Links to Photo Gallery, GPS Tracker and Start Page
Sunday
Date: 7. September 2025
In Dorobantu, Romania
Today, apart from a trip to the shop (it's Sunday, and everything is open), I have been lazing about in my air-conditioned hut, planning, booking accommodation and reading. Accommodation is a bit of a problem. Some, that are mentioned in my guide, I was told that they had closed down. So, the plan of doing 60 miles a day is out of the window, and going back to wild camping is not an option I consider. Anyway, I will make it work.
Yesterday I was sitting in a bus stop, sheltering from the sun and the heat and eating my lunch of bread and cheese, when an old man with a horse and carts pulled up. He went into the shop to buy some fags and when he came out he started talking to me.
I was so sorry that I didn't speak the language. He would have been a very interesting person to speak to. To find out what life was like when he was growing up and what it is like now in these small villages, asking about the wood and sweetcorn beside the road, about weddings, etc..
I still remember very vividly speaking to a woman in Richland, Idaho about moving from the coast to Idaho, "getting away from all that s***". Or the guy, about my age, I spoke to in Kentucky, growing up in utmost poverty because his father had died in a mining accident.
Anyway, this can't be helped and I will just have to make an effort to pick up as much is I can without speaking to people. Young people, although they might speak the language, just don't have as much to say.
Monday
Date: 8. September 2025
From Dorobantu to Rasova, Romania
Today I took the ferry over from the Northern shore of the Danube to the Southern side and will now follow the Eastern branch to Braila where they join up again.
From now on the route will be anything but flat. Ever so often the road will climb up to the plateau about the Danube and then descend again. This means a lot of up and down and starting early, so I don't have to do too much climbing in the midday heat.
When I arrived at my accommodation I was welcome by our host, Bernhard. He is originally German but has lived in Hungary and Romania for years. He stared off farming in Hungary, but when the law changed about foreigners owning property in the country, he had to sell up and he and his Hungarian wife moved to Romania. Initially he got involved with local politics, trying to address some of the dire social situations and also the everyday level of corruption.
However, according to him, this didn't go down well with some of the locals and he seems to have become rather cynical and isolated. He is still very involved with developing the cycling infrastructure to support the Danube cycle route. Again, this seems to be an uphill battle as NGOs and government agencies arguing how best to use the available resources.
His wife has just about completed her Master's in Sociology at Constanta and cooked a delicious dinner of goulash and pasta.
So, all in all it was a very interesting and sociable evening.
Also staying here are two German cyclists, aged 75 and 78. They are heading in the same direction as I do, although at a rather more leisurely pace, but we might meet up again in Tulcea.
Tuesday
Date: 9. September 2025
From Rasova to Peceneaga, Romania
Just when you think that you have got everything in hand and it's just a few more days to get to the end, I made the mistake of eating the meal cooked by our host. It's always been one of my cast iron rules on my travels only to eat what I had cooked myself, but on that occasion I broke it.
However, they had made goulash, pasta and sauerkraut salad and it would have been churlish not to eat with everyone. Big mistake: by two in the morning I was as sick as a dog, copiously throwing up.
By 5 am I set off but was clear that if it continued, I would have to stop cycling immediately, with the biggest problem being dehydration. Lucky it stopped, and whilst I didn't eat anything all day, the 5 litres of water I drunk stayed down.
So, in the end, I did my planned 73 miles and I am staying in a rather classy retreat centre in Peceneaga. When I got here, I met the dad of the woman who was managing the property. There was a problem with the electricity, and, who do you call? Anyway, over the next hour or so the lights keep going on and off but he finally got it sorted.
In the afternoon I stopped off at a service station, getting myself a Coke and sit in their air conditioned coffee shop. What was rather funny, and it could have been just coincidence, but 5 minutes after I settled down, one of the staff came in and sprayed the whole room with air freshener. Well, maybe no everyone likes the smell of sweaty cyclists. Anyway, I wasn't offended, I had worked hard for that.
Tomorrow it's only a 45 mile cycle to Galati, where I will stay a couple of nights. Then, the following day it's 50 miles to Tulcea, and the end of cycling along the Danube. To actually get to Sulina, where the river enters the Black Sea, I will have to go by boat.
Wednesday
Date: 10. September 2025
From Peceneaga to Galati, Romania
There is now a road bridge, completed in 2023, across the Danube to Braila, but they make it very clear: no cyclists. So, off I went following the directions from my guide, catching the ferry from Smardan. However, when I got to the dock, it looked all deserted and run down. Luckily some locals were hanging about and they confirmed: no ferry service was running anymore. What next, break the law and cross over the bridge?
Then one of the locals mentioned that he knew someone who could take me across in a small motor boat and he could be here in 5 minutes.
So he was, and I got into the boat on a steep rocky bank. Not easy with a touring bike, with panniers and all. Anyway, I got on without capcising or loosing anything overboard, like my passports, and off we went across the choppy river. On the other end it was the same story, but we had a fisherman to help unload and drag the bike over the rocks.
I was rather relieved to be across without having to use the bridge.
As I arrived in Galatia, I was sitting in a bus stop having a drink, when a guy sat down next to me. He had limited English but it turned out that he was a big Glasgow Rangers supporter. Small world.
