Distance: 134km
Elevation: 1142m
It had rained during the night, but it was also way warmer than before.
I completed my morning routine and was ready by 8:15am. Francesco was quicker and already waiting for me.
We left our beautiful garden, went over the road to our host Ranka to pay up and hit the road. 
We cycled together to Negotin. Here, the three countries, Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria met.
I would continue South to Bulgaria whereas Francesco would turn East to Bucharest in Romania. 
Francesco felt a little weak after the long day in the saddle yesterday.
I took over the pacemaking role and he was riding in my wind shadow.
We did not talk much. After some big roads, we finally met a nice gravel cycling path directly by the river.
There we saw some poison green lizards and I almost ran over a snake that looked very scary.
Also, we met a lot of free roaming dogs. Some of them belonged to a family and were defending their territory. Those were the scary ones who ran after us barking.
The others were not belonging to any humans and tried to avoid human contact or confrontation wherever possible.
In Negotin, we had a quick but very good lunch. For a change, we also had some vegetables and not only meat with meat.
I was planning to visit Francesco in September when I was in Italy anyways, to pick up my wife in Tuscany from a drawing class.
We said farewell and I went on while Francesco had reached his destination for the day.
We were both a little sad because we had enjoyed each other’s company a lot.
But I was also happy to be my own man again, and to be totally independent in my decisions.
All in all, I had reduced my mileage by around 80 km since I was cycling with Francesco. But in exchange, I had made a friend and met some other fellow cyclists along the way. 
There were another 70 km to my destination Zayecar including some steep climbs. The weather was beautiful, and my route went along back roads all the time.
The roads were so bad and bumpy that my bumpy front wheel was the least of my concerns.
As the evening approached, dark rain clouds pulled up and just 4 km before my destination it started to pour.
I stopped by a local supermarket to top up my supplies for dinner and found a private room that I had rented during the day.
There were simply no camping spots around.
The place was neither pretty nor luxurious, but it was dry, had a shower and a good bed. And with €10, it was actually cheaper than the campground the other night. 
The owner greeted me briefly and showed me around. Then he had to go for a demonstration against the corrupt government. There had been many incidents where buildings had collapsed and people had died because of usage of lower quality materials than contracted. According to him a clear case of corruption in which the government obviously played a role.
I washed some clothes, had a shower and made dinner. By 9 pm I was in my bed.
It had been another great day to look back to and be thankful for!