Day 29: It’s never boring

Smederevo to Veliko Gradiste (66km)

It’s been three months since I set out from John O’Groats. A large part of this was spent in Dover but I have still been on the road for a long time and today I could feel it. Physically, I am still feeling good, kayaking is becoming more and more natural each day, but mentally, today was a real slog. My aim was the town of Veliko Gradiste, 66km away.

Gradually over the past couple of days, the river has got increasingly dirty. The water, in the centre of the river at least, remains the same, but the outskirts are often littered with rubbish and a layer of general scum. This was most apparent at the place I chose to stop for lunch. I had been getting peckish for a while but just couldn’t find a good place to stop. Either the bank would be too difficult to get out onto or there were hordes of fishermen crowded onto any decent location. Eventually, with my hunger reaching danger levels, I decided to stop. The place I chose was disgustingly dirty, I only stopped for about 5 minutes, then gave up and ate in the kayak. Nevertheless, I’m fairly confident that I left my ‘picnic area’ with a few exotic diseases, a couple of which have probably not even been discovered by mankind yet.

In the afternoon, the river widened to its largest width so far, measuring a few kilometres across, it resembled an ocean more than a river. This expansion didn’t last very long and thankfully didn’t seem to curtail the current as is the norm when the river expands. The river then contracted back to normal size, but by now, the left hand side of the river had become Romania, as it will now remain, all the way to the Black Sea.

Approaching my destination, I paddled past an empty bottle of Rakiya, someone was clearly having a better day than me. After a quick stop in the shade, I arrived into Veliko Gradiste in the late afternoon. It seemed like a nice place, a holiday destination for Serbs. I wandered to the hotel and was immediately met by the owner. She didn’t speak English but did claim to know French. The fact that my French completely outclassed hers, probably tells you exactly how much French she spoke. I asked if she could call a taxi to take me to a supermarket that I could see was about 4km away. She explained that there was a supermarket just along the road. I asked if it was a big supermarket (I had to use google translate), she said it wasn’t and phoned a taxi. There was a couple standing at the side of the road, already waiting for a taxi. When their taxi arrived, I was shepherded into it by the owner, utterly clueless as to where we were going. The couple were Serbian and so therefore was their conversation with the taxi driver. We dropped them off in town and the driver then asked me where to go. I pointed on the map to the supermarket and we sped off. We arrived and I asked the driver if there was a cash machine in the supermarket, he said there was. I then asked if he could wait there while I went inside and then take me back to the hotel, he agreed. As I left the car, he called me back and asked for money. I explained that I needed to withdraw cash from the supermarket before I could pay him. However, it turned out that he thought I was asking if they accept card in the supermarket, not if there was an ATM in it. There was no ATM. I explained that I would get my shopping, return to the taxi and then we could go to an ATM on the way back to the hotel, he agreed. With the luxury of a taxi outside, I bought a lot of supplies, including about 5 litres of water. Fully laden, I headed back outside to find the space that the taxi once occupied was now filled with nothing but Serbian dirt. I stood for a bit, eating Pringles and mulled over my options. I came to the conclusion that I didn’t really have any options, I would have to walk. I was walking for about 10 minutes, constantly checking for taxis, when I taxi pulled up beside me. It was the same driver! I have no idea where he went, I should’ve mentioned that he spoke no English, but I was mightily relieved to see him. As planned, we stopped and the bank and then back to the hotel.

Dinner was far less eventful. Again I was told what to have by a friendly waiter and again it was plentiful and tasty. Once again the main events of the day came at the conclusion of the kayaking, reaching the Romanian border is another good milestone, just need to refocus mentally for the last push.