The longest day (so far) of our kayaking trip down the Danube happened on the 20th of June, 2024. We paddled over 80 kilometers in one day on the Bulgarian side of the Danube between the towns of Oryahovo and Nikopol.

Dawn in Oryahovo

My alarm went off at 4:45. I hadn’t slept much, though the vibrations from trucks driving by off the ferry didn’t bother me as much as they had the night before. I started getting dressed and doing my hair while Jonas only got up at 5:00. He liked it that I got up earlier since some of my prep (hair) takes longer than his.

Dawn began at 5:06. But we didn’t make it out of the hotel till 5:28. The walk past the line of trucks with their curtains closed for the night was calm until we passed the Oryahovo port authority where we’d tried to check out of Bulgaria the day prior. A mom-dog with saggy tits charged at us barking and showing teeth, but then sorted herself behind the fence to keep aggressively barking at us. Another dog came around the fence, but by that time we were already outside of ‘their’ territory.

We chose a different launch spot than where we landed, which saved us 400 meters to walk. The ferry crossed from Bulgaria to Romania, which wasn’t according to schedule.

I hoped we’d make it out onto the water before the sunrise, but she peered above the horizon and tree line at 5:48 after we had (intentionally) underinflated Zucchini. Still, things are going rather well and getting started this early will hopefully pay off. Today is the longest day of 2024 in the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice. After this, getting up before the sunrise will slowly get easier as the time shifts—though we’re still traveling east for now and the sunrise will shift to earlier.

The line of trucks was slowly moving every now and then. Some were looking from their windows to see what the hell was going on. What was going on was me trying to set up the boat as quickly as possible to paddle away from the mosquitoes. They feasted on me.

But we were done and carried the luggage down the steep embankment, followed by Zucchini. We put her in the water, strapped everything in, and set off into the sunrise.

Departure time: 6:00.

Sunrise on the Danube

We first took photos and videos. Jonas made a little vlog about this morning. Then we paddled past the port of Oryahovo, which actually had a cool electronic sign indicating the water levels were still rising.

The current was strong as we paddled past the ferry ramp with a lot of moored ships in the area. We were still very alert in case there was a second ferry or something. But the only thing in the area was the long line of trucks going through inspection after inspection. My last two times in Bulgaria, I was basically only hanging out in trucks hitchhiking through the country. I’m happy I didn’t try to be fancy and try to cross to Romania via one of these borders.

The sun was climbing in the sky, slowly losing its golden glow. Jonas wanted to make it to Corabia in Romania today, but I really wanted to make it to Nikopol in Bulgaria. So I kept paddling during the best two hours of the day in terms of energy and temperature. My muscles warmed up and I could keep the focus. At 7:00, one hour in, we were parallel to the island of Esperanto (or Oreh or Leskovets).

The shipping lane had been all the way on the Romanian side so far. Three ships had traveled past us upstream, but they were nice and far away, so we could be somewhere near the center of the river. One ship was anchored on the Romanian side and started up while were approaching. They turned around and headed downstream. The Danube turned a little left and a little right, always slightly obscuring what was ahead of us. There was one windmill atop a hill in the distance. We kept paddling. Around the turn, we could see the cargo ship that had started up again, chasing it to the best of our abilities.

By 8:00, two hours in, we were alongside the village of Ostrov. That’s where the TID spends the night, starting the day in Kozloduy. We’d done about 17 kilometers in the first two hours. It’s the 8.5km/h we’ve been doing for the past bunch of days in the first two hours. The only reason why we can paddle these great distances is that we can capitalize on the current and wind conditions. I know they won’t last.

It was time for a protein bar, but my appetite had gone away for a bit due to a campfire on shore that had reached my nostrils. I kept paddling and waited half an hour before chomping down on my favorite white chocolate DM protein bar. We’d passed the windmill.

It was almost time to find a spot on land to have a short break. But we were first coming past the villages of Gorni Vadin and Dolni Vadin at 9:00. At 9:32, we found a nice small beach to land and took an eight-minute break. There were some beautiful butterflies here and we picked up a few bugs that wanted to hitchhike Zucchini.

A Lunch Break in Baikal + Deciding on Nikopol

We kept going strong as the sun started heating things up. The both of us kept squishing Zucchini at times to see if she was getting overinflated. All good, so far.

At 10:00, we were alongside a small Romanian island mapped as Prundu Gol on OSM and Insula Grădiştea on Google Maps. Most of the Romanian shore of the Danube here is void of villages and towns, as the presence of the Danube Meadow keeps them roughly 5 kilometers from the shore. There are exceptions – like the city of Corabia where Jonas wants to stay – but most of it is too far inland to be relevant to us. That’s because the Romanian shores here are flat and prone to flooding, while Bulgaria has the hills and cliffs on the Danube. That elevation can also be a pain in the ass for us whenever our hotel is located deeply inland.

Every full hour, I’ve told Jonas how long we’ve been paddling. And every time he says “Crazy.” and that’s about it. I inquired what’s crazy, and he says that it’s “only been” four hours.

There’s often some foamy stuff on the water that I don’t like. It’s probably from the shipping. As Jonas’ noggin’ heats up, he dips his hat in the water for the first time. I know that getting my brain cooled from the Danube waters is a one-way street; once I do it, I can’t stop and have to continue doing it. So for now, I’m keeping my dry hat on. After our stop in Baikal I’ll probably need to join him.

We approach Baikal. Jonas grabs his map with the route of a TID paddler to see where they land. We follow their cue and land at the little fishing boat port behind the port facility for bigger ships. And there’s shadow! We land at 10:48. We park Zucchini fully in the shadow and give her a squish. Though fully in the shadow, we don’t know how long our break will take, so we let some air out. Jonas grabs his dry bag and I tidy everything away, only to spot a grasshopper on our boat. How long has it been there?

The restaurant Hizha Baikal (Chalet Baikal) up the hill has tables on the terrace and I hear voices and music, so presumably it’s open.

We walk up there and say hi to the people there. There’s one very drunk lady and an old man, but they leave pretty much when we pick a table. A man comes to us with menus. We had a quick look on the menu, agreed on Šopska salata and palačinka with honey and walnuts. When he came back, I first asked for two coffees in my best Bulgarian and then the two food items. There were no walnuts, but pancake with honey is also just fine. Meanwhile, we’d switched to English. The TID also stays here—yes, only 22 kilometers from Ostrov, which we just passed.

The coffee came really quickly, and so did our food. That’s the fastest service ever. We chomped down on the salad and pancake with passion. Oh my, it’s so good to have a real meal break on a paddle day!

Though it was tempting to stay here longer and have a draft beer, we’d learned our lesson from the previous paddle day from Lom to Oryahovo, when we had an extended lunch break in Kozloduy. The fact that Baikal was so perfectly-located along the way from Oryahovo, early in the day due to our early start, and with fast service meant that we should maybe get cracking and continue paddling. But to where?

Jonas agreed that since it’s not even noon and we’re roughly halfway to Nikopol at about 39 kilometer paddled, we should paddle to Nikopol and not Corabia, which is only 10 kilometers away. But then I have to call the one and only hotel in Nikopol – Hotel Gold – to reserve a double room. We can get into the nitty gritty about the room type when we’re there, as long as we have a place reserved. If they’re full, we’re going to Corabia.

Part of me also thinks we could make it to Belene in Bulgaria, but that would be a total distance of 104 kilometers. And the online bookable hotel we would stay in there isn’t available for the coming three days. But let me dream of smashing the current distance record of 74.4 kilometers with triple digits, instead of the slightly over 80 kilometers we’re locking in on today.

I called first on my phone, which didn’t have reception, then on Jonas’ phone with his satellite app. On speaker, a man picked up and I tried my best to ask for a room, tonight, for two nights, for two people. He didn’t speak English, but with some effort, I could get the message across. But his whole attitude seemed to be that there’s never a shortage of rooms in Hotel Gold, Nikopol.

Okay, so that was done. Jonas went to the toilet (a squat) and reported back. He also bought a bottle of very cold water for us to enjoy in the boat. We walked back down to Zucchini, who was doing fine. A little tabby cat ran off, though we said pspspsps and verbally offered cat food from my personal dry bag. But she wasn’t interested in human contact.

Jonas let out some more air to anticipate the over inflation that will happen sooner or later since today it’s scheduled to be 39°C with a label “Excessive Heat Warning”. The cat was hunting swallows that were flying up next to the port of Baikal. I took off my leggings and grabbed my sarong for the second half of today’s paddling trip. We departed Baikal at 11:38.

The Iskar Confluence + Corabia + Chopped Forests in Bulgaria

It was surprisingly cloudy when we got back out on the Danube. Jonas wondered if the forecast was bullshit. Will it even rain and thunder today? Only time will tell.

The Iskar River – the longest river that runs completely in Bulgaria – joined us. On satellite view, it looks like this river has very dark brown water when joining the Danube, which fades away and mixes with the other water at the northernmost point of today’s trip, which is directly south of the Romanian city of Corabia. A cargo ship carrying gas traveled upstream spraying water on its deck constantly. Preventative?

The skyline of Corabia appeared in front of us and soon to our left. Corabia, or actually Sucidava to be specific, is apparently the site of the second Roman bridge across the Lower Danube: Constantine’s Bridge. It was completed in 328 after Jesosy Kristy and lasted for four decades. The remnants of some bridge parts are still visible in Romania today. On the Bulgarian side, it connected the town of Oescus (Iskar) nearby the modern town of Gigen. The bridge was 2437 meters long (of which 1137 meters were over the water) and stood for about four decades.

I asked Jonas if he has any regrets, but he doesn’t. It’s only 12:39 when we’re parallel to town. Since much of Corabia is hidden by river islands, I can only spot the roof of Hotel Sucidava and the many cereal silos next to it. Jonas says it would be a little silly to already stop now. Especially because we would probably have to deal with Romanian water police upon arrival and departure. How to say in Romanian that we couldn’t check out of Bulgaria because the captain of Oryahovo Port was on vacation? Only to leave Corabia and Romania three or four days later? Please, let both of these countries join Schengen in full and abandon their annoying border non-issues.

But we can mourn the nice-looking apartment in Corabia in Romania that Jonas had vetted. After Vidin, we’ve only been in hotels. Though Jonas always gets the desk, he laments the lack of space, no couch, and no surfaces to prepare food.

As we rounded the northernmost tip of today’s section, we came across a half-sunken buoy and a crow chilling on a tree branch that was stuck. Jonas picked up a water plant with his paddle. It didn’t look shallow, but apparently, it was. We kept paddling, trying to stay a little out of the shipping lane for now. We passed a funny-looking building at the water’s edge in Bulgaria. No idea what it’s for. And then I spotted our stowaway grasshopper again.

The clouds disappeared and things heated up. It was time to dip my hat in the Danube waters and scoop some water on the edge of the boat to cool down Zucchini. Afterward, I asked Jonas for some pizza, and he obliged.

At this point, I needed another little break on land. After the Bulgarian village of Zagrazjden (which I later find out has a hotel called Blue Danube) with its small beach, port, and kilometer sign saying 625, we slowly paddle to shore. We approach a forested area where we hope to make a short stop. And then we see a tree fall in the water from at least two kilometers away. The sound of the twigs slamming the water arrive later than the visuals. Okay, ehm, let’s be careful?

Jonas finds an okay landing spot and I okay it. We take another eight-minute break from 13:43. There are wasps at the water, but I manage not to get stung. Afterward, we squeeze Zucchini again and Jonas lets out a little more air. He’s worried that he let out too much air. Knowing how empty the left chamber of Zucchini can be without us sinking, I’m not too worried.

We paddle away and past the zone where the tree fell. As my instincts told me, this was intentional. There’s some people in heavy machinery chopping trees. Not sure why I heard the tree splash in the water, but not the noise of the machines

The Failed Shortcut around Calnovăț Island

When mapping the route to Nikopol, my OSM map always suggested to leave the shipping lane before the Romanian island called Calnovăț and pass through its narrower channel on the left. It saves about two kilometers to paddle.

After our break, we cross more to the middle of the river aiming at a gap in the trees on the Romanian shores. I thought that was the right hole, but it wasn’t. The correct bypass around Calnovăț only became visible at 14:05. We’ve been on this trip for more than eight hours. Crazy.

At some point, we decide to start crossing the shipping lane to the Romanian side. We scan the Danube in front of us and behind us to make sure there’s no ships coming. Since the coast is clear, we can do it in a casual fashion, trying not to waste precious arm power by crossing too quickly. On the far side of Calnovăț island, a cruise ship appeared. But it was far away and by the time it would pass us, we’d be out of their way.

We started this morning at kilometer 679. There haven’t been many kilometer signs that we could read since. Often, they’re missing on the Bulgarian side. Perhaps it’s not a priority to cover both shores. But here on the Romanian side, they are almost always visible, although we hate the chosen font. Eventually, we make out their numbers: 618, 617, 616… When we arrive in Nikopol today, we’ll have less than 600 kilometers to go to the Black Sea.

The wake of the red-and-white cruise ship still arrives at us just minutes before we enter the Calnovăț bypass. At 15:00, we’re in. But the current isn’t with us.