Since leaving Budapest on 26. August I have only seen 3 road cyclists on 6. September and today I saw another 2 between Braila and Galatia. We were waving enthusiastic but it was a very busy main road so there was no chance of stopping. I think they were as surprised as I was seeing someone else on this busy stretch of road on two wheels.
Thursday
Date: 11. September 2025
In Galati, Romania
Galati, although very vibrant in the centre, is dominated by the port and the steel works. From wherever you are you can see one or the other, or both. Cycling along the waterfront you pass Saint Mary-Precista, the fortified monastery, which is said to have a secret escape tunnel down to the Danube.
Along the way to the ferry terminal, there are about 50 steel sculptures, some rather large, with religious, nature and industrial themes. Some are now covered in graffiti, but it was still an interesting cycle through the trees along the promenade, and pass ever so often a sculpture with the Danube as a backdrop.
Tomorrow is the last day of my Danube cycle proper, which will take me to Tulcea. So, let's hope it all goes well. After that it's the boat to Sulina, where the Danube enters the Black Sea.
Also for tomorrow there is a forecast of rain. Although it rained in Vienna, that was on one of my rest days, so I haven't cycled in the rain at all. Maybe I doge it tomorrow as well, but let's see.
The other side of that is that the temperature will stay in the low 20s. What a relief.
Then 5 days back to Bucharest, at no more than 60 miles per day. And that will be it. It's good to know that the end is definitely in sight.
Friday
Date: 12. September 2025
From Galati to Tulcea, Romania
With only 50 miles to go and temperatures staying low, I decided to catch the 8.30 ferry across the Danube. All started rather well. I was waiting to get on, when a guy, with a cappuccino in each hand, walked towards me and handed me one, and introduced himself as Sorin. I suppose I looked as if I deserved it. Anyway, it turned out that he was head of customs at Isaccea and was just commuting to work.
His English was rather good and I learned that he had 5 children, aged 12 to 28. The oldest was working in Denmark for a multinational company.
When he got out of the car on the ferry he mentioned that he would see me on the upper deck. Clearly it was out of bounds for passengers, but I still went up and was introduced to the captain. Maybe if you travel twice a day, 5 days per week, you have earned some privileges.
He lives in Galati and his family had lived there for generations. He was rather proud of the fact that invaders, like the Turks had come and gone and his family was still there. We also talked a bit about Galati's economic situation, and apparently a large factory was just about to close with thousands of people loosing their jobs.
When the ferry departed from Galati, it took a wild zigzag route across the river. At one point, I thought it was going to crash into some barges. Apparently the water levels were so low that the captain had to follow a very complicated route so as not to run aground.
Anyway, once accros, the e first 10 miles were as described in the guide: quiet roads with only the occasional car. Then in Garvan the road from the South joined, and suddenly there were lorries, empty ones passing me and full ones coming from the opposite direction. Something there were 4 or 5 driving in convoy and if they happened to meet just were I was, it was a bit hair-raising. After 15 miles of that I could see what was happening. There was a large quarry and streams of lorries were going in and coming out, collecting gravel from some large building project somewhere. After that the traffic calmed down considerably.
Well, I didn't completely dodge the rain. I had about half an hour of it and it wasn't really heavy, so I think I got off lightly. Nevertheless, a price well worth paying for lower temperatures.
Then the sign of Tulcea came into view. The end of the road for my Danube cycle and tomorrow it will be the boat to Sulina and Kilometre 0.
That's 2,215 miles / 3,566 kilometres cycled since I left Geneva on the 3rd August. It will take a bit of time for the facts to sink in, since up to now, even today, it has been just one day at the time.
However, it's good to know that I have 2 weeks to make my way to Bucharest and slowly wind down and have time to reflect.
Saturday
Date: 13. September 2025
From Tulcea to Sulina, Romania by ferry
This morning I caught the ferry from Tulcea to Sulina, and who was getting on at the same time? The German couple I met in Rasova on the day of the goulash. They did a rather shorter daily milage but took a shortcut so we arrived here at the same time. I think they were as pleased as I was to meet up again. I am only spending one night here, but they plan to do a few excursions from here.
When I got to Sulina, the first thing was to look for Kilometre 0. It's right on the other side of the river, but unfortunately obscured be trees, so not very visible. Still, I took a picture. Most rivers start with zero at the source, so the Danube is unique by starting with zero at the end. So since setting out from Donaueschingen, I have been counting down from about 2,800 to 0.
To Sulina, the boat follows the main shipping channel, used be seagoing vessels and along the way I saw many skillfully thatched houses. It of course would make sense to use thatch as it's plentiful in the delta. As a matter of interest, I checked with the German couple what the translation was for thatcher. Apparently it's just roofer and Google translate though the same. Equally in Romania, there doesn't seem to be a specific word for thatcher. The level of skill in evidence, you would have thought it to be a specific profession. So, it seems that it's only in English we have it. Good for us.
Then, just to make the point, I cycled to Sulina beach and the Black Sea, and of course I had to take a few pictures of it. So, my bike is now in selfies of the Black Sea, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the North Sea and the Mediterranean. Its been getting around, it seems.
Thinking of the Black Sea, it's a different world altogether with the following countries boardering it: Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria. When looking on the map, after that, it's countries like Iran and Kazakhstan.