131km, 6h46, 553hm
From Backa Palacka the road continued again along Eurovelo 6. Even though Serbia is not part of the EU...
There were two options: a calmer road over crappy surface or a normal but very hectic road. We chose the first one0
Novy Sad was fairly close at 40km
As I was waiting for Roger, this guy started chatting with me. He advised me to take the road next to the river of inferior quality but safer for cyclists.
Novy Sad...
The connection to the river cycling path
It was a road of sand and rocks but doable. Especially for my 45mm tires. For Roger it was more difficult but we had time
The weather has been absolutely great the last few days. With rain this would be a muddy road
Not a car in sight!
Occasional signs made sure we weren't getting lost
Well over 30 degrees
Roger was sick of this road and decided to take the normal roads anyway. So we needed to find an exit.
Approaching Novy Sad
Novy Sad in Serbia, what a strange location! I did my homework and I knew there was a bike shop here. I even saved the location in my GPS. After almost 2000km of many hills and long days in the saddle, it would be advisable to change the chains on both our bikes
The bike shop was called Invictabike and the staff was really friendly. We got new chains, Roger even got a new tire and they installed all of it straight away for us. We did not lose a lot time for this
We had lunch in a cafe restaurant across the street while they were working on our bikes. We opened the map and decided that today we should be able to reach Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.
When our bikes were ready, we hit the road again, for the section Novy Sad to Belgrade. This was around 85 km.
We crossed the Donau once again, although in Serbia they call it the Danube
Serbia was mostly flat so 85 km was perfectly doable.
It was getting very warm. More than 35 degrees
There was one longer hill, Mount Grushka. It was a climb of 250 meters that we felt really well in this heath.
We reached the top and descended again to sea level.
Route 22 to Belgrade, the capital
Rural Serbia
In the late afternoon we were well on schedule. We stopped in a small town for drinks and had ice cream. I found a hotel I booked on booking.com and I had anticipated to arrive there by 10 pm.
We found the cycling paths of Eurvelo 6 again. Belgrade was already indicated
It was a very long entrance to the city in heavy traffic. It was already dark and we asked for directions a few times. In the last moments of daylight we crossed the Donau again
Presidential building of Serbia
Belgrade at night. This location marks 2000 km on the road
2000 km in 17 days is not bad on this bike
We lost 90 minutes because we just could not find the hotel I booked. It was frustrating because the address just did not make sense. We ended up staying at Hotel Serbia. We celebrated or 2000 km with a room served dinner.
It was a tiring day with many things to do and very warm weather, but we were well on schedule. The first 2000 km of the trip went smooth.
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