I’m wondering how my legs will be after yesterdays strenght test against the wind. My hope is to be able to reach Kladovo today. Everything depends on the roads, my legs and the ferry over the Danube.

It’s about time to wake up. I’m quite early down at the breakfast table. My legs are a bit tired and I walk up to rest a bit longer before I start cycling.

I’m on the road around 10, which is not bad. I start cycling towards the ferry, which should be 10-15 Km from Bela Crkva. I’ve filled up my bag with the necessary groceries and are prepared for a long day towards Kladovo.

Since I’ve decided to stay on the Serbian side of the Danube river, I have to cycle over «The Iron Gate» when I reach this point. This is just to visit Romania, and then turn on the boarder again to continue on the Serbian side. The reason for this is as mentioned before, safety!

There is no ferry by the river. I can’t see any information. A guy from the restaurant along the river comes over to me and tells me that the next boat is not leaving until 1pm…WHAT? It seems like the other boat left at 10am.

I sit down at the restaurant. It’s not much I can do about it. I have a cup of coffee and start doing some research about where to stay tonight. One thing is 100% sure, I will not be able to reach Kladovo after this bummer.

There is a small town called Donji Milanovac, just 60Km before Kladovo. I’m gonna try to reach this place. It will give me about 110Km in total today.

The ferry has arrived, or can we really call it a ferry? It’s more like a barge that a boat is pushing. I’m cycling onboard along with all the motorcycles and one truck…REALLY? Is he gonna stay onboard with us? Will this be safe?

We arrive at the other side after about 20 minutes. The boat was of course 25 minutes late, so I don’t have much time for my plan. At the moment I’m just thinking about getting onshore and to get some kilometers.

I start climbing the hill in the streets. It’s hard to start like this, directly into a climb after hours of rest. The people are looking at me while I’m pushing to get up.

The roads are quite ok so far. I’m able to keep a good speed and are positive about reaching my new goal. I’m cycling through a small community and people are smiling to me.

Suddenly the road changes into stones, not gravel but stones. I’m having a hard time to control the bicycle, but manage to continue. The road can’t stay like this for long. I’m losing time.

Finally it’s paved road again after some kilometers. I’m able to increase to a good speed and are cycling towards Donji Milanovac. The traffic is quite intensive. At the moment I’m considering if this was the correct choice, or if I should have followed the road into Romania.

I’m continuing and the road gets more and more narrow. I have to focus and need to be fully aware when it’s coming trucks ahead and behind at the same time.

It’s quite nice at some places, it’s so narrow that you almost feel that you are cycling on the edge to the Danube. I can see an old castle in front of me. I’ve seen pictures of this before. I need to take some myself.

I stop to take some pictures. It’s beautiful and old. I don’t know how old, but this must have been built maaaaany years ago.  Just when I’m about to leave I can hear someone say in swedish: wow it’s a norwegian, have he cycled all the way?»

I speak with the friendly swedish people for a while. It’s nice to be able to speak my own language face to face to someone.

Back on the road. It’s about time. I could stand there talking to them forever, but I have to move. I continue through the castle, yes the road actually goes through the towers.

The road is still narrow and the traffic is intensive from time to time. I’m cycling through a tunnel, I saw the sign on the outside saying T-24, I didn’t think about what it meant. I met a new one, T-23, didn’t think about the number, just about how I dislike the tunnels. When I reached T-22 I reacted… Are you kidding with me? Are there 24 tunnels in total on this road? This is going to be a nightmare.

Some of the tunnels are really short, but when they exceed 240m I have trouble to see where I’m cycling when I’m in the middle. T-16, T-15… Will I meet all of them? At T-6 I can see a sign, a cycle road going on the outside. It’s about time.

The road takes me all the way down. The main road is going about 150 meters higher. I climb up again and gets back to the main road. It’s downhill now.

I’m really getting closer to Donji Milanovac. I still have more than enough time before sunset, but it’s getting closer. I’m cycling in to the center of the town. Ask around for a hotel and gets the direction.

I can see a sign saying «room, zimmer, sobe» on a house. I stop there to call the number on the wall. No one is answering. When I’m about to cycle, a guy comes running after me. He says he’s the owner and that he have a room available for me.

We enter the appartment and he basically provides me 2 bedrooms, a living room, bathroom and a fully equipped kitchen. The price: 1250 Dinar. This is the same as 105NOK, basically for free.

I’m prepared for a rainy day tomorrow. They report extreme rain and I’ve decided to just do a short stage.

Picture album from todays ride:

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