Paris-Pekin 11-12 April

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Friday 11 April - Drobeta to Craiova, 115 km

Quite a good day, still no rain. Talked quite a bit to our accompanying local cyclists, some of whom are using this few days as practice for a projected trip to Greece.
Once we were out of town the countryside was attractive, agricultural with trees in blossom round all the farms. Stopped for lunch in a small town where I found a cash machine and a small supermarket and stocked up. Gave the sandwiches the organizers supplied for lunch to the local dogs (third day I have done this).
Approaching Craiova was the worst landscape I have ever seen. There were a couple of oilfields with “nodding donkeys” pumping oil; huge factories which appeared disused, filthy with broken windows and rubbish e verywhere - though some of these appeared to be operating; a huge power station, with beside it an old disused power station; a very old and filthy oil refinery. The air was almost unbreathable, full of pollution.
The town is most unattractive; I went out for a walk from the hotel (which is not too bad) and found a patisserie selling pastries hot from the oven, and had an apple turnover which was delicious. Crossed a little park and found a small shop and bought some water.
There are lots of horses and carts in Roumania, and peasants who look the part - men in waistcoats and funny hats, women in long skirts and headscarves. Saw quite a few farmers ploughing with horse-drawn ploughs. The carts go along the main roads and have registration numbers. The edges where we cycle have a lot of horse manure. There are a lot of gypsies here too - genuine Romanys of course.

Saturday 12 April - Craiova to Rosiori de Vede, 115 km

Today we continued to cycle on Route No.6 which goes all the way to Bucharest. The road surface is good, but there is fast traffic and a lot of lorries. It was a nice warm day and people started shedding long sleeves and long cycling legs in favour of shorts. Lots of local people greeted us along the way - people seem very welcoming in Roumania, even more than in Serbia. A lot of people sit outside the front fences of their houses just watching the world go by.
We had planned to stop for lunch at Caracal - about half way - but the police moved us on and we ended up doing 78 km before stopping. Eventually just got tired of pedaling and stopped at a garage with a small shop that didn’t sell much of use.
Tonight should have been our first bivouac night, but on arrival at Rosiori the police directed us to a gymnasium where we were able to set up under cover for the night. We did get out a lot of the equipment for the first time - good camp beds, self-inflating mattresses and sleeping bags. It all worked very well. There were showers and toilets, though the showers were cold.
I walked out for a while and found a shop and bought some useful things like tomatoes and fruit.
The gym and the evening meal were organized for us by the Mayor. The meal was in a local banqueting suite - with chairs done up in drapes and ribbons again - and was very good. I managed to get enough to eat by judicious swapping; a bottle of red wine went down well and cost 18 lei.
Altogether this was a very good day.

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