Today I was back onto the busy 21 Freeway. I couldn’t take the alternate route suggested by the map because the dirt roads are unpassable after yesterday’s storm. I’ve got to be careful. No more crashes.
Today was one hilluva ride. Huge hills on the Bulgarian freeway. This sucked because slowly creeping up a hill as cars fly past you feels way worse than cooking along at 20km under the same conditions. But once I crossed back into Romania for the final time the roads get a lot less scary. I can’t say the same for the hills. But to be honest, at this point in the ride the challenging hills feel good.
The final border crossing was at Silistra, Romania. The maps mentioned poor road quality from there onwards but all the cobblestone roads have been paved since my maps’ publishing, apparently.
I do not recommend stopping in Baneasa. There is nothing there. I found a weird but nevertheless well-appointed hotel where I stopped for the night.
Pretty soon after paying for my room found that the water heater was broken. I went out to look for someone to fix it but the building was empty save for me. The front door was locked from the outside too so I was trapped. By some dumb stroke of luck, two young women studying local mosquitoes—I kid you not—walked up to the front door as I knocked on it from the inside. They opened it just as a hotel employee came speeding into the parking lot to check on the water heater.
As I passed the 100km to Constanta marker, I let out a guttural joyous yell. Then a BMW quite literally almost killed me with an errant swerve out of his lane into mine. A big fuck you to each and every asshole driver, most of whom drive BMWs and Mercedes. That’s a fact. An anecdotal fact. Square that circle.
Tonight it’s Resevoir Dogs, a block of cheese and stale bread for dinner from the only store within 5 km.
Tomorrow it’s Constanta and the Black Sea!
