Day 28. Droberta-Turnu -Severin

This is the  full Derdap Gorge, 144 Kms long as it carves a path through the Carpathian Mountains . 

  We left Dubova at 7am while the morning was still fresh. One last photo as we left the village behind us , it's also a good one of the narrows

I looked at the speedo and see we've just clicked over 2000kms. After about 3 Kms we come across the famous 'face on the rock'. Some old monument which I must google one day . Lots of tourist operaters here ,offering rides to caves, whirlpools , carved heads etc etc

We haven't had breakfast yet and figure we'll stop in Orsova, it's only 5kms away

   Shooot !  3 of those was straight up and by the time we came to the steep decent into Orsova we were sweating like pigs. 30 degrees already !

  I did a breakfast grab in a supermarket while Christine watched the bikes.  Muesli, yoghurt, bananas and a couple of croissants . This old fellow who was out collecting wood,shared his bench in the shade with us

This town was a dive, so we moved on smartly . A coffee stop in this cafe over the harbour was just to use the toilets. (Filthy )

The last 13 Kms I'd prefer to forget about. We had to share it with lots of trucks ,throw in a couple of tunnels and we were nervous wrecks by the time we reached the dam at the iron gates

This was once a section of impassable rapids , and in 1860 , only by a tow from a train running along the bank. 

  Then came the dam which tamed the gorge , and ships now descend by this lock

   The springs along the roadside are SOOO cold . Delicious !

Short day today and we've booked into the hotel continental. Hell it was only $52 incl breakfast

We joined the locals in the evening as they all came out to enjoy the lovely parks and cafés . The water tower was renovated  using EU money and is now an art gallery

The curater Alexander, and Miranda his granddaughter  showed us around. She couldn't believe we'd come all the way from NZ on a BIKE