To Calafat, First full day in Romania, first wild dog incident

September 16, 2015

Don't worry, the dogs just bit my panniers

My travelling companion for today, Manliffe Goodfellow.

Manliffe and I met for breakfast, and then found our way out of the city together. One of the difficulties in Romania is that there isn't much accommodation available. We were aiming for Cetate, where there is a hotel. As you'll see, we went a bit further.

We anticipated the last 2 climbs on EV6 before getting close to Constanta. The first one came pretty quickly, and was accompanied by somewhat heavy traffic. I made a stop part way up to let a line of traffic go by, and then pedalled on up. We stopped at a pullout near the top for pictures, finished the climb and enjoyed the downhill.

Me! This was a break near the top of a long steep climb. The trash seems typical of Romania, but was also present throughout Serbia.

There was not a lot to look at during the ride. It was mostly flat for a while, passing through a lot a farm land with wide open views. It seemed that the small towns we were passing were mostly off the main road we were cycling. We stopped for coffee, and ended up at a gas station with coffee from a vending machine. It was actually good coffee, at least by my standards, although I needed a second cup.

We passed through some more towns, and started seeing more people. There were carts pulled by horse or sometimes by mule. The boys like to hold up their hands for a hand slap as you ride by, and are quite forceful with it. After one hand slap, I passed an older gentleman who said formally "I wish you a pleasant journey".

There are quite a few horse or donkey carts on the roads.

Through some rolling countryside, we passed a fruit stand. There was a fenced area behind the stand, and some dogs behind the fence went a little crazy. I've been warned about wild dogs in Romania. They have a reputation for going on attack and chasing cyclists. The advice about how to react is varied. Some people say to out sprint them. Others say to stop. And some people carry pepper spray. Manliffe and I had not discussed our strategy.

The barking dogs behind the fence attracted some other unfenced dogs who gave chase. We were on a small incline. Manliffe accelerated up. I was indecisive, which isn't good. I was thinking about stopping, but I found it scary to stop with barking growling dogs in pursuit. So I hadn't really changed pace at all when I felt a pull backwards on my bike. I had been caught! Fortunately a car came from behind honking and swerving at the dogs, and the dogs let go and ran off. The result, which I didn't see until later, was a rip in one of my panniers, near the roll top corner. It has since been patched with Gorilla tape I've been carrying.

The result of a wild dog attack going up a small hill. The blue color is from the contents. My waterproof pannier needs repair!

We went on. On the second big climb of the day, we were accompanied by a horse cart. Manliffe passed the cart before I did. In fact, the cart had stopped opposite a spring on the hill and was taking a break when I passed, so I can't really say I caught it. It did start up again, so I can say that I beat it up the hill!

When we got to Cetate, we found that the hotel was down a steep hill at the port. We agreed we didn't want to deal with the hill the next morning. The next big town was Calafat, where there were several hotels, with the Hotel Panoramic being recommended. I looked at my Garmin, which said it was 15 km, and I agreed to go on. I hadn't considered that 15 km was line of sight distance. The actual ride was closer to 15 miles. I was pretty well spent, with the 2 big hills and the dog incident, and it had become quite hot. Manliffe dragged me to Calafat, and I slowed him down a lot. We did find accommodation about two thirds of the way, a sort of truck stop in the middle of nowhere. It looked newer and clean, if somewhat deserted. I went in to enquire about rooms. They were available at a reasonable price. Then we inquired about food. The restaurant is open 24 hours. When we specifically asked about breakfast, the guy we were talking with went off to call the cook. He came back and said "all full". It wasn't possible to stay. "All full" seems to translate as "we don't want to bother". So we went on to Calafat and the Hotel Panoramic.

The Hotel Panoramic is an old spa hotel, and I don't think it has been updated since communist times. It has an elevator with a hinged door on the outside, and also hinged bar style doors on the inside that need to be held closed for it to operate. There was a notice in the room about washing towels and conserving water, but the shower in my room had a substantial steady drip. The room was okay. I'm sure it had been nice, perhaps 50 years ago, and now it was quaint.

The town of Calafat also seemed stuck back a few decades, but we found dinner at a restaurant in the center. We skipped the ice cream for desert when the waiter said it was old, but found some at a shop.

Today's ride: 100 km (62 miles)
Total: 2,605 km (1,618 miles)

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