We’ve made it into Romanian territory proper. We’re yet to check in: that’ll happen in Cernovoda tomorrow. Just 360km of Danube remain between us and the Black Sea (NB we shan’t be taking the Danube-Black Sea Canal) short cut to Constanta. We’ve covered 1860km in 19 days since leaving flood ridden Passau in Germany.

The countdown to the Black Sea is on: 558km remain until we get salt water. Then we must row ~130km south to Constanta, to hand over the boat to her new crew. It’s noticeably less built up along the river bank with long, long stretches of tree lined banks. The river’s wide enough that much of the time feels like […]

Eventful day. We had to linger in Vidin to get our passports stamped and boat papers checked before being told strictly to only stop on the Bulgarian side. Then rain all day and by nightfall we couldn’t find anywhere to tie up. The only option was one of the massive freight ships that was moored on the Romanian bank. We […]

We’ve just gone through our final lock! After all the flood/lock related disasters it’s a massive relief. Iron Gates 2 also had by far the jolliest Kapitan who let us through in splendid isolation and chatted about the Falkirk Wheel and Scottish waterways! Now for Bulgaria. We have ~860km of river left, ~ 150km of sea, and 11 days to […]

Up early again and we were rewarded with an unpleasant slog into a strong headwind. We at last arrived at the first of the two Iron Gates and, amazingly, were met with two green lights and went straight on through. This is a massive double lock. After all our previous lock trouble, it was great to knock this one off. […]

After leaving Red Star RC, we planned to do another late night rowing session. However, a massive and spectacular lighting storm forced a change if plan. Oars being great conductors of electricity, we bolted for the shore and found a place to tie up. Thunder was deafening and caused boat to vibrate. Today, up at 4:30am and did a long […]

Today we made it to Belgrade. Our friend Pedja, who is to take Fight & Spirit on her next adventure, met us in his Kayak and escorted us a short way up the Sava river to Red Star Rowing Club. We were treated to a great welcome, a fantastic lunch (fresh food!), and our first shower in 12 days….amazing. Now […]

We’ve finally made it into Croatia. After camping at the Hungarian border post for a several hours, our luck changed and we were allowed on our way. After ~20km to the border, we went through the motions at the Serbian side. The sky was clear and the moon was bright so we decided to pull an all nighter and row […]

All was going to plan yesterday until… We were stopped by our friends the Hungarian river police. We’d just gone through Mohacs, the last town before the border. The flooding is still bad here and as a result the border is closed. Another frustrating delay. We hope it will open up later today. Either way, we’re now under massive time […]

We’re now back on the move. And it is hot! 38C yesterday and today. We’ve got a good pattern established: in the early mornings we row together. Once it gets intolerably hot, we row in shifts of 30 minutes allowing time to rest and rehydrate. We hope to sneak into Croatia this evening. Entry requirements and port of entry location […]