miles)

Reminder - here is the link for my Just Giving page, you can make donations to the Alzheimer's Society there - 

www.justgiving.com/Ted-Irwin1

 The cold snap yesterday was a flash in the pan, today is warmer and as I progress through  yet more Romanian villages the sky clears and the sun comes out. Not a long ride nor a particularly interesting one. I am overnighting in Bulgaria again in a town called Silistra on the south side of the river. There is a ferry across and as you get off you can turn left and stay in Romania or turn right into the border crossing to Bulgaria. The ferry is larger than some and more ramshackle than most. A big truck, a bus, a dozen cars and a mass of foot passengers fill it to capacity and there is much structural creaking and groaning. I eye the only two lifebelts that I can see and calculate that I can get to them before any of the women and children standing round me, so I relax. Cynthia will have to taker her chances.

Bulgaria, in the shape of Silistra, is as pleasant as my last visit. The town looks more prosperous than its Romanian counterparts, a beautiful central park, proper shops and better dressed people. I ride gently round looking for my hotel, asking directions once or twice and it's made clear to me that I am an idiot and that I've just passed it. I have and the reason being is that the Hotel Danube looks far too posh for my expectations and I have ridden past twice without noticing it. A newish building with a stylish old fashioned hotel inside. It has a coffee shop that could have been parachuted in from Vienna. Once I have checked in there is enough sunshine left in the day to enable me to take Cynthia out into the park and replace her front wheel brake pads. Later that evening I was able to watch Arsenal beat Liverpool, the end of a perfect day.  

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Cycling Down the Danube

Cycling Down the Danube
The Map