...Chance Encounters v2...

And, as we pedal along we had more chance encounters worth mentioning in a blog!

To meet people out of the blue and interacting with them often makes our days, apart from…yes you guessed it right, we still like the pedaling aspect of our days too!

Often we get valuable and for us helpful information out of those chance encounters, on other occasions we learn about local people, their lives, traditions and culture and often, it also gives us something to think and talk about!

So, let me tell you about some of the latest lovely encounters with random people we’ve met in recent weeks and days!

..Near Gyor.. Reinhold from Germany

We just left our accommodation in Gyor, navigating our way out of town when another long distance cyclist crossed our way. He had the same look on his face as we often must have when in big cities: slightly disoriented, frustrated at not being able to find the way back to the Eurovelo route…and fed-up with not making any significant distance progress.

“Hi, are you going out of town in the direction to Budapest? Do you know the way?”

“Yes, we do, or better komoot does. You can just follow us!”

Reinhold, from the Ruhr region of central Germany, as us, loves bike trekking. Whilst his wife was away on a long distance walk with friends, he decided to go bike trekking. After all, he had time, and bike trekking hurt him less than walking does at the moment, after his pretty bad MTB accident the year before.

Kayaking is another passion of Reinhold but he can do that any time near his hometown and by talking to him, he appeared to know the Rhine and its currents, challenges & dangerous sections better than his wife’s wardrobe…   

Talking German politics got us rolling for many miles and Reinhold also had an interesting career working in psychiatric clinics for criminal offenders and their integration back into society.

And after he turned sixty, he decided to open his own business – after all, one needs to have a bit of fun! Was this his best decision in life or not, I couldn’t quite ascertain but one thing is for sure; Reinhold likes a challenge!

But one thing Reinhold said made me think and I believe is very true:

“There should be more people who understand that material wealth is only important to a point where you can afford life and live comfortably. At this point, people need to start to look at their mental wealth as this is much more valuable in the long run!”

A few hours, a coffee stop and lunch break later, Reinhold had to take a different way to us and we said our goodbyes. Thanks Reinhold, it was nice to meet you and we wonder what you’ll be up to next…?

..Near Dunaujavaros.. Peter & Racheljolanka (US), Lut & Jet (Belgium)

Along the Rhine and Danube, there are miles and miles of cycling on dams running parallel to the rivers. What acts as flood barriers, equally acts as good cycle paths! Some have well compressed gravel tracks along the top, some are even tarmacked and others are more like British bridleways, hard and bumpy in the dry and soft and muddy in the wet!

On one of those hard and bumpy tracks we’ve met Peter and his wife Racheljolanka. They life in New York but visit their Hungarian home town regularly and enjoy the peace and quiet it offers on long walks along those dams. For them, this is a nice contrast to their busy and buzzing lives in NY.

Probably in their thirties and having successful careers in the US, they clearly haven’t lost their connection to their home country, the traditional lifestyle, interest in the traditional food and old family values which was really nice to see! A lovely couple to talk to!

Nearly at the same time as us, the two Belgians Lut & Jet arrived on their trekking bikes from the opposite direction. They came from Istanbul. Jet couldn’t remember how long it has taken them to where we met and his wife Lut had to consult her diary to ascertain the said! REAL long distance cyclists – lost in time, appreciating the moment!

In summer, they are on their bikes travelling somewhere in Europe and in winter, they spend two months at home with children and grandchildren to enjoy some homely comforts like a heated bedroom for a change!

Jet’s bike setup was a bit like an Australian road train, scaled down to bike trekking!

His fully loaded e-bike pulling an oversized, approx. 1.5 meter long trailer with a large solar panel plus himself add up to 180 kg!

On top of that, Lut was carrying her own full load on her e-bike too!

Impressive! Please accept our trophy for the heaviest bike setup we've came across so far!

Congratulations!

..Near Celavero.. Peter from Holland

Peter from Holland made us feel like celebrities!

So far, Peter was the ONLY cyclist who caught up to us and his first words were:

"Hi, aren’t you the guys from Pans and Panniers?"

Wow, what a feeling, being lifted to celebrity status – even though it was only for a few short moments!

