I was very pleased to get stage 5 underway again this morning. I felt in really good condition and more importantly so did my feet with all signs of the infection gone.
Today’s aim was to run 20 miles which would leave enough time to eat and soak my feet.
Lucian, the friendly Romanian man that I met at the border crossing last week was at the hotel to see me off. His help during my time in Jimbolia has been invaluable.
I soon made it out of Jimbolia and onto a long straight road towards Grabat. A lady on a bike passed me and warned me that the road was dangerous. She also warned me about the dangerous dogs ahead. I didn’t find the road dangerous at all or see any dogs.
A man called Nicu offered to make me a cup of coffee on the road to Gottlob. I politely declined saying that I had a mileage target to meet.
Soon after, I had a rest in Gottlob and coincidentally it turned out to be on a bench outside Nicu’s house. Nicu got to make me that cuppa after all.
Nicu is a teacher and pastor in the town. It’s the school holidays now so he grows and sells watermelons during this time.
After Gottlob, I passed through Lovrin and Pesac. During this time I was handed 2 huge tomatoes, 4 bottles of water and 3 sandwiches. The sandwiches were in exchange for a selfie with a pleasant couple who spoke little English. Their little lad was canny and I handed him a leaflet.
My final destination was supposed to be Pesac but all of the good sleeping spots were occupied by stray dogs.
I asked a man in the street if there was anywhere safe to stay and he suggested a nearby garage.
The garage took me to 25.5 miles for the day. Way more than I’d planned to do.
I asked permission from the garage staff in my best really bad Romanian combined with patronising sign language. They phoned for their English speaking daughter. She arrived and I explained to her what I was doing and that I was simply looking for a safe place to stay.
She was very helpful indeed and the camping spot for the night is a garage forecourt with some local Romanian scrap collectors camped nearby. They’ve been eyeing up Chappie. Don’t be surprised if I get zero sleep. At least the stray dogs appear to be friendly.
