Dave and his Bike

Days 28, 29 & 30.

Day 28.

I woke up feeling quite positive this morning, after a good sleep. I then checked my overall mileage until I get to Istanbul, against the days I have to do it in and the days off I would like. I seem to have miscalculated somewhere, and Sofia to Istanbul is further than I remembered, so it’s either bigger days or fewer days off. Bugger.

Breakfast was ok. When I walked around to where my bike was stored it was overcast, but dry. By the time I had waxed my chain, tightened some chainset bolts, and loaded up my luggage it had started to rain. Change of layers – out came my waterproof.

For the first time this trip I missed a turn navigating out of town, by which time it was peeing it down. That added a couple of wet kilometres to my day. I swore a bit. For the rest of the morning the roads were crap, the traffic was crap, and the weather was crap. I wasn’t enjoying myself. I bought a pizza somewhere, didn’t stop for a coffee because of the rain, and the mountains in the distance had disappeared into the clouds.

After a couple of hours I had found a slightly quieter road and the rain had let up. A couple of mouthfuls of pizza occasionally was all I managed for ‘lunch’, as it had just turned into a mileage day. My one photograph reflected my mood.

Having finally worked out how to navigate on MapOut offline, I found the ‘Sleep-and-Go’ cycle friendly hotel very easily. It was full. The staff however, were great, and sent me off to the Hotel Dabi which is cheap and cheerful. Bedroom picnic. Rehydrate.

Not much else to say, other than for what it’s worth I passed the 2000km mark today. Hopefully a better day tomorrow.

Mileage so far: 2054km

Day 29.

A much better day today. Breakfast was a bit average, but the coffee was ok, as was the bread and honey.

I managed to find my way out of town without making any mistakes, and headed northeast for about 20km on the main road. There wasn’t much traffic about either which was good. I then turned off the 215 onto the L1, which caused more excitement than I really wanted.

As I approached the junction, I saw two dogs standing in the middle of the road, barking in my general direction. I normally stop at major navigation points, but not this time. One of the dogs made a bee line for me as I turned the corner. A healthy squirt of water from my bottle and a bit of verbal abuse seemed to stop it in its tracks, but having got safely past it (or so I thought) it decided to give chase.

I hammered through the gears, but it still kept coming. I’m pretty sure I went well past my anaerobic threshold and was going as hard as I could. To give the dog credit, it didn’t give up. I last saw it a couple of hundred metres behind me, still going for it! I kept the pace up for a couple of kilometres just to make sure. I’d had a couple of half-hearted attempts over the last couple of days, but this one meant business. So much for soft-pedalling for a couple of days to help my knee!

I’ve decided that dogs are not tactically great. They announce their intentions by barking madly at cyclists. If they were a bit more astute they would keep quiet and use the element of surprise – it would be much more productive. Be careful what you wish for…

From then on the ride was suitably boring. I was on the quiet side of the wide valley floodplain, and mostly alongside the railway. It was a good road in the main, and I had a bit of tailwind, which was nice. There was also virtually no traffic. Even better. There was a feeling of moisture in the air all day, but the rain kept away and the sun came out once I got to Niš.

The route I had planned took me into town through the side door effectively. Not pretty and a couple of bits of dodgy road surface, but not much traffic. I went into the town centre for a mooch about as I was well ahead of schedule, had a cappuccino and then found the McDonald’s near to the hotel. A bit of a novelty – first one I’ve seen since Slovenia I think.

The hotel is cheap and clean, but 4km out of the town centre, so I’ll either ride in tomorrow or get the bus. The bedroom door appears to be aluminium, which I’m sure is nice and secure but isn’t great for WiFi when the router is down the corridor!

Day off tomorrow before the big climbs which come next. My overnight stop on Monday is at 1200+m. I hope the weather holds and it’s not too cold.

Mileage so far: 2133km.

Day 30.

Day off the bike, doing the tourist thing in Niš.

After a very leisurely start to the day, and a bit of breakfast in my room, I set out for the town centre. Initially I intended to catch the bus, but it was a pleasant morning, sunny but cool, and I couldn’t be bothered to wait. So I walked. Having woken up this morning with sore legs, I also thought that the walk would do me good. I hope I was right!

It’s a straight line into town – less than 3km – just over half an hour to walk. Having done a bit of a recce yesterday, I headed to the castle area, and my first stop for a coffee just inside the walls. Niš is a very old town (city?). There are areas within the old walls dating back to the 3rd century, and other parts through the ages up until the 19th century. I learned quite a bit about the history of the city (town?), up until its liberation from the Turks in 1877.

In the slightly more modern area down the road where I had a coffee yesterday, I found a small restaurant for lunch. Not understanding things on the menu meant that when I ordered grilled chicken fillet, that was what I got. Nothing else. I ended up with some chips, but still no vegetables. I also fell foul of being a solo foreign traveller; the tables of 3, 4 and 7 people who came in after me all got a starter and main course before I got a measly bit of chicken. The waiter then reminded me that tips were not included on the bill. Hmm.

Walking back to the hotel I managed to find the Skull Tower, which I had missed this morning. It’s a macabre reminder of how disturbing human behaviour can be. A fee of about £2 to get in was worthwhile, at least I think it was.

From the original 952 skulls initially embedded in the tower, 58 still remain. It’s enough.

So overall Niš is nice. Other (predictable) dad-puns are available. It has been a good place for a day off, helped by the sunny and warm (this afternoon) weather.