Lemonade is the best part of the day

There are days that are simply for commuting: for getting from A to B. In this case from Novi Sad to Belgrade. We have around 90km in front of us, and more heat, so we get up early, with eyes on reaching Belgrade before the day gets too hot. In an as-yet-unknown feat I have Neil up, ready and on the bike before 5am! We’re not just trying to beat the heat today: we have a massive and notorious hill to climb just out of Novi Sad and want to beat the reported heavy, bike-unfriendly traffic.

This hill is another I have been nervous about. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to find a decent alternative route to get us to Belgrade. There isn’t one. We are stuck with the climb and the traffic.

At this time of morning the traffic is not so bad. We ride a little over 10km before hitting the hill and just make steady progress up the grade, which is probably about an average of 5% over a 4km stretch. Maybe all the suffering in Poland and Slovakia has prepared me to be able to handle this hill well! From the hill top we enjoy a controlled and safe descent, then just put the rubber to the road to get ourselves to Belgrade. As best you can when pedalling a bike that weighs a conservative 30kg, that is.

There’s not much of note along the way; we just keep on pedalling. As we get closer to Belgrade the roads, of course, become more busy and we have the heat as a constant companion. Some R&R in an air-conditioned room in Belgrade is just what I need.

It’s a short-lived relief when we turn off the busy road into quieter backstreets. The universe has thrown in a busy hill, heat, ever-increasing traffic, and now, as the image of Belgrade city looms in front of us, we are thrust onto the roughest cobbled streets you can imagine.

We bump along, bone and teeth juddering until we reach a really lovely little area beside the river with a cluster of cafés. A stop for a drink turns into lunch, while we high-five ourselves for getting (almost) where we are going by 11am. Unheard-of!

But we still have a little way to go, so after lunch we saddle up again and point our bikes toward the obvious fort that rises above Belgrade. Such a great spot to build a fort to defend a city! We bump along cobblestones for a short while then ride along a bike path, right on the banks of the river. I feel we are riding through a swanky part of town now, with lots of boats moored along the river. I get the feeling a good deal of Belgrade’s social life revolves around our Duna and the Sava, a river we have to cross to get into Belgrade city.

This is a busy bridge! Fortunately there is a lovely safe bike path that has an elevator on the other side to take us and our bikes down to street level. From there we only have to navigate to our hotel, which Neil has pre-booked. Or has he? When we find the place they have no booking for us and no free rooms. They direct us to other place and we stumble around, walking our bikes in the busy city trying to find the place.

Did I mention it is hot? Heat when riding is another thing. Heat when pushing a heavy bike around in a concrete jungle is another. It is almost overwhelming and we have to stop for a cold drink in the short distance between our non-hotel and our hopefully-hotel. Fortunately we find the place. And even more fortune means that they have a room, it has an air-conditioner and they don’t flinch at us taking our bikes up to the room. Our dirty, travel weary bikes. The bikes kind of complement our dirty, travel-weary selves.

We collapse into our room, revelling in the air-conditioning. I must look quite a site when one of the staff passes the open door of our room. She pokes her head in. “Would you like a limunada?”

It is the bestest, coldest, most refreshing lemonade I’ve ever had – freshly-squeezed lemon juice, water, ice and a titch of sugar. I could drink this stuff by the litre. It is life-saving stuff. A thousand blessings on the wonderful woman who offered it!

Limunada, combined with showers, clean clothes and a cool-off in front of the air-conditioner means we are ready to go a bit later in the day. We set off on a mission. I am fed up with the fried cheese I’ve been eating for a good deal of the trip. I want some real food! I have searched and finally located, in this meat-eating-mecca of a country, a vegetarian restaurant! It is not-negotiable. That is where we are going tonight.

It isn’t easy to find. I have an address and we walk around the area, not sure if we have the right place. The quirky little restaurant whose name now escapes me is in what appears to be an apartment building. We perch at tables and eat food from a strange mix of cuisines. But it is good! I get beans! I emerge from the restaurant with a full and happy tummy, without having to have eaten fried cheese and chips.

The weather, which has seen almost three straight weeks of heatwave, is tipped to break by Monday. We are not leaving our comfortable, air-conditioned room until the heat breaks!

Stats for today:

• Distance: 91.9km
• Climb: 439m
• Average speed: 19.1km/h
• Average temperature: 30C (but only this low because we rode so early in the day)
• Moving time: 4:48:123
• 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 at a café in Belgrade and shows a very satisfied, thirst-quenching Neil.

Along the way today: