Day 51 Crossing under 1000km! Windy and rainy and beautiful

I'm in my hammock, in romania, under a tarp, as the rain trickles, the beer seeps into my liver.  Just this one beer means the world after a day like today.  And mixed with baked beans and ramen, its gonna be a farty friday... or sunday.. whichever... sunday, for sure.

It stormed last night very hard at one point.  But I was sleeping in a bungalow with no mosquitos and the door open and it was such a nice, cozy, relaxing way to sleep.  I woke up at 9am, which was early for me, BUT, it turns out that the time zones have changed, so really, I woke up at normal time, 10am.

I took a cold shower even though it was somewhat chilly and it felt fan-friggen-tastico!

We said good bye to our new friends and exchanged contacts.  It started, just then, to rain heavy with heavy winds.  So Toby and I thought it was as good a time as any.  For 10km I paddled with just my left hand as I was pulled left across the river, not fun.

We stopped in a town for bread.  And if we went to paddled more in the rain and wind in this gorge-ous region I call heaven.

If it wasn't for the weather today would be perfect.  Beautiful scenery in every direction for every second of the day.  Bug mountains and roads that cut through those mountains and ledges and green trees and cool houses.

This went on for hours.  Then the monumental moment.  We have reach km market 999!  Which means for me roughly 750 km now to the Black Sea, as I am taking a shortcut through the canal.

We could go on further than 995.  The physical intensity to paddle through waves that cover your boat and winds that toss one from side to side and up and down all day reaches its limit.

We pulled into the only town on the Romanian side in a long time and for a long time, to hopefully find a bed and a beer.

We found police asking a lot of questions.  Friendly police. They are just worried about middle Easter refugees and pressure from western europe to not allow them to let anyone in.  They we doing their job.  Rightfully so.

We laughed about the world's politics and cultures and they let us on our way.

So up the hillside we walked through this village of 2000 to a small pub.  The lady spoke no English, but beer us an international language.

We sat, relaxed, then tried to fine room and board, but to no avail.

We almost left town to regretfully find camp in an area of the river that is near impossible with the rocky cliffs on both sides.  We found a cool spot up the hillside in the woods.  Asked the cops if it was cool, and they said it was.  They said take all your valuable stuff with you because the fishermen get drunk and might get some crazy ideas about taking your stuff.

So we set up camp, made food, and now on back to the beginning.

Tomorrow we very much hope for low winds to make up for lost time.

This mountain area is very windy, creepy, beautiful, and difficult.  I'm excited for more!

km 995