It comes from our home, from Harghita county, and 615 kilometers later it spills into the Danube, which we will know with it’s every kilometer.
We had to paddle around twenty kilometers in the morning to get to Romania’s largest inner river’s estuary from Corabia (in English means: sailing boat). Sztoji was waiting for us here, with our sandwiches, what we forgot to take with us in the kayak. He came through the village Islaz, drive down to the mouth, and told us he is a little disappointed. For some reason he expected that many people will be people will come to watch the estuary, taking photos with their cameras, and the place will be filled with all kinds of merchants. In comparison, he only found a company with their tents and a shepherd of his flock.
In the meantime, we also arrived with Gáspár. We docked and undressed a little, we ate our lunch, took some pictures and made a little film. Then we sat back into the kayak and paddled out to the sandbar that was formed in the center of the estuary. I even took a photo about the estuary from the front. Gaspar gave an interview tot the camera about the sand that ripples as in the Sahara, but not that fine (the grain) and then we paddled forward.
Some kilometers later we passed the port of Turnu Magurele and the industrial facilities in front of the Danube river. Nothing could be seen about the town from the Danube, it is 5-6 kilometers from the coast.
The city seems nothing about the Danube, the so-indented 5-6 kilometers. Across on the other bank, the Bulgarian coastline is much nicer, and next to to the existing high loess the rocks appeared as well.
At the next stop the border guards were waiting for us beside Sztoji. Our third companion, always tries to get down to the banks of the Danube of course. In this section of the Danube the villages are not on the banks of the river, but a couple of kilometers farther. It is not always easy to find the little dirt roads, which are used by the fishermen (maybe by smugglers previously). The car in the bushes along the Danube made the border guards curious. Sztoji told us on the radio that they will wait for us, but finally they were interested upon us rather than our papers. They chatted with us amiably and it turned out that the border guard also used to paddled in his younger days. He told us, that we have chosen the perfect time, because the wind that helps us from the back will blow from the front six months later. Moreover, it can generate up to one-half meter waves, which could cause problem even for the larger vessels.
Later in the afternoon the wind intensified so much, that is generated 30-40 cm high waves. While it was coming from the back, we enjoyed it very much, because it significantly pushed us forward (according to the GPS, if we do not paddle, the wind doubled the Danube’s flow, which is normally around 3.5 km / h), and we tried to ride the waves. The problems began when the Danube turned right, and the wind and the waves started to come from the side. We had to fight with them here a bit, especially because we wanted to keep the directional. Since I'm taller than Gaspar, the wind could hit me more, even more when it is coming from the right side. It pushes the back of the kayak to the left, so the ship will go right. So much that both of us had to navigate with the paddles, because I could not keep the direction with the rudder.
This was the first day when we met a pelican. He was having a rest on the sandy beach of an island with around 150 cormorants. As we got closer the all flew away and the pelican disappeared behind the trees, before I had the chance to take a picture about him. Furthermore, this was the first time when we saw a water snake, when he was crossing the river in front of us.
We stopped for the night at a very beautiful spot, after Zimnicea. However, it wasn’t easy to find the place, Sztoji has choosen perfectly. While we were checking the map, it turned out that we are at the most south point of the bank of the Danube (É43.615733, K25.396041). We took out the Bake’n’Roll and made Bavarian sausage, which is a specialty here.
New routs on the Endmond:
http://app.endomondo.com/workouts/530813537/188839
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