A hairy ride to a cyclist haven

It is not easy to get out of Belgrade. The only way out to where we want to go is across the Pančevački Most. This is a busy, very busy bridge with no cycle path and only a narrow pedestrian way that no sane human being would ever set foot on. It’s not that great for cyclists, let me just say. We choose the pedestrian way over riding one of the two lanes on the road, fall into single file, mentally cross fingers and launch ourselves onto the bridge.

The pedestrian way is narrow, so it takes a lot of concentration to stay straight. Any wobble could see you slip off the path and into the mad traffic. If that’s not enough, at intervals along the path there’s obstructions: bollards, bolts, debris that has fallen off vehicles. This is not a ride I would want to do again.

At the end of the bridge we stop to regroup (stop shaking) and review where we are going. Most of the remainder of today is along unsealed tracks on the top of a dike that runs alongside the Duna then meanders away from the river and back again close to Kovin, which is where we are headed for the night. The track is rough, but certainly safer than the road across the bridge!

It’s a good 70km to Kovin and it takes a long time bumping along this rough track. As we didn’t leave Belgrade until around 1pm it is starting to get pretty late by the time we get to Kovin. I’ve booked us a ‘bike-friendly’ place on the river, but the directions are not good (or my direction-decision-making is not good) and we make an unnecessary 4k detour trying to find it. It turns out the place is another 5km or so along the river from Kovin, so more bumping on dikes. This dike travel is getting a bit old by now!

We pull into Dunavsi Pličak Guest House a little after 7pm and after a pretty rough (literally!) day on the bikes. Our hosts Alessandro and Dragana are the perfect hosts. They help us in with our bikes, show us our rooms (they know we need showers!) and provide a refreshing beer, a chat, and a lovely home cooked meal. This is one of the best places I’ve stayed at for hospitality and atmosphere. We are their first Australian guests, but they have received cyclists, canoeists and other sporty types over the time they’ve been open.

We end the evening with Ales and Dragana enjoying their version of the home-made fire-water (fruit spirit): rakija.

We’re not the only guests – a German family pull in some time after us. They are polite but not overly friendly, and march around in a very ordered way. We get a glimpse into their room – all their luggage perfectly arranged, room tidy, family tidy, everything tidy. (Our room looks like a bomb hit it, which is how it looks every night.) We go to sleep giggling about how they probably cycle as if marching in a regiment: eins, zwei, eins, zwie, eins, zwie, eins, zwie …

Stats for today:

• Distance: 80.9km
• Climb: 90m
• Average speed: 17.6km/h
• Average temperature: 24C
• Moving time: 4:35:10
• See our ride on Strava

The beer picture

At the end of a day’s ride, our tradition is to enjoy a beer, and to photograph it for posterity. Today’s beer picture was taken inside at Dunavsi Pličak Guest House, and we were so busy chatting with our hosts and eating our delicious home-cooked meal that no photo was taken.

Along the way today: