Romania

Motoring across Europe
Dave Pratt and Nick Pochin
Thu 6 Jun 2013 08:09
Position 44:19N 22:15E.Cetate Romania.
On Wednesday the 5th of June we left Orsova having had a quiet and
uneventful night tied up on the Customs quay.
By nine o'clock we were waiting to enter the Iron Gates 1 lock.and by
eleven we were through.It is a very impressive two stage lock alongside
the huge Barrage between Romania on the one side and Serbia on the
other.it drops the river level 30 metres! At twelve o'clock we were tied
up on the fuel quay at Aurora Yacht Club collecting 200 litres of diesel
and 80 litres of water.the cost was 100 euros! At one o'clock we were on
the way to the Iron Gates 2 lock.Here the river fell 16 metres.we were
lucky to enter the lock without any delay and heading down river looking
for a good anchorage before dark.Getting desperate with the light fading
and at km 811 we pulled into a quay called Port Cultural Cetate.
We were welcome to stay by the owner a famous Poet and invited to join us
for dinner and drinks. Wow how lucky can you get! We decided to stop here
for 24 hrs and get an early start on Friday. During the day we travelled
142 km and at