Thank The Lord for the EU and it's pollution control laws. I've seen some of the most stunning countryside tarnished by heavy industry and I was shocked yesterday.
It was an early start. Since the days are getting shorter, I've had to push my body clock forward a couple of hours. This is a good thing and before I was just too lazy to get up. So out of the tent at 6.30 to boil some water for coffee and eat muesli and pre-boiled eggs with Chris. I slept pretty poorly as my camp mat refuses to stay inflated. I end up on a burst balloon every morning. We did attempt to gaffer tape over where I suspect the leak to be coming from but surprise surprise this didn't work. It was also pretty cold and my sleeping bag isn't great.
We left the camp and bumped into an old Serbian man on the roadside who shouted something and flagged us down. He spoke good English and wanted to help us with anything we needed. We didn't really need help but it was fun to listen to him talk about his country. It's always the older people that are the most interesting. He gets 50€ a month from his state pension. This is why you see most elderly Serbs routing around bins - it can't be easy.
Our first stop was Stomerevo. This was once the capital of Serbia for about 5 years in the 1500's so felt important. I used a cafe and it's facilities however said facilities had no utility paper so embarrassingly had to ask the waitress. This was 10 minutes after having entered the loo. You get the picture here...not my proudest moment.
Out and through hills of small villages we passed by the first giant factory of the day. This area is known as the steel heartland of Serbia and I could see why. There were slag heaps taller than the smoke stacks. We travelled further and further and passed two 50 year old woman cycling from Vienna to the Black Sea. Mum if you're reading this...;)
On either side of the road there were lakes of rubbish with people leafing through looking for choice metals and plastics. The general smell was awful. We passed out towards the town of Kostolac. The small villages surrounding were really run down and it was the first proper poverty I'd seen. But as always everyone shouted 'Hello," and "what is your name?!". Right next to these shacks were two enormous coal plants pumping out black smoke. You'd also think that ok this supplies jobs for the local area but cycling on further we saw a small newly built condominium with signs written in Chinese. This was a Chinese power plant. We carried on, and couldn't believe it. Then again after 2km was an even bigger plant, this time with huge scars in the surface where they were mining the land. We climbed through he fence and stood on a precipice over the sunken field of monstrous machines and craters on a scale of which it was hard to take in. It felt like this is how the earth would look if aliens invaded and used our planet to mine for fuel. Pure carnage on a vast industrial scale. Absolutely mad, and truly eye-opening.
So after such a sobering moment I thought I should teach Chris the game '20 questions'. We cycled and played. I chose David Hasslehoff, who he didn't get. I thought this guy single-handedly brought down the Berlin Wall? I was in even more shock.
After around 80km Chris and I rolled along a peninsula towards a town called Ram on the banks of the Danube. It was the home to a 15th century Ottoman fortress so we had a look. We were the only ones there so were free to clamber the walls and generally be children. Chris adopted his usual tactic of pretending to be a Navy Seal. I wanted to do my 100km but was persuaded that to spend a night inside a fortress was a once in a lifetime opportunity and too big to pass up. So we set up camp, collected wood and cooked our meals shared between us. The rest of the night was spent chatting and I read to Chris from an app I downloaded : The US Army Survival Guide. We are now both familiar with effective camouflage techniques, enemy evasion and the following very useful information:
90% of black berries are edible
50% of red are edible
10% of white/orange and green are edible.
...or was that purple?... Ok don't quote me.
But I'll leave you with to ponder.
Dobre vice
P.s. Just to check if anybody reads all this way down...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ANDY CASEY YOU CHAMP. Much love, taffy xx
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