Srebrno Jezero to Veliko Gradište, Beograd and home: Day 21 and 22

Just a few kilometres to walk then a bus to Beograd ready for a flight home the next day.
I woke early to the sound of the men in the room next door getting up, which meant that I was on the road before 7:00 am. Although the map in "Rambling through Serbia" implied a route a little distance from the Danube, the cycle path to Veliko Gradište was too good an opportunity to miss. It took me past where boats were moored, then some expensive looking houses before following the edge of the river. The promenade continued around the town of Veliko Gradiste but I turned off towards where the buses stopped according to the map in my GPS. As I approached there was a bus with a sign saying it went to Beograd loading up. I bought a ticket and climbed on taking the last seat with my rucksack on my lap.
We were immediately off and stopping at various places picking up even more people so the aisle was soon full of standing passengers lacking seats. The driver was having a good laugh with the girl next to me while also answering his mobile phone as we passed places where I had walked along the same road for short distances.
On reaching Belgrade bus station and pushing passed men offering taxis, I had a late breakfast at the Aviator coffee house, visited the Orthodox cathedral, had lunch at the Manufaktura and booked into the Belgrade City Hotel. This left me some free hours and after looking and failing to find a present for my wife decided to visit the National Museum. I discovered this had been closed for renovation for the last 14 years so seeing a man with a yellow umbrella I joined a tour of underground Belgrade. This included a Roman well (that was not Roman and was not a well), a bunker from the cold war, an underground area dug out as a gunpowder store which now had Roman artifacts from the (closed) National museum and a wine cellar where I had a glass or two of wine from the Smederevo area. Not wanting to wander around Belgrade alone at night in a slightly inebriated state I settled for dinner at the hotel restaurant.
Next day I was on the A1 bus to the aerodrome and soon through the formalities at the refreshingly small (and clean and modern) Nikola Tesla airport. After a bit of a scrum with passengers from a delayed Tel Aviv flight it was on the Air Serbia flight to London Heathrow. Unlike recent EasyJet flights there was a free coffee and roll on board, luxury! Now it's time to plan the rest of my walk through Serbia which I hope to cover April next year all going well.

A mere 3.7 kilometres walked today to reach Veliko Gradiste. The GPS of my final section of walk can be found on Wikiloc.com, on ViewRanger.com as johnpon0025 and on Wandermap.net. 

Early morning walk into Veliko Gradiste

Near Ram to Srebrno Jezero on E4: Day 20

A beautiful start to the day for my last full day of walking on the E4 this year.
There were a number of strange noises in the night. First, a sound like a pack of hounds but I expect they were birds, then there was a lot of crashing around in the undergrowth and this morning the turf by the trees where I was camping was all dug up, wild boar maybe?
A cold start, low mist clung to the ground beneath blue skies softening the lines and obscuring the base of trees, giving everything a grey wash until the sun rose high enough to light up the yellowing leaves of the trees by the river. Ducks ran and flapped into the air as I passed. Gradually Ram castle became visible on a promontory in the river beside a hill. People were fishing from boats in front of it. When I arrived, the castle gates were closed with various signs indicating no one was allowed in and if they were they needed a hard hat. Scaffolding indicated some restoration was in progress. In the village shop where I stopped for a drinking yoghurt (typical at breakfast here) and chocolate a lady who spoke English told me the castle would open at 10:50. Given I still had 26 kilometres to walk this was too late for me so I headed off up the hill.
There was an excellent view from the hill back up the river to a "u" shaped island left by the higher water level created by a dam some distance away. Higher up the path the view was hidden by pine trees so I took a diversion off my planned route to view the river downstream. The river looked like silver in the reflected light from the morning sun, appropriate as I was heading for a place which in English means "Silver Lake". Sunlight was also reflected off flakes of mica in pieces of schist in the track, schist being the type of rock that forms the hill here, which forces the Danube into a narrow valley. Romania is now on its opposite shore. Going off track through the trees to regain my planned route I dropped down to the village of Zatonje briefly joining the Eurovelo cycle route 13 as I did so. This cycle route follows the path of the old Iron curtain, I first met it in Austria.
After the village the route follows the south side of Silver lake formed of an abandoned channel. Initially the lake was hidden by what appeared to be holiday homes, but later the water and the trees on the opposite shore were visible, their leaves turning as autumn approached.
The village of Srebrno Jezero or Silver Lake is a popular spot for tourists. For the first time in Serbia I encountered people enjoying a walk, a Sunday stroll by the lake. Much of the village appears to be under construction, including the Bankers B&B where I am staying. However, I enjoyed a good dinner at a lakeside restaurant carefully watched by two cats...

A GPS trail of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, on ViewRanger.com as johnpon0025 and on Wandermap.net. Today I walked 32.5 kilometres.