This stretch through the Calnovăț shortcut was quite difficult to stay awake. I tried counting my paddle strokes to 100 in a few different languages to stay awake. Every time Jonas stopped paddling, it felt like the water had turned into wet cement. I’m ready to call this a mistake.

When looking to the right, at Calnovăț island, we could see tree cum floating on the water at a higher speed than we were paddling. We tried to get over there and profit from it, but it was hard to follow the fastest path of the water and not end up in the directionless eddies. I told Jonas it’s also a good idea to paddle so close to Calnovăț island and the fallen trees in the water because this obstacle course will keep me awake. And it did. Sometimes, we even enjoyed a brief moment of shadow from the trees. I must’ve dipped my hat in the water a dozen times in this shortcut.

“This looks like snake territory,” I said to Jonas while paddling close to the shore. Seconds later, Jonas spotted a snake in the water. He crossed the Calnovăț bypass in front of us. The sentient noodle hesitated a bit about its ability to cross the entire river as he wavered closer to the middle. I needed to make sure he won’t look at Zucchini as a resting place, so I asked Jonas to do a dodging maneuver. The snake is probably faster than us.

Once all that excitement was done, we could see the end of Calnovăț island. The end is marked by small trees more and more submerged as the water are still rising. We both ate a sandwich while floating. Jonas thought we were looking at Nikopol, but we were actually looking at white chalk cliffs. They’re pretty cool.

Olt Confluene + Approaching Nikopol

We were officially back on the main Danube at 16:15. The shortest way to Nikopol would be to cross to the right below those chalk cliffs. To our left, the Olt River joined the Danube. That one is the longest river that exclusively flows through Romania. There was some beach with people near the confluence reachable from the town of Islaz. It has a guest house we considered staying at as well.

Looking back across the Danube to see what we missed, we spotted the rather industrial-looking town of Sombovit. Below the cliffs running from Sombovit to Čerkovitsa. Jonas made a little video to make a dig at his dad, who is currently cycling through the desert of Peru. He can’t hat dip to cool down, unlike us.

With a new-found energy that often appears when we have less than 10 kilometers to go, we picked up the pace in the increasing current and made an effort to arrive soon. We paddled past some kind of dredging operation in front of Čerkovitsa. The Osam River joins the Danube in a green bushy river mouth. After that, a major road joins the right bank of the Danube.

Nikopol is right in front of us. The sun is lower in the sky, and I’m ready to say that today’s 39°C wasn’t served as hot as it was cooked, or the forecast got it wrong and we never hit those temps. The ferry of Nikopol crossed over to Turnu Măgurele in Romania. It was full of trucks, but this model of ferry looks a lot more small car-friendly as well. It’s a bit more like the ferry from Mohács to Újmohács in Hungary.

We kept paddling at a good speed, guessing to arrive in Nikopol at 17:17. But the ferry rather abruptly returned to Bulgaria with only a few vehicles. In the end, the ferry was faster, so we slowed down and maintained our spot to the best of our abilities. Once the ferry was past us, we crossed its path and veered closer to shore.

Nikopol is also a (cruise) ship stop, with a water police and immigration. But that’s not the landing place we were going for.

Jonas had found a nice place where the TID also lands. It’s right outside the flood barriers of Nikopol and a short walk into town. Our approach was a little indirect, but we landed in town at 17:23.

Yay! We did it!

This is the first day we broke 80 kilometers.

Arriving in Nikopol

We both put on our land shoes. This spot wasn’t very suitable for packing up the boat, since there was broken glass. I walked up to town to see if there’s a nearby restaurant or café where we can dry Zucchini with a drink. I found a sport’s bar mapped as ‘Cafe Nikopol’. Back at Jonas, I shared the good news with him. He needed to see it with his own eyes.

We ended up portaging a half-deflated Zucchini to this sports bar. We put her in the grass and packed up our goods while waiting for the waitress to give us the time of day. Meanwhile, I started to notice the havoc the mosquitoes had wrecked on me early this morning. It’s adding up to the earlier mosquito bites.

When the beer finally arrived, we could chill. Though we initially thought walking to Hotel Gold is too much of a commitment and 30 meters up, we decided to not go through the effort of finding a taxi for 600 meters. It also wasn’t a difficult walk in the end.

Our Stay in Nikopol

Here’s how our two-night stay in Nikopol unfolded:

Enlightening post? Consider buying me a beer!

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