Peter is on a mission; he’s cycling from Holland to Bangkok. Not in one go though, he does it in stages and when he’s on holiday, he continues his journey from where he left it the time before. His current leg of the journey should take him to Istanbul where his wife is going to join him for a short holiday.

He’s not only on a cycling mission, as a married couple in their thirties they are also facing a big dilemma: They both want kids, but they also want to finish the ride to Bangkok, including his wife, who is more and more warming up to the idea of accompanying Peter on the ride…what a predicament! Cycling or having kids?

My advice: keep life simple, keep pedalling!... lol..

As I said, Peter is on a mission. He had to carry on and a little later, Peter was a dot in the distance. A kilometre closer to either or...

 ..Stari Slankamen, Stojanovic Vineyard.. Mirjana & Ivica with friends Jovan & Predrag

Accommodation for the night is usually based on two main factors: is it on or near our route and price.

However, this time we found this vineyard called Vinarija Stoyanovic which offered rooms next door. It promised wine tasting, homemade Serbian food and comfortable rooms for a good nights sleep.

Being interested in all three of those, we ignored the steep hill we had to get over first, kept our heads down and kept pedalling up the hill instead, knowing our reward is waiting for us on the other side!

And we didn’t get disappointed!

Arriving at the property with the rooms, they couldn’t have been more helpful and accommodating to us!

We must have been looking hungry, exhausted, dirty and smelly as we got offered coffee, homemade cake and cold beer soonest we arrived.

But not just that, the host lady Hasna, offered to wash all our clothing too and got the washing basket ready for us!

A few hours later, we found our cycling clothes outside our room, crisp, ironed and well folded. The best since we left home… Thank you very much!

Arriving at the vineyard next door for dinner, we were met by the owner Ivica, a former sommelier by profession who, 12 years ago, started to plant his own vines and producing a selection of flavoursome wines with grapes typically seen in the area.

He had a couple of friends over who weren’t there to eat but to savour some of his vintages instead. Predrag is a manager at the Serbian Inflight Catering Company and Jovan is a chef by profession who does some menu development for Ivica on the side. As he was there anyway, drinking wine free of charge, he was roped in to cook our dinner so Ivica had time to tell us all about his wines, while we sipped and appreciated them… Strange how things sometimes work!

A simple dinner of ‘Serbian salad’ (fresh, tasty cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, sweet peppers, onions & dressing) and truffled polenta with goats cheese and pulled veal was served to us. At the end, homemade cookies, made by Ivica’s mother, got passed around which complimented the apple schnaps very well. It was all very delicious!

And as we all had a common connection to the hospitality industry, the natter and banter went on and we only stopped short of starting on cigars as the better took over by the two friends who had to be at work the next day!

Breakfast the next day was equally as delicious!

But this was not all!

Towards the end of the evening, Mirjana, the wife of Ivica arrived and joined in and we got to know about her career as a successful opera singer, actress and dancer at the Terazije Theatre in Belgrade where she was preparing for the fully booked musical ‘Gypsies are found near Heaven’ based on Gorky’s early 1892 story and made into a Soviet romantic drama film in 1975.

Mirjana was the lead opera singer of the musical and one of the dancers. And thanks to Mirjana, we got invited to the show in Belgrade a couple of evenings later.

We had a clear view to the stage on comfortable ‘over capacity’ chairs, enjoying the great musical with about 50 performers, interesting stage setups and great costumes.

Not understanding a word of Serbian language, we were still able to follow the story line as we watched the movie of the said film the night before.

Getting the cleanest of our travelling clothes out of our bags and trying to blend in with the cultured local, Serbian crowd was partly amusing and partly embarrassing…

This was a real treat for us and something very different to our day to day life on our bikes!

 ..Near Pancevo.. Elderly Man

What do you say to somebody who catches up to you on his bike at a set of traffic lights and keeps asking you questions in a language you can’t understand?

I said, ‘Istanbul’!

And this obviously got him going…

A few hand signals later, in the process him nearly losing his multipack of cigarettes he just got from the shop and was carrying under his arm, we sat in the back garden of his house, in a quiet part of Pancevo and he brewed us some strong, sweet Serbian coffee…

Thanks to google translate we were able to have some communication going.