Walking beside the Danube at first light

Castle ruins at Ram

The silvery Danube from the hill by Ram

Požarevac to near Ram on E4: Day 19

Viminacium Roman remains were meant to be the highlight of today but unfortunately the timing of the tours did not work out.
It was raining when I woke up, shopped, looked around a wet Požarevac and started my day's hike in full waterproofs. As I left town I had a quick look at the "Ethno" park where a treaty was signed in 1718 between the Austrians and the Turks although the peace did not last long. Not much to see in the park, everything seemed shut up. As the road turned into a track at the edge of town I saw red and white waymarks indicating a footpath. I have been seeing similar marks since the Belgrade area, but as I do not know where they are going they are of no use, although they do show there are active hikers around.
On reaching the embankment of the Mogila river I headed north (or maybe it was the Mlava river, the maps are contradictory). The going was good until I crossed a road and parallel railway. After that it was good for a while but deteriorated such that the last kilometre before I reached a bridge across the river was really overgrown. It was a battle to get through shrubs growing in the track but surprisingly my waterproofs did not get ripped. Fortunately the bridge I was aiming for was still in existence but missing a number of planks.
On the other side of the river (now definitely the Mlava) the track along the embankment was good and the power station on my route slowly became bigger as I headed North. There were also signs of the strip mining that was supplying the power station with coal. I walked under a conveyor belt and could see signs of restoration work to return the land into a natural state.
From the power station it was up the road to the Viminacium Roman site. This was a major fortification and city for two legions and may have the mausoleum of a Roman emperor. It was after 2 pm when I arrived. The site is spilt between several locations which, I discovered, are visited by a tour. There was a tour at 3:00 pm and it took two hours finishing at 5:00 pm. Sadly this was too late for me as I had a number of kilometres to walk before dark, and with a ticket home booked, no flexibility. I looked at what I was able too which included some excavations but you really needed someone to tell you what you were looking at.
The archaeological site is surrounded by an open cast mine and large draglines could be seen in the distance. Much of the archaeological work was completed ahead of the remains being destroyed by mining.
I returned to the river embankment and walked on past numerous fishermen occupying both sides of the channel. Gradually, as I ventured into a more remote areas, I left the fishermen behind and as the shadows were lengthening, found a place among the trees to pitch my tent for the night.

I walked 34.6 kilometres today including a couple of false trails. A GPS file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, on ViewRanger.com as johnpon0025 and on Wandermap.net.

Embankment walk

Dragline in action viewed from Viminacium site

Radinac to Požarevac on E4: Day 18

The first part of the day was a good walk through hilly country, the second half was along roads across the flat plain of the Veliki Morava river.
It was raining when I went down for breakfast and while it stopped before I set off, the day was overcast with intermittent showers. The centre of the suburb of Radinac seemed to be a haphazard collection of stalls and outlets, fast food joints selling hamburgers and gyros, pekaras and drugstores and a lady selling homemade raki in an assortment of bottles enjoying a new life. Vehicles were parked at odd angles trying avoid the broken drainage covers.
I soon left it behind climbing through houses of various types. One with washing hanging on a balcony with Classical Greek columns caught my eye. Then it was into low trees, vineyards, fields of stubble, orchards and ploughed earth. The leaves on the trees were beginning to change to yellow. My route took me through a few villages, I stopped at one for a coffee and chocolate filled croissant while the owner's young child looked at me like I was an alien (and she was not the first in my travels to do so, and they were not all children).
I came across a cemetery that at first sight was overgrown, but it became apparent that families keep their own section of graves neat while the surrounding areas became hidden by shrubs. As I was looking at red fox crossed between graves. I passed under a motorway and after walking through some hills crossed a bridge over the same motorway at which point I returned to the flat plain of the river Veliki Morava which I had also walked across yesterday.
The next section was on a little used road to the village of Osipaonica. It was not so nice being lined with rubbish dumped on both sides, everything from disposable nappies to builders debris, from old bras to old batteries. There was not much of note in Osipaonica (although some villas, over decorated with columns and balconies, caught my eye).
The final, long section was on a two lane road with low trees each side, again with areas of rubbish. However, there was an interesting iron, truss bridge across the river Veliki Morava which carried both a single lane road and an electrified railway line that went down the middle of the road. There were barriers and a man in attendance who presumably prevented cars coming onto the bridge when a train was coming. It must have been an important bridge once as there were buildings each end with gun slots, evidently designed to defend the bridge from attack.
I am now installed in the Hotel Feniks in Požarevac and have eaten a lonely dinner in their large dining room. Rain is still pattering on the skylight of my room and more rain is forecast for tomorrow.

Today I covered 41.9 kilometres. A GPS track of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, here and here, on ViewRanger.com as johnpon0024 and johnpon0025 and on Wandermap.com here and here.

Typical farm track and a cloudy sky

Road and rail bridge over Veliki Morava

Udovice to Smederevo then Radinac on E4: Day 17

Visited the Smederevo Castle ruins in the morning and hiked a roundabout route through countryside in the afternoon to reach Radinac.
First priority was coffee and breakfast, Hostel Che provided the breakfast while I worked out how to make Turkish coffee, allowing it to boil three times as someone in Hungary once told me. My hosts pointed out the quick way from the Hostel, which overlooks the Danube, back to the village of Udovice avoiding the busy road (which I have put on wikiloc.com to help others). They warned me it was a steep climb, and they were right, but much quicker and safer than along the road.
Udovice had a number of properties whose fences were decorated with white and coloured ribbons, lavender, pink or blue, some had an arch over their gate decorated with ribbons. I had seen these before and wondered if it was because someone in the house was getting married. The village also had some interesting square outhouses with a wheel on the side which I took to be old wells for water.
From Udovice it was a straight route between hedges along the top of the hill to Smederevo. Its later part was waymarked with red circles and a red heart and there were occasional views of the Danube.
Smederevo's principal tourist site is a large castle dating from 1430 at the edge of the Danube, its towers commanding views up and down the river. While it now consists of thick walls and empty towers enclosing a large area of grass it must have looked formidable to the approaching Turkish army. Today it overlooks peaceful fishermen and swans.
I also had a peak inside the Orthodox church of St George off the main square. Paintings covered all the walls beneath a dome with columns each side. However as people were conducting their devotions it seemed wrong to intrude beyond the entrance lobby. I retreated to a nearby café where I watched the pious coming and going from the church, although the old men begging outside did not seem to be doing much trade.
The landscape before Smederevo was hilly but after the town I was walking across the flat flood plain of the Velika Morava. The agriculture had also changed from orchards and vineyards to fields of maize.
The route in the E4 booklet now took me out to the village of Shalinac, initially along a straight road lined with rubbish people had dumped then along a wider road passed drainage channels with fishermen. I skirted Shalinac passing barking dogs, turkeys, chicken and some pretty goats, and proceeded towards the Velika Morava river which I never actually saw behind the trees, instead I turned and followed its embankment. While there were plenty of trees after Shalinac there were also fields where the maize was still being harvested. In places people were picking up cobs of corn missed by the machines and in others the maize stubble was being burnt.
Leaving the embankment I made my way to the village of Lipe and then to my final destination. As I approached Radinac a road sign announced I was entering Smederevo some 5 hours after I left its northern end! I had completed a big "u".
Now I am at the Hotel Zlatnik having enjoyed a large mixed grill among workman who no doubt serviced the local industrial works.

