Thursday 6 July 2017

Piren, Serbia revisited



Having taken a look at the 10 day weather forecast on Windguru, I make the reluctant decision to alter course and head once more into Serbia. I had planned to keep on heading south as far as Thessaloniki in Greece, but there is a heatwave with temperatures 39C in the shade predicted in a few days time and that is not compatible with 100km/day cycling.
This is the freedom associated with bike touring: the ability to spontaneously decide on where and when to go somewhere, to let you go where the wind (or inspiration) takes you.
Just outside Sofia, I meet up with a fellow bike adventurer, Rodrigo. An engineer from Argentina, with no previous bike touring experience, he took to the European roads over a year ago and had been cycling countries all across Europe since - 20,000km, but he's not really counting. A plot of his route over the past year tells one a lot about his cycling philosophy. It's a zigzagging and looping pattern, a chaotic blot if you will, that shows his modus operandi.
After lunching together, to avoid the afternoon sun's intensity, we ride to the Serbian border and then on to Piren. By the banks of the river, we set up camp and have dinner before retiring for the night.


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