The man and his wife were born in Montenegro and have been living in Serbia for many years. They are Muslims. They also used to live and work in Germany and his two children and grandchildren are still there. He’s not very well due to the many years working in a chemical factory but life is still pretty good and he takes his caravan and goes fishing quite a bit. By that time he proudly showed us his collection of about 50 fishing rods in an adjacent shed.

It looked to us, they grow a lot of their own vegetables and live a fairly simple life and he’s obviously passionate about fishing!

And yes, one of his brothers lives in Istanbul and I am sure he told me all about him when we cycled side by side towards his property…

..Ritopek Ferry Dock.. Ivan & Milena with kids Svetozar & Valerija

It’s always nice to find a scenic spot for our picnic lunches.

Near Ivanovo, komoot showed a ferry port on the map and we decided to have our picnic there.

The approach to the ferry port was anything but looking like a road to a ferry port on the Danube! It was just a bumpy and muddy track a normal car would not even have been able to pass through. We cycled and pushed our bikes around the mud and wet puddles and ended up finding a concrete jetty leading into the river. No ferry anywhere in sight!

As we made the effort to get there, we decided to sit on the jetty and have our lunch with that beautiful view to the other side of the Danube.

At 1.30 PM, a man on a bicycle with his daughter in the children’s seat arrived at the jetty: ‘Are you also going on the ferry?’ he asked after we said we were English speaking.

A bit confused by his question and explaining that we actually don’t intend to cross the river, it turned out the jetty was indeed used as an official ferry crossing.  

Every three hours a ferry crosses the river. The main purpose of the ferry is to transport farm tractors and farmworkers from one side to the other. Those farmers are going back and forth to tend their fields on the other side of the river.

If you are trying to take the 5 PM ferry, you might be in bad luck though. If all the farmers have been accounted for on the 2 PM crossing the ferryman won’t bother… That’s how a Serbian ferry schedule works!

We were able to get to know Ivan and his wife Milena by chatting to them. A lovely Serbian family who were on a bike ride with their young kids Svetozar and Valerija.

Ivan, is an Electric Engineer working for a Serbian company connected to the Swiss Electronic Company ABB and his wife Milena, who’s a Professor in Serbian language can’t find suitable work and has retrained and works as a Kindergarten Teacher at the moment.

Unfortunately we had to politely decline their invitation for a sausage bbq at their house on the other side of the river but nevertheless, it was really nice to spend that time talking to them!

..Negotin.. Bojan

Base Camp – Urban Guerrilla!

What sounds a bit like a place of freedom fighters hiding somewhere in Negotin is in fact described as ‘Guesthouse and Camping for Cyclists and Adventures’…

Bojan, the owner of the place, spotted us going up and down the pavement looking for the address and came through the iron gate of the base camp and ushered us in.

The bandana around Bojan’s head does remind me of Che Guevara…

The basecamp stands out from the other houses in the street as Bojan has transformed it into a bush camp. Lots of greenery, ivy up the walls, trees in the garden, many pots with plants everywhere and in the middle of it one can spot some small ‘tents for hire’, several chalet/studio type rooms, a tennis court and space for travellers to put their own tents up. No assault course or weapons seen…

Everything was built by ‘Che Guevara Bojan’, his son and his dad and is very well thought through and gives travellers exactly what they need!

His attention to detail within the chalet/studio rooms is remarkable and goes well beyond expectations.

Being offered a cold beer on arrival was a nice gesture and being served freshly baked pastries and coffee in the morning was ticking all the boxes… being at Base Camp felt like Bojan knew us for a long time already!

Thank you and good luck with your next project, Bojan!

We hope your achilles tendon got better by the day Mike from Luxembourg! (middle picture)

..Last but not least.. Silly dog Macks

Macks, our only follower without an Insta or Facebook account.

When we left the accommodation next door to the Stojanovic Vineyard, Macks the dog decided to follow us. Up the hill for the first mile and no sign of him wanting to turn around.

Everytime we lost sight of him we thought he started his journey back home but no, he kept catching up with us again and again, seemingly enjoying traveling alongside us!

After about two miles we decided to call the family at the accommodation and they couldn't believe where Macks was!

15 minutes later, it was time for Macks to wuff-wuff us goodbye and jump in his taxi which arrived to take him back home...