33.7 kilometres walked today including wandering around the castle. A GPS track of my route can be obtained from wikiloc.com, as well as a short route from the E4 to Hotsel Che. My route is also on ViewRanger.com as johnpon0024 and on Wandermap.net.

Ribbons decorating fences and gate, maybe to celebrate a wedding?

Smederevo Castle

Fisherman below castle walls

Vinča to Udovice on E4: Day 16

It was a day of walking through cherry orchards and vineyards with views of the Danube and the plain of Vojvodina between the trees.
First I had to get safely back to my planned route avoiding the busy road with no pavement. Relying on the Balkan Navitracks map I installed on my GPS I set off along a track signposted to a University of Belgrade site and then via a series of tracks, a footpath and roads I returned to the point at which I turned off for Vinča. A shorter, safer and certainly a more pleasant route than the one I took yesterday.
Apart from the village of Ritopek and the town of Grocka the rest of the day was a walk along tracks and small roads among orchards and vineyards. Although mainly cherry trees there were also apples being picked. Some nice views of the Danube although trees, houses, telegraph poles and electricity lines made it difficult to get a good photo. There was quite a lot of up and down hills contrasting with the flat fields of Vojvodina that I recently walked through and which were visible on the other side of the Danube.
A few issues, the path was muddy in places and near the villages there were houses strung out along the track with barking dogs at many of them. The noise gets wearing after a while. Since Belgrade I also seem to have encountered a lot more dogs wandering about, although fortunately none seemed to have been very aggressive. Whether they had owners or where just living off hand outs and what they could scavenge I do not know. I also had trouble with a fence, 5ft high with barbed wire on the top enclosing a lot of bare earth, not typical of Serbia where most fields are not enclosed. There were two possible routes, the one I picked from Google Earth and the Sultan's trail. I was afraid my route would be blocked at some point by the fence as it would not have been visible to Google's satellites so I took the Sultan's trail route. This was the wrong choice. They evidently recorded their GPS track before the fence was built and I had to retrace my steps and follow my own route.
I reached the village of Udovice as the shadows were lengthening. Elderly tractors were returning to houses in the village with trailers of apples and apple pickers. I saw one lady even sitting "side saddle" on a tractors bonnet. A more relaxed (if less safe) attitude than in the UK (where roll-over protection would be required). A final, rather tedious walk along a busy road has brought me to my lodgings for the night at Hostel Che. I was tired and worried as I was an hour later than the time I had given the owners, but I was warmly welcomed by a lady waiting for me, who offered free raki, coffee and tea. My feeling of well being was completed by a filling meal at the nearby Barik restaurant (the fish soup was very good).

I walked 43 kilometres today, from hotel to hotel. A GPS track of my route can be found at wikiloc.com, which also has the best routes between the E4 and the Hotel Radmilovac and Hostel Che. My route is also on ViewRanger.com as johnpon0024 and on Wandermap.net.

View of the Danube

Avala to Vinča on E4: Day 15

Highlight of today was the Neolithic site at Vinca which followed a lunch overlooking the Danube.
First I had to retrace my steps for 3.5 kilometres from the Hotel Sucevic Garni to the base of the mountain of Avala. Then I enjoyed sunny weather walking through woodland followed by a village of modern red roofed houses. After walking down to the base of the valley I met my first challenge. There was a new road layout and workmen were busy doing more work in the area which made it difficult to follow my intended route. So I diverted along a new section of road for a kilometre or so to where it crossed the motorway.
How was I to return to my planned route? Fortunately the Navitracks Balkan map I had on my GPS indicated there was a track I could take. It had the wrong starting point but otherwise it led me through meadows of michaelmas daisies to the road I needed, the path only slightly spoiled by sofas and TVs being dumped beside it. After some walking along roads my planned route took me beside a drainage channel. As I discovered, this was not a scenic option, passing various industrial sites and new building, but eventually I reached more pleasant orchards before turning off for Vinča.
A sign directed me to the archaeological site by the River Danube. This was also the location of a few restaurants. I chose one on a boat for lunch which I ate while watching barges going up and down the Danube and cormorants(?) diving for fish. The archaeological site consisted of a few display panels and a small museum which I liked as you can concentrate on all artifacts unlike in a big museum when the number of items on display can overwhelm you. It contained finds from the Neolithic period which were dug up at the riverside site. These included figurines which emphasised female sexual attributes and very small pots used for what I wondered?
Then I retraced my steps and turned up a busy road without pavements to reach the Radmilovac Hotel (my second challenge of the day was to avoid being a traffic accident). The hotel seems upmarket and the restaurant is certainly very good (as is the local red wine). There was even an English speaking Turkish guest to entertain me over coffee.

I walked 26.4 kilometres today, including the walk to the hotel. A GPS track of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, and an alternate route to the hotel from Vinča avoiding the busy road can be found here. My route is also on ViewRanger.com as johnpon0024 and on Wandermap.net.

