Well last night should have ended in Serbia but when I got to the Ilok–Bačka Palanka Bridge border it was chaos ... I'd been warned by a few other people I'd met at various overnights but hadn't taken much notice. There were long queues of lorries and these seemed to be trying to block the cars so there were a lot of frustrated people ... I gathered from those that could speak a bit of English that it was "a pig issue" no not The Big Issue ... and I could believe that. If every person consumed the amount of pork I've had this last couple of weeks there can be no pigs left.
Anyway it was 32 degs and too hot to sit in a queue on a bike and wait so as I had time I decided to ride back the way I'd come to a smaller crossing and I could get there through a National Park. Best laid plans eh, on my bimble through the back roads I got stopped by a police officer who spoke excellent English and wanted to know why I was there ... first time in all my trips I've been stopped and my ID checked...apparently I'd passed a sign saying no access to the public ... in Croatian obviously ... way back. I didn't know the handshake but I did have a membership card which on being shown changed the atmosphere immediately. Apparently the pig situation was Swine Flu. Croatia began culling nearly 12,000 pigs on Monday at farms in the east of the country, in a bid to prevent African swine fever from devastating the industry and I presume Serbia were a bit wary. So my flippant remarks, as they often are, about pork, were completely misappropriate. Anyway the nice officer let me carry on if I promised not to to stop anywhere but he did advise me to try and avoid Serbia if I could ,
Well I'm too old for grief so change of plan, I booked another night at the hotel I'd just left and decided that today I'd ride through Hungary over the top of Serbia, then down to where the Danube left Serbia for Romania and carry on from there. Yes I'd miss out a 147 mile stretch of the Danube through Serbia but I'm riding for pleasure not the Guinness Book of records so hope you'll understand.
In any even this change meant I'd now be able to visit three sites on the Romanian side which I'd really wanted to see.
Like this guy ...The rock sculpture of Decebalus. A colossal carving ... 55 metres ...of the face of Decebalus (r. AD 87–106), the last king of Dacia and again although I knew about the sculpture I didn't know who he was. The carving is not old though, it was commissioned by a Romanian business man in1994 and took 10 years.
Another was Abandoned Baths of Băile Herculane in an old spa town in the mountains of Romania where, according to legend, the great hero Hercules once bathed.
Not in these baths though they were built in 19th century and have sadly gone to rack and ruin. I first saw them on a programme on the Danube Joanna Lumley did. A young female architect is heading up a project to restore them ... some task.
The other site was the Iron Gates ... A spectacular gorge which forms part of the border between Romania and Serbia. The now sprawling river is forced through the gorge which at its narrowest is only 500ft wide but 300ft deep.
Worth the detour.
More tomorrow.
Goodnight
