Day 8 - Goodbye EU!

Ben

20 Sep 2025 • 3 min read

The morning started as yesterday ended, going along an endless row of houses lined one deep almost unbroken for 100km!!!

Cycling past houses covered in bullet holes near the Bosnian border was very sobering. A stark contrast to the sunny morning and friendly people waving to their neighbours!

We realised last night that we had 600km to do until my friend's place in Sofia, and so decided early on to book an Airbnb for tonight so we could arrive later and leave quicker and buy ourselves some leeway. Target set we got our heads down and got working.

And work we did! Felt awesome to be charging across Europe with nothing to do but cycle, strong legs flexing beneath us and good tunes in the headphones! First time of feeling properly, actually good since everything went sideways 😃

We've been blessed with the weather - perfect clear skies and no rain on the forecast, although a peak of 33 degrees in the hot afternoon sun did necessitate a cool down in the shade with head under a tap! Well, at least for me, Emma was totally fine.

The miles past uneventfully until we hit the Serbian border and left the EU, and the last country Ben has previously visited on this trip! It's all new from here!

While walking in front of the border guards, telling Emma about how I should be cycling because I'm not good at walking, I managed to slip over and land the bike on top of me. Luckily nothing hurt except pride, but I'd proved my point!

You can't take dairy products acros the EU border so there was a feast by the checkpoint

The Serbian drivers go extremely fast and don't particularly respect cyclists, so as the sun set we hugged the verge and made as fast as possible for the BnB.

Later in town, minutes from our destination while sitting in traffic I sneezed loudly. A car ahead rolled down the window and shouted a "bless you equivalent" with a smile and a wink. As she drove away we saw the Swiss plates! I wonder where she camped last night 😉...

So proud of the haul! The German brands are going strong here, Lidl was a home from home, just with Greek not Italian cheese!

Safely arrived we were told we couldn't take the bikes upstairs or inside but should leave them in the courtyard. After insisting, the receptionist looked us dead in the eyes and said in a voice that brokered no argument: "If I say it is safe, it is safe." Well then. (We took everything off and locked them up carefully anyway!). Time for a shower, some clothes washing and a(nother) feast!

Food spend today: 50.27 euros