View of Danube from restaurant at Vinča

Beograd to Avala on E4: Day 14

A day spent walking through the parks, woods and suburbs of Belgrade, finishing with a climb up the mountain of Avala.
After breakfast at the Palace hotel, attended by numerous young waiters and waitresses, I returned to the Kalemegdan gardens to start my walk out of Belgrade. "Rambling through Serbia" describes the route as going through the city's parks and woods so this is what I did, walking through Hajd park, Topciderski park and then along a winding road through the woods of Košutnjak, before crossing through suburbs such as Miljakovic to another park, the Memorial park of Jajinci, with a sculpture remembering the 65,000 people killed here in the second world war. I joined the "Sultans trail" near Kumodrazh. I first crossed the long distance Sultans trail near Vienna and for a while followed it down to the village of Beli Potok. In places the track after Kumodrazh was pretty overgrown, but as it was with Michaelmas Daisies rather than stingy nettles it was not too bad, but may be impassable in future years.
While the route I took was generally in the area of the E4 as described in the booklet I am sure there are better routes involving less walking along roads. I saw plenty of footpaths in the woods and also red and white waymarks at various points but as I did not know where they went I stuck to roads or tracks that were on the map or which I had spotted from Google Earth. Anyone willing to contribute a better route add a comment below and put a GPS track on Wikiloc.com, Viewranger or similar.
After the plains of Vojvodina the hills of southern Belgrade were a contrast. The final climb to Avala was particularly steep (I was following blue and white triangle waymarks at that point). I was prevented from reaching the memorial to the unknown soldier at the very top by policemen (there were a lot of them). It seems the President of Greece was visiting and had not been told to expect me. So it was off to the nearby TV tower, bombed by NATO in 1999 and subsequently rebuilt to look a bit like a rocket at its base. I bought the "viewing station plus beer in the tower's cafe" ticket which I would recommend. The beer tastes better after sweating up the mountain and sitting in the bar high up in the tower is a warmer and generally more pleasant way to view the scenery compared with the lookout platform. It was pretty hazy so the scenery was rather indistinct but I could see that I had walked a good distance today.
Then it was back down the mountain (foĺlowing red and white waymarks) and some retracing of steps to reach the Hotel Sucevic Garni a few kilometres away, which was the nearest accommodation I could get. It does have a nice "Etno" restaurant where the helpful waiter recommended what to eat and I agreed. Now I am stuffed!

Including retracing my steps to the hotel I walked 38.7 kilometres today. My route can be found on Wikiloc.com, on ViewRanger.com as johnpon0024 and on Wandermap.net. In loading my route into Wikiloc.com I noticed a number of trails published for Košutnjak and Avala that I missed when first planning my trip. If you are planning to follow my route, you may well want a look at these to see if you can improve on the path I took.

Belgrade Park

Avala mountain with TV Tower

Walking Vojvodina on E4 long distance European walk

The question arises as to why you should walk across the flat, agricultural plain of Vojvodina for two weeks?
First answer is to get to Greece as part of a walk across Europe. Indeed this is why many people have crossed Vojvodina over the years although usually in cars (although I suppose the Turks used horses).
Are there other reasons?
A second reason is the adventure of going to a country few tourists visit and to a part of the country where those few tourists rarely enter. Serbia is different with its funny Cyrillic letters and a recent history that does not encourage holidays. The E4 gives a route into this adventure.
A third reason is cultural. The area is a mix of Hungarian, Romanian and Serbian influences. Towns like Senta show the influence of Hungarian Art Nouveau and different architectural styles are present wherever you look.
The final reason is the countryside, the rythm of the agricultural activity, the ageless flocks of sheep with their shepherds or herds of cows with their cowherds. the crops, the canals and their fisherman escaping to some solitude, the great rivers flowing South.

Pančevo to Beograd on E4: Day 13

Achieved a milestone today reaching Beograd or Belgrade as we call it. The walk was not however straight forward.
"Rambling through Serbia" clearly shows that after leaving Pančevo and crossing the Tamis the route drops down and continues close to the Danube for 3 kilometres or so. I assumed that the authors did not intend a walk along the busy E70 dual carriageway so I picked a route visible on Google Earth through the floodplain woodland just to the North. I could not see exactly where it came out but trees hide where tracks are located from passing satellites. It turned out that although there were plenty of tracks in the forest, an exit was hard to find. I came within 200 metres of a nearby abandoned road at one point but after yesterday's abortive attempt to force my way through undergrowth I did not want a repeat failure. After following several false trails I eventually came out of the woods onto the Pančevo road very close to where I left it. Some of the tracks I followed were waymarked with red and white  (not red and yellow used for the E4) but as I did not know where the red and white waymarks were going to or coming from this was not helpful. I spent 2.5 hours walking 10 kilometres through the trees without getting any closer to Beograd. While it was a pleasant walk for a little while, I would advise anyone in future to stick to the route marked for cyclists  (the Euro 6 cycle route) which I then did until I crossed the bridge into Belgrade. If anyone knows the correct path to take please comment below. In fact the cycle route along the embankment to the Danube bridge afforded good views of the woodland to the south. In places there were man made ponds that swans and various other birds were enjoying, framed by trees just beginning to turn yellow. After a bit of a detour to reach the right (i.e. westerly side) of the bridge, I crossed the Danube for the fourth (and last) time on my trip across Europe. The footpath on the lengthy bridge was not so wide considering the fast cars and buses on one side and the railings separating me from the Danube (and then various gravel works) on the other.
After a long drag along a busy, dusty street I reached the Stari Grad or Old Town, which has a lovely pedestrianised area. I stopped at the Tourist Information office to try and book some accommodation for the following days but of the three places we tried, one was being renovated, the phone was dead at another and the third did not answer. I am now at the Palace Hotel (booked online yesterday with Booking.com) having earlier visited the Kalemegdan gardens to view the sunset. This is a popular activity and the promenades overlooking the Sava river were crowded with people doing the same thing, many getting a "selfie" with the setting sun in the background. The old castle walls truly looked beautiful with the warm light of the setting sun, the scattered floodlights, the trees and hedges.
Belgrade's Stari Grad was shock after the quiet provincial towns and villages I had been walking through. Full of people, the many pavement cafés busy (it is Sunday), buskers singing or playing (some better than others) and artists selling their paintings on the pedestrianised streets. For the first time in Serbia I heard English and German being spoken by tourists visiting the city. Until Belgrade I do not recall encountering a single one.

