Day 25: Fish and Chips, Danube Style

Marker 1348 to Backa Palanka (50km)

We are aiming to get to Novi Sad, a relatively large town, two days from now, therefore the aim for today was to get close, leaving a very manageable distance for tomorrow. Novi Sad is only about 90km away, so getting there in two days is overly achievable. It was another hot day on the river, temperatures now regularly in the high 30’s, but the scenery was again nice and the kayaking enjoyable. We stopped for an early lunch at a place that looked like a restaurant, thankfully it was a restaurant. The first woman that came to serve us spoke very little English, I can’t stress strongly enough how little English she spoke. The second woman that came spoke even less. We did manage to order fresh catfish, we were certain that it was catfish because one of the women came out and showed us it, and chips. It turned out to be delicious, the fish was obviously very fresh and it was extremely tasty. Fish and chips by the river, not a bad lunch at all. It was like being back in Scotland, except the sun was shining and the fish came with the head and tail still attached, not something you usually get even in the roughest of fish bars back home.

The afternoon was relaxed and mostly consisted of us trying to keep cool. We were travelling past the town of Backa Palanka, a few kilometres short of where we were aiming, when we saw a cool area with a large lake, water sports and people camping. This was too good a spot to miss so we parked up and set up camp, leaving only around 40km to do tomorrow. We were immediately met by a man called Jake, who is from the area but now lives in England. He kindly offered to drive us to the town. He also introduced us to the waitress at a nearby restaurant and told her that we would be coming later for dinner, she seemed thoroughly unimpressed by this.

After a gorgeous sunset, we returned to the restaurant for dinner. Without offering us a menu, she asked us what we would like. A little confused, we all ended up getting chicken, which despite the frosty service, was quite tasty. Another good day on the river, I am now feeling much more comfortable with the kayaking, a short trip to Novi Sad tomorrow, after this, I plan to open my shoulders and start putting in some longer days.