Fall!

“Do you want to stay or go?” Tanja asks again. “Let’s set off,” I decide, believing that I will soon find cheaper accommodation. After 6 kilometers we reach the center of the village of Eselnita. As we only have 12 kilometers ahead of us today to find a good writing place for me in the town of Orsova, we take it easy and have a coffee next to a grocer’s store. “They all make the same cappuccino here,” I realize. “No wonder. It comes out of the bag and is already mixed,” answers Tanja. “Hm, but it’s still nice of the woman in the store to have brewed us one. After all, it’s not coffee here,” I reply and watch the many horse-drawn carts pass us by. Our good mood is immediately dampened when a man tells us that we still have to cross a mountain before Orsova. “I need a break soon. We urgently need to find somewhere where you feel comfortable and can write your updates. The rest will do our bodies good,” says Tanja.

An hour later, we are happily hurtling down the mountain to Orsova. In the first hotel on the square we hear that the price is three times as high as that of our accommodation yesterday. We also learn that the girl in the store got the value of the euro wrong by an even zero. According to them, we would have received 350,000 lei for one euro. In reality, however, one euro is only worth 35,000 lei. I leave the hotel a little embarrassed and am already beginning to resent my decision to leave the wonderful and obviously inexpensive guesthouse on the Danube lake.

“Let’s cycle to Drobeta-Turnu Severin. The town is only about 26 kilometers from here. We’re sure to find a nice guesthouse there,” I say, which is why we set off. From Orsova we are on a busy main road that runs directly along the Danube. Although the traffic density cannot be compared with Serbia, we long for the beautiful, quiet riverside road of yesterday. Unexpectedly, a completely new type of obstacle appears in front of us. “Looks dangerous,” I ponder aloud and wonder how we’re going to get through with our skins intact. “What do you suggest?” asks Tanja. “I’d attach our position lights to our helmets first and when the road behind us is empty, we’ll cycle through as fast as we can.” “Good idea,” she says and attaches the lights to her helmet. While we are standing in front of the tunnel, trucks come thundering out with a deafening noise. To us, the tube looks like a black, ravenous hole or the large, hungry mouth of a predator. “Now!” I give the command when no trucks can be seen behind us. As if on the run, we pedal and accelerate our bikes to top speed in no time at all. We are quickly surrounded by blackness. The feeling is more than scary. Cars come towards us. Their headlights dazzle us. A truck can be heard behind us. Its engine echoes off the walls like the roar of a lion. My heart rate increases. There is no alternative route for us on the narrow asphalt strip. If a lorry comes towards us and we are overtaken by one in the same breath, it will be damn close. We must not allow ourselves to take just a small detour. “Rrrrooooohhhhh!” it echoes behind us and gets closer and closer. We pedal as fast as we can and by the time the truck rattles past we have already passed the tunnel. “Well done,” I snort with relief and hope that there won’t be many of these tunnel-like rocky passages ahead of us.

We reach the city unscathed. Suddenly I spot heavy railroad tracks just ahead of me. They stretch across the road at an oblique angle. “Ahhh!”, I yell in shock and just manage to pull my handlebars around to avoid hitting the rail with my front wheel. But Tanja, who is following me closely, doesn’t have the slightest chance to react. When she recognizes the tracks, it is too late. “Wuummm!” I hear her fall, wince in shock, jerk my head around and see her skidding across the asphalt on her heavy bike. With adrenaline pumping through me and panicked fear for my wife, I throw my Roadtrain into the ditch. In the fractions of a second in between, I recognize an empty street. At least there are no trucks or cars behind Tanja. That would have been the end, because it is lying across the road. Everything happens as if in fast motion. As soon as I took the first step in her direction, she was already on her feet again and jumped to the side of the road out of fear of the following vehicles. Even before I reach her, she has already dashed back to the bike and straightened it up. Together we push it to the side of the road. “Has something happened to you?” I ask excitedly. “I don’t think so,” she replies in a firm voice. Since I know that people in shock don’t feel pain, I ask. “Do you really feel okay?” “Yeah, I think so.” “Where did you fall?” “On my elbow. But there’s nothing there.” “Let me see. Push your shirt up,” I order and we immediately see the abrasion. “Doesn’t look too bad,” I say in a calm voice. Then we examine the hips and knees. Both knees show slight abrasions and bruises. A bruise is already forming on the hip. After taking stock, we both breathe a sigh of relief. “Really lucky,” I realize with relief. “You could say that,” says Tanja, rubbing her arm. We linger for a few minutes at the scene of the incident and digest what has just happened. “It could all be over in a flash,” Tanja thinks aloud. “Yes, it often happens quicker than you think,” I confirm and now also check the bike for damage. Apart from a few scratches, it seems to be fine. “riese & müller builds great bikes,” says Tanja. “The best,” I reply, satisfied with our material.

It doesn’t take long before we’re pedaling on our bikes. In the city, we notice the high cost of hotels. They are many times higher than the beautiful guesthouse on the Danube. There is no doubt that we have made a mistake. My mood isn’t exactly the best, although I’m glad that Tanja’s accident didn’t go too badly. Due to the events, we decide to stay despite the expensive accommodation and move into a run-down two-star hotel for 22 euros. The room is white and very simple. I pull aside the dark curtains and look at the garbage and shacks. “I’m not going to write here either,” I say wearily. We quickly leave the unfriendly, unheated room and look for a restaurant. When we get the bill, I am amazed at the price and check it. The friendly girl wanted to cheat us out of about 150,000 lei for 6 euros. She writes the correct amount on the invoice without comment. We say goodbye and go to the room.

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