For a GPS file of my route click on the link here and here to wikiloc.com, it can also be found on ViewRanger.com as route johnpon0023 and johnpon0024, and on Wandermap.net here and here. Today I walked some 30 kilometres.

Deciduous trees in flood plain forest beside Danube

Kalemegdan fortress in the evening

Deliblatska Peščara to Pančevo on E4: Day 12

A long hike today to get to Pancevo.
Starting early it was a wonderful walk across the sandy hills of the Deliblatska Peščara as the sun rose, although to fully appreciate them you probably have to walk a few hundred kilometres over the flat plain of Vojvodina first which could make any hilly landscape appealing. Then it was a welcome breakfast at the Plava Dama restaurant in the village of Devojacki Bunar (a village spread out among the trees with what I took to be lots of small holiday homes).
Just before the village I saw my very first E4 sign Serbia (which caused me disproportionate exitment! ). Sadly it led to a block end, maybe I should have turned right across the fields, but instead I found a way through the trees to a nearby road. The E4 signs continued after the village with red and yellow waymarks on trees, posts and telegraph poles. I decided to follow the waymarks although they deviated somewhat from my planned route. This took a little time as it was often necessary to check down two tracks at junctions to see which one had the red and yellow waymarks.
Leaving the sandhills behind it was along a straight single lane road to the large village of Dolovo. I noticed here how they used a bus shelter to post cards announcing people's deaths, complete with a picture of the deceased. Later in Pancevo the death notices progressed to tree trunks. First I had to get to Pancevo.
My route took my down a valley where the path, overgrown to begin with became impassable. In trying to push my way through I fell and now my arms are covered with nettle stings. Giving up I climbed up the side of the valley in a place where the undergrowth was absent and followed a track along the edge of the valley, probably the one I should have been following in the first place. This soon crossed the valley and took me to along the top of a bluff for some kilometres. Distant views of the chemical works at Pančevo showed me I had still a way to go. I could also see the mountain of Avala and Belgrade was in the haze somewhere. Next section was on the plain beside a line of trees before the final long walk along the road through what appeared to be the lorry district (lorries were parked in front gardens), to reach the Panuka B&B. A much appreciated shower followed and I celebrated completion of my 49 kilometre walk with a "Lav" beer (for a bit of toilet humour).

A GPS track of my route can be found on wikiloc.com,  it can also be found on ViewRanger.com as route johnpon0023, and on Wandermap.net.

My first E4 sign in Serbia

Track through Deliblatska Peščara

Padina to Deliblatska Peščara on E4: Day 11

My walk today took me into the valleys and undulations of the edge of the Deliblatska Peščara.
After a very generous breakfast I headed off with the remains of my breakfast packaged up by Zuzana in plastic bags, these provided me with my lunch and dinner. On leaving town I followed a long, dry valley with grassy sides and an occasional stand of trees. Inevitably I encountered a flock of sheep. Immediately on seeing me the sheepdogs neglected their sheep herding duties and raced towards me barking. I stood still and the dogs stopped a metre or so away. The 23rd psalm came to mind, the bit about "my rod and my staff will comfort me", or just my walking stick in my case. The sheep ran off as a group no doubt catching the shepherd's attention as he gave ineffectual commands to call off the dogs (or maybe he told them to keep a close eye on me). We exchanged "Dober Dans" (good day) and he asked some question, possibly what I was doing here. I wish I had asked the kind student last night to write down "I am an English hiker walking through Serbia" so I could show people. As always I thought of things I should have asked about 12 hours too late. Also in the dry valley was a building with a very deep well and a capstan arrangement for lifting buckets of water. I later saw similar old wells in the village of Vladimirovci. I was surprised that the ground water level was so deep.
After the valley it was undulating fields, some with stubble, some ploughed and some with standing maize. Harvesters were busy at work making good use of the dry if windy weather. The wind was blowing up dust storms behind any moving vehicle. The village of Vladimirovci seemed pleasant, especially the bars and cafes with chairs outside where I stopped for a coffee. My impression of the town was somewhat spoiled by the rubbish tipped beside the track I took on leaving the village (although no worse than what you get in my home area of South Wales). Beside the path to the next village of Alibunar they were busy preparing what looked like well pads, for I presume oil or gas wells. They were spaced at regular distances and pile drivers were hammering down the conductor pipe for the first three sites. In the distance there were a line of wind turbines. Despite the wind none of them were turning. Efforts to produce fossil fuel and renewable energy within sight of each other.
The undulating hills of the area are dunes of windblown loess (silt). In places, especially close to Alibunar, the track cut a little "gorge" through the soft sediment. You could see the burrows made by animals in it, as well as some man made caves.
I had hoped to find some accommodation in Alibunar but the hotel on Google did not exist or had long since closed, and I was told the Tourist Information office had also closed for the day. After posing for some "selfies" with some passing kids, a group of locals with some useful English and a good knowledge of British Premier league teams pontificated on the accommodation options in Alibunar and agreed there were none. It was however agreed that the grass and tree covered, sandy hills of the Deliblatska Peščara would be a good place to camp if a bit far away to walk. So declining an offer of beer I headed off being careful not to cross the zebra crossing unless the "green man" was illuminated (they told me the police were very keen on prosecuting people for "jay walking").
I headed along my planned route to the said hills until stopped by a section of track too overgrown to penetrate. A lengthy detour followed passed fields where harvesters were working late into the evening. I could still hear them from my tent after dark from where I pitched on a grassy (if somewhat tussocky) area among the trees, although a bright half moon was shedding some light. I could also hear the distant barking of a dog and some creature howling. Apparently, not so long ago there were still wolves in this area...

A GPS file of the route I took can be found on wikiloc.com, it can also be found on ViewRanger.com as route johnpon0023, and on Wandermap.net. I covered 41.4 kilometres today, more than planned due to the lack of accommodation in Alibunar.

