Traffic Was Crazy
Sitting in my tent in the rain typing this thing at 8PM. One of those interesting days. I finally figured out what to with that stupid duvet last night. My full size bed is actually a sofa bed with raised pillows on the head end. The night before last I tried to sleep reversed and angled across the bed and that didn't work well. So last night I took out the pillows, unsheathed the duvet and stuffed the duvet in the pillow hole. That gave me a flat bed and I slept well. Too well, in fact, however we had the alarm set for 7:30 since the campers were scheduled to arrive at 9. We awoke at 7:15 to see it pouring rain outside. Just like at Bratislava.
We packed and had breakfast. We were Joyful at breakfast again as Joy showed up. She stayed at a hotel nearby and didn't worry about herself like we did. We hung around the lobby waiting for the escorted campers to get to the hotel - late due to the rain. They arrived around 9:40, Shanny held a little riders meeting and we took off with our security patrol car guide in a rain that had slowed at least though didn't qualify as a drizzle yet. Shanny and Daniel had to push the guy's car to get it started!
Traffic was crazy of course, but we kept the group together in double file through the city. The main hazards were tram tracks that we need to hit at right angles. Hit them sideways and your tire slides along them and you're down in a second. Daniel's bike went down but he managed to stay upright. We also had a big puddle to negotiate and of course some guy passed from behind just as Chuck got to it. So his legs got a Romanian mud bath.
Soon after leaving Bucharest the rain quit for much of the ride. We had a tail wind and did the first 30K after leaving the city in about an hour. Lunch at noon then off for Bulgaria. I rode with Chuck, Walter and Sheila. Sheila caught the bug that's touring our group and wasn't feeling well but rode out the day just fine.
When we got to the border town we missed the turn of the road so did an extra 8K in town. The border people at the end of the road there also weren't happy when Chuck went barelling through. A little yelling brought him back and finally a senior official pointed out where we needed to go.
We saw the Danube for the last time today as we crossed it on the bridge into Bulgaria. The border is in the center of the river. The official crossing went easily.
We were "home" about 3:30 just after Craig got there. We set up and then it started to rain again. Now I wish I had rented one of the little cabins here for 10Leva (another currency)
Went into town by cab with Daniel, Brian and Casey - that ride was 5 leva -pretty cheap. Walked around the town a bit - appears to be another tourist town with some fancy older buildings down in their pedestrian shopping area.
The golden arches still look the same. Lots of ice cream stands. Brian thought maybe this is a drop off point for Danube cruises.
Dinner was good and there was a rain shelter nearby. Too bad it didn't shelter from mosquitoes.
Rain seems to have increased so not much to do but get to bed I guess. May be start reading my Istanbul book.
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Posted September 14, 2005 by Tour Participant
Bulgaria |
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