Chris Solo Central Europe, Sun Jun 18, 2023

Pécs Hungary across Croatia to Belgrade Serbia (day 7)

Ride Log

TimeMinuteskmkph avgComment
8:00am72.082 km68
9:12am9.2map
9:21am3.63 km48
9:25am3.2map
9:28am48.037 km47
10:16am4.1map
10:20am85.8101 km71
11:46am20.3map
12:06pm26.031 km72
12:32pm1.6map
12:34pm1.82 km58
12:36pm2.6map
12:38pm0.60 km34
12:39pm2.4map
12:41pm30.831 km61
1:12pm2.2map
1:14pm9.610 km61
1:24pm9.1map
1:33pm9.39 km58
1:42pm3.0map
1:45pm9.89 km53
1:55pm2.2map
1:57pm8.47 km52
2:05pm3.3map
2:09pm1.10 km22
2:10pm1.7map
2:12pm6.34 km34
2:18pm5.5map
2:23pm23.126 km67
2:46pm8.8map
2:55pm43.853 km73
3:39pm10.3map
 
8h31m6h29m moving410 km63.2 kph76% moving, 122 minutes of breaks




Breakfast

Woke up at 5:30 showered, finished drying socks, packed bike, went to breakfast buffet at 7am.

Turns out the room has a microwave oven in corner and coffee could have been warmed up in the morning.

Ate a little bit of breakfast after large meal night before.

Would be better to eat at light breakfast/coffee rather than full meal.

For breakfast had bread, eggs, orange juice at buffet

good looking buffet but not hungry enough

eggs - fried just right - no running yolk, but perfectly done. Similar buffet to others in Eastern EU.
after gas station coffee, half way from Pecs to border of Croatia, maybe 20km since am, topping off gas before hinterlands of Croatia - didn’t need to because gas stations exist more frequently than expected

rode on for a long time through lots of towns and farmland - 100km non stop before stopping for lunch

Lunch under a bridge in Vinkovci, watching storks

Debugging my tablet charging issue

While eating lunch, I experimented with a new cable for tablet. Using a powerpack battery, I tried charging independently of the motorcycle power supply. The tablet indicated that it was seeing power, but it wasn't charging --- the tablet battery charge state was still going down. On a whim I tried a different cable and that fixed everything. USB cables are fragile and flapping around on a bike in the wind can quickly damage them in ways that aren't obvious. Anyway, my tablet discharging problem is resolved.

Crossing from HRVATSKA (Croatia) → SRBIJA (Serbia)

When leaving Croatia, the exit was staffed. I gave my passport to the officer who didn’t speak English. I tried to answer his questions, but I really had no idea what he was asking me. He held up my passport and said “chip” - “no chip” and then he kept putting passport into a machine claiming no “chip”. Eventually he gave up and let me out. I thought that was the end, but 1km later I was entering Serbia. That officer was a woman who spoke English well. She asked for bike papers. I explained about bike. She didn’t ask about Joe's note. She asked about my plans, then she handed docs back and said “welcome to Serbia, have a nice ride”. So much for being nervous about this non-EU, non-Shengen border crossing. For me, it was really completely fine, but in the other direction... leaving check point there was a row of trucks — 1,400 meters of trucks — filling up the narrow road while using up the entire lane. Cars passing those trucks heading towards Croatia were coming towards me in the one remaining lane expecting me to ride the shoulder giving them room. So there I was riding right on the edge of the road as 20-30 cars passing trucks kept me on my toes. The truck drivers are hanging out with their BBQs out - having a mile-long tailgate party. Getting into the EU is a lot more complicated than getting out.

After entering Serbia, the first town in Serbia was Sid. I saw a lot of evidence of recent war. A bombed out church, holes in “windows”, blackened as if on fire, crappy towns. Not a pretty place to visit. I didn't stop for pictures, preferring to make progress towards the hills.

Good People Design Hostel Belgrade

This is my first ever hostel experience. Really nice place with interesting conversations.

Evening walk through Belgrade


Worrying about tomorrow. Google says Serbia might be flooded.

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