Track up dry valley near Padina

Typical fields and pylons disappearing into distance

Near Uzdin to Padina on E4: Day 10

I slept well on a bouncy bed of grass, and when I rose with the sun I could hear a harvester already at work. There had been a shower or two most days since I entered Serbia, and indeed I heard rain falling on my tent overnight, but by the time I was packing my tent, both the tent and grass around it were dry. The harvesters were busy today bringing in the maize while the weather stayed fine, the distant buzz of their engines in earshot much of the day. In Hungary all the machines were lime green Claas units, which looked new, here they seemed older and of various colours including a red Massey-Ferguson unit I spotted.
I walked through Uzdin early in the day, taking a particular look at the church, reputed to be one of the most beautiful in the area, although the door was locked so I could not see inside. By walking around the main street I found a retro looking place serving coffee and enjoyed a duplo expresso with men reading their papers over coffee of one sort or another and three schoolchildren drinking milk. After camping, a morning coffee is a real pleasure and I drank it while watching a Serbian black and white film on TV. Did not know what they were saying but they had some very expressive faces.
Padina, my destination for the night, is a pretty village with a strip of green through the middle, as well as a church, an old well, a pekara, where I bought a very nice cheese and dill roll for lunch and various other shops. The accommodation that the Zrenjanin Tourist office booked for me also has a farming side with a traditional barn built off the ground with sides of wooden slats, that was being filled with cobs of  maize. Zuzana Masarikova, the lady of the house, had a phrasebook, excellent in many ways, although designed for the host or hostess, so it gave the questions for them to ask, but not what my replies might be, which made the conversation a bit stilted, so she kindly sent for a student who could speak excellent English and who gave me lots of useful information while Zuzana prepared a large diner for me of sausage and roast potatoes, with salad and bread. In addition to some background on Serbia the student also told me I was not the first to pass through on the E4, a French person had come before me...

A GPS file of my route today can be obtained from wikiloc.com, it can also be found on ViewRanger.com as route johnpon0022, and on Wandermap.net. I walked 24.2 kilometres including finding Zuzana's private accommodation.

Uzdin Church

Pigeon on Uzdin Church

Typical barn with cobs of maize 

Carska Bara to near Uzdin on E4: Day 9

I zigzagged across the fields today following the tracks I had spotted on Google Earth, but whether it was the intended route of the E4 I could not say, somewhere in the general vicinity anyway.
The first settlement I came across was an almost completely abandoned group of farm buildings, rather eerie. A little later I began to question if I was on the right route. The route I had picked took me down a barely visible path beside a drainage ditch. Tall rushes filled the ditch which was fortunate as on the other side a dog, who should have been looking after his cows, was barking madly.
The path joined a track after several hundred metres, then the track joined a small road, nicely paved with blocks of stone at some distant time. After various turns I reached Farkaždin, which had some interesting looking houses, some with dates on them, either 1920s, 1930s or 1960s. I stocked up with food. The shop owner was most interested in what I was doing but we had no mutual language to converse in, unlike an English speaking agricultural engineer who stopped his car to have a chat a little later. There are few, if any, people walking through this part of Serbia so I am a bit of a novelty.
Next village was Idvor, birthplace of Mihajlo Pupin, a Serbian scientist who like Tesla had to go to the USA to achieve his scientific success. Then it was cris-crossing the fields again curving southwards as indicated by the map in "Rambling through Serbia" which took me through grassland peppered with purple Hungarian Statice and Rhone Aster, now passed their best, a change after the large fields of stubble, brown earth and occasional stands of maize that were typical of most of my walk today.
After much indecision I decided to camp in an area of scrub (hawthorn, sloe and rosehips) and grassland where I would not be noticed by passing vehicles. As dusk fell some owls (?) circled overhead as the first stars appeared.

A GPS file of my route is on wikiloc.com, it can also be found on ViewRanger.com as route johnpon0022, and on Wandermap.net. 30.7 kilometres walked today.

Old roadway

M  Pupin's birthplace and typical house front of older houses

Zrenjanin to Carska Bara on E4: Day 8

A shorter day today at 15.6 kilometres, a chance to give my feet a rest.
The Hotel Vojvodina where I am staying is very fine, and the check out time of 12:00 gave me the chance of a relaxed morning of breakfast, some shopping and general wandering around town, followed by coffee and a "snickers" cake, then a haircut back at the hotel. The shopping included water as despite the hotel's 4 stars it advises against drinking the water which is brownish, making you wonder if you flushed the toilet. Although the guidebook says the tap water is safe to drink in Serbia its quality is very variable, sometimes good, sometimes yellowish or brownish as in Zrenjanin and sometimes smelling strongly of hydrogen sulphide as in Melenci for example (possibly the result of "hot springs" contaminating the ground water).
The route today took me down the west side of the Becej river, initially down tree lined streets with single story housing, then opposite a selection of concrete silos, followed by a bit of country before reaching the bridge to Ečka. I walked over to see what all the men were doing. They were fishing from the bridge with nets about one metre square on the end of a length of rope. Their buckets suggested they were catching some eatable sized fish, carp at a guess. Ečka also has a hotel in an old hunting lodge or "Kastel" and a church with the rendering coming off showing the brickwork beneath.
Further on I left the river for the village of Lucino Selo after which the lake of Belo Jezero (white lake) came into view. My lodging for the night, Hotel Sibila, was on one side of the lake. Opposite the hotel is the Carska Bara nature reserve. I followed some of its paths among trees and reeds beside a shallow channel. After disturbing a heron and ducks, and spotting what might have been a great egret through the rushes, I returned to the hotel.
There was lots of shooting or so I thought, but as it repeated at regular intervals I concluded it must be something to scare the birds away from the fish farms next to the hotel. This evening I ate perch from the fish farm with "prom frits". We used to try to catch perch in the canals around Leicester when I was young, returning to the water any rare fish we caught. So I thought I would see what they tasted like. The taste was fine but separating the fine bones made eating a slow process.

