Day 41. 30km (52763kms)
Throughout the night the corrugated shelter began to leak and by morning run off saturated the floor of my no-longer waterproof tent. Unable to hang things up to dry here I shook and wrung everything out as best I could, before packing it all away.
The rain had somewhat abated by the time I was ready to leave, but potholed roads provided ample opportunity for vehicles to splash me on my short trip into Ruse.
On arrival I made straight for the nearest bar where I all but hung my tent up outside settling into a comfy chair in a change of clothes including some comfortingly snug wooly socks. Four or five hours later once the rain had ceased I ventured out to explore a very beautiful Ruse. I enjoyed the Austrian-style architecture, the central plaza with its colourful flowerbeds, and the standard visits to churches and Roman ruins. Most of all I enjoyed the most delicious burek I’ve had yet in Bulgaria, though by the time I returned for a second, they had sold out.
Leaving it perhaps a bit late I set out to find a camp. Encouraged by the bike lane I’d seen on my way into town I headed back down to the Danube, but here on the eastern side of town there was no such luxury. The Eurovelo map here marks the way as ‘route under development’. A localised but heavy downpour undid all the efforts I’d put in over the sunny afternoon to dry out, so I was tempted by an industrial concrete structure as a potential camp. But disinclined to camp in such an ugly place two nights in a row I continued on through an industrial estate, onto the highway where kilometres of lorries were backed up both ways presumably queuing to enter Romania, eventually entering the village of Marten; the first place you can access the Danube after Ruse. Here, I found a nice little patch behind a gated driveway but with an open footpath. A handy fence allowed me an hour of futile attempts to dry my gear in the still air before the menacing clouds had me speedily pitching up before the rain returned.