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 […]

The Hungarian Danube remained closed downstream today. As a result, we had an enforced rest day which coincided with my birthday. We’ve recharged and are raring to go. Fortunately, good news too: from 0800 on the 19th we are free to continue south!

It was a bit of a slow start today when we thought me might get stopped and/or arrested as the Hungarians had shut the Danube to all but essential traffic. It did allow is to refuel on water and some food though and we set off when part of the river re-opened. The river is obviously high and there are […]

We made excellent progress yesterday and covered approximately 120km. Rowing through Budapest was a real highlight. However, we’ve run into more trouble. We were stopped by the river police here who have advised us that the river downstream is only navigable for some vessels, because of the high water. Ours is not one of them so we have been forced […]

After an early start, we’ve rowed hard to reach Hungary this morning. Now aiming to get through Budapest before nightfall. Refreshing (and much needed) swim in Danube last night.

Another early start this morning to tackle the Gabcikovo canal and lock. It’s a newish canal which runs parallel to the true Danube for ~30 kms. Made it through after a 2 hr wait which was to allow regular shipping through. Great to have got this lock dealt with as the next one is the Iron Gates in about 900km […]

We got off to a good start yesterday, clearing four locks and 133km, well above our 100km a day target. Jockenstein lock was the last calling point in Germany before heading into Austria. The views as we are rowing are incredible. Lots of little picture perfect Austrian villages squeezed onto the mountainside. Today the target is to get to Vienna. […]