A GPS file of my route is on wikiloc.com, it can also be found on ViewRanger.com as route johnpon0022, and on Wandermap.net.

Belo Jezero Lake

Carska Bara Nature reserve 

Melenci to Zrenjanin on E4: Day 7

Today it was down the DTD (Danube -Tisza-Danube) canal to Zrenjanin.
It was cold and misty as I started out retracing my steps to the edge of Melenci, past the grain silos, and then heading north on a road to the DTD canal, passing a lazily pumping nodding donkey on the way. Then it was a day walking along the west side of the canal. The canal network, dating from Austro-Hungarian times is extensive with two arms joining from the east side over the distance I walked today, although it seems little used for shipping it is clearly a part of the area's drainage system.
Fewer fishermen today, I suppose being Monday they are back at work. Various small jetties have been added to the canal banks by the fishermen, with boats moored to some. In places caravans and even power have been added making fishing a comfortable pursuit in all weathers. Weather was cloudy, with occasional showers, just long enough to get my waterproofs on. Fortunately I was not rushed by barking dogs today and curiously there were no flocks of sheep or herds of cows keeping the grass on the canal banks short.
I stopped at Jankov Most, a village on the way, hoping for a cup of coffee. I noticed some men drinking beer by the pavement, but found they were outside a shop and not a bar. Decided on some chocolate but the lady serving was standing blocking the doorway having a smoke and chat with a man. After a while I said a "Dober dan" and after a short interrogation she let me in to buy a bar of Milka. I don't suppose they often get strangers in Jankov Most.
Maybe I went overboard in booking the Hotel Vojvodina in Zrenjanin, as I appear to have a suite with bedroom, sitting room and two(!) bathrooms. It looks out onto the pedestrianised square at the centre of town. The square has fountains lit at night by various colours and is surrounded by august, but attractive buildings, many dating from the nineteenth century and painted in pleasant colours.
The Tourist Information office is on the square and they were extremely helpful in trying to find and book my accommodation for the next few nights, not easy in such a rural area. Then after a walk around town it was time for steak and chips for dinner  (as I am loosing weight and need building up)!

A GPS file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, or it is route johnpon0021 on ViewRanger.com, and also on Wandermap.com. I walked 32.3 kilometres.

DTD canal

Pedestrianised square at Zrenjamin 

Araca to Melenci on E4: Day 6

The routing for today was to reach the town of Novi Becej then double back along the DTD canal before turning off and heading for Melenci.
I escaped the attention of anyone and had a peaceful night in my tent except for going outside to answer a call of nature, when I saw distant lights at various places on the horizon beneath a cloudy sky. It rained at some point in the night so it was muddy at 6:00 am as I packed up and set off. After a lengthy walk through fields I reached a "lake" with a sign indicating it's importance for birdlife, not that I could see many birds and the lake was hidden by the surrounding rushes. The salt lake is apparently called Slano Kopovo and is a nature reserve. A cowherd was leading his cows (actually he was behind them but I assume he was making sure they went the right way), fortunately his dog considered me sufficiently distant that an all-out attack was not required.
Novi Becej turned out to have a pretty promenade beside the River Tisza which the E4 returns to after its lengthy excursion to Kikinda. The main street was also pleasant and provided me with my morning coffee.Then it was off along the south bank of the DTD canal, which seemed to be connected to the Tisza with a lock. There did not appear to be any boat traffic although a little way up the canal a barge seemed to be under construction and there was a working one moored by the bank.
Passing fishermen, a heron and some swans I came upon the inevitable herd of cows, although the cowherd successful controlled his dogs while lying down relaxing.
Shortly after I reached the point where I planned to turn off. Maybe I was a little premature as there did not seem to be a good path but it soon joined a track heading south which I followed all the way to Melenci. It crossed an extensive area of grassland which was part of the Rusana grassland park, and later some oil or gas wells and a processing plant.
On finally reaching Melenci I was keen to find a bed for the night. The motel I was targeting was closed, but there were several signs for rooms (Sobe) with telephone numbers. I tried one but the call would not go through, then I found a place which advertised rooms but with no telephone number indicating the owner lived on site. With the kind help of a passing neighbour we raised the owner, fortunately their son speaks good English and now I am settled in a lovely room.
Before I had a shower and cooked some diner, I wandered down to the Banya Rusanda, the town's claim to fame. This is a health facility and there were plenty of people in wheelchairs or with walking aids. It stands by a lake, known for its birds, but half dried up today.

A GPS file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, or it is route johnpon0021 on ViewRanger.com, and also on Wandermap.com. I walked 35.6 kilometres today including trying to find a room for the night and visiting the Rusanda Lake.

Part of promenade beside Tisza river at Novi Becej

Lake Rusanda,  partially dried out

Kikinda to Araca on E4: Day 5

Today was a walk alongside the Kikinda canal followed by a visit to the medieval Araca church ruins.
After picking up some provisions and a cup of coffee in Kikinda, I returned to the canal. For the first section I followed the western embankment as there were some industrial works related to gravel on the opposite bank. The canal was wider here than it was yesterday and, judging by the wharfs on the opposite bank, navigable by larger vessels.There were many fishermen enjoying the Saturday sunshine at spots nearer to the town. I also met a flock of sheep although conversation with the shepherd proved impossible due to my lack of language skills. A cowherd tried again later with a bit of German, but again I was unable to catch the sense of what he was saying, I think he was warning me that the level in the canal could rise rapidly when it rains (relevant if I camped close to the water).
Dogs were a nuisance and a worry. On a number of occasions I was rushed by dogs barking. They were either all black or all white in colour, medium size with a furry coat. One never knows whether they intend to follow their mad barking with a bite. Flocks of birds, white, grey and brown, periodically crossed my path. There were some swans, serene and white, at one point. I saw the same drilling rig in the distance that I commented on yesterday. It was nearby as the E4 route doubles back on itself with Kikinda at the apex of the elbow.
After crossing between embankments a couple of times I left the canal and followed roads and tracks to Araca, referred to by the very faded signpost as ruins of the "utmost historical importance". Some walls and arches of the church's nave still stand and part of the tower. It dates from the 13th and 14th century and burnt down in the 16th century by the Turks and never rebuilt. I had planned to camp at the ruins given that the sun was beginning to set, but people were there with their van, a farmer working in the adjacent field and signs warning of video surveillance (although I wondered if the video cameras were actually working). So I walked on until the big, beautiful red sun set beneath the plains, springing some deer which leaped across the fields. Then I pitched my tent on a field of stubble in the gathering darkness beside a little used farm track (a least by humans there were plenty of animal tracks) and hoped that no one would notice me.

A GPS file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, or it is route johnpon0021 on ViewRanger.com, and also on Wandermap.com. I walked 45.6 kilometres today, fortunately it was all on the flat.

Araca medieval church ruin

Sunset over the plain while looking for a camping spot

Ada to Kikinda on E4: Day 4

Today I followed the E4 east away from the River Tisza and across the empty, open plain on roads and beside the Kikinda canal.
At breakfast I was served by the same tall, thin man as last night; grey hair, dark jacket and trousers, white shirt, no tie. Omelette with ham, expresso and orange juice in a restaurant of ballroom dimensions with fancy lighting and a highly polished floor. As I was eating one other guest arrived. Then I was back across the River Tisza. As I was leaving town I noticed a couple of people picking walnuts up off the pavement where they had fallen from trees. Walnut trees seem fairly common in this part of Europe.
Leaving the river behind, the road I followed across the plain appeared as a farm track or not at all on the maps I had, in reality it was a two lane tarmac road; not too busy but with some very fast cars on the long straights. Now that I had walked away from the river there were few trees to break up the open space, just very large fields, mostly with their crops harvested, small drainage ditches and some distant cows. It was flat until I approached the village of Idos where a low, north-south ridge appeared with some unnatural looking summits. I was not sure how much was natural and how much was due to quarrying, maybe for clay. Nearby was a drilling rig and a smaller "wokover" rig for repairing oil and gas wells, a sign I was near the Kikinda oil field.
After the small village of Idos a single track road took me alongside a lake, fringed with reeds, then it was south along the side of the small, Kikinda canal. I had chosen the embankment on the eastern side of the canal, the path seemed clearer, but it did pass very close to some farm outbuildings at one point. This worried me on two counts: first that the farmer might tell me it was private property and to buzz off in some foreign language that I could not understand, and second that a farm dog might bite me. Serbia is a high risk country for rabies, and although I had a course of rabies vaccine almost 20 years ago, my doctor's surgery advised I would need two boosters if bitten. At a minimum this would seriously disrupt my trip. In the event there were only some chickens and a child with blonde hair. The farmer and his dogs seemed to be out in the fields herding cattle. As I approached the road leading to Kikinda, there were some nicely painted nodding donkeys pumping oil out of the ground.
I reached Kikinda well before the time I had (as requested) indicated I would arrive at the accommodation, so I first headed into the centre of this sizeable town, which had an attractive pedestrian area with cafés and bars. There was some kind of festival going on with lots of stalls, a live singer, a funfair and children dressed as....well something rustic with sunflowers, pumpkins and sacking.
After some refreshment I headed to Hostel Arijana which was on the outskirts of town. Unfortunately it was not at the location indicated on the Google and booking.com maps. In addition the phone number on the booking did not answer and the local people I asked did not recognise the street name. I kept being directed to the Hostel Kruna. The ever so nice lady there directed me to where her competitor really was. Once there, an hour or more late, there was of course no-one to let me in. Eventually I gained entry, and then wearily went for a pizza at a handy place across the road.

A GPS file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, or it is route johnpon0021 on ViewRanger.com, and also on Wandermap.com. With my searching for the Hostel Arijana I walked 42.1 kilometres today.

Start of the Kikinda canal

Festival at Kikinda

Senta to Ada on E4: Day 3

It rained all day as I walked down the Tisza river embankment for a third and final day.
One of the joys of travel is trying different foods. This morning I went to the nearest pekara (bakery) and bought a concoction made of flaky pastry, but with more fat in it, stuffed with a soft white cheese (I later discovered that it is called "burek", you can have it filled with cheese or minced meat). By accident I bought something similar for lunch but with a different type of pastry. Before leaving Senta I visited a few sights I missed yesterday, the Art Nouveau fire station, well worth a look, and the memorial to the Battle of Senta, not worth a diversion, although the promenade by the river is.
The next five hours were spent walking in the rain along the easterly embankment of the Tisza river. Trees one side and fields the other. Apart from a JCB (actually a Hidromek) clearing vegetation from around a drainage ditch I saw no other sign of human activity. A few deer, a family of cows (a bull, a cow and two calves) and a yellow gas well was all I saw to break my reverie. I was feeling in low spirits, partly due to the rain but also due to news from home that made me fell guilty that I was here "enjoying" myself.
A graceful, cable stayed bridge with white cables and a curved approach, welcomed me to the outskirts of Ada, although the appearance was somewhat spoilt by some missing covers on the footpath (watch your step) and some rusty railings (should have used galvanised steel).
I am now at the Hotel Park after a quick wander around town with its leafy parks, one on the riverside, Catholic and Serbian orthodox churches and a few interesting looking buildings, although it would be more attractive in the sunshine. I had the menu of the day for my dinner, something that looked like sausages.

A GPS file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, or its route johnpon0020 on ViewRanger.com, or click here for Wandermap.com. I covered 29.8 kilometres today including my walk around Senta.

Walking along the Tisza embankment from Senta to Ada, the river is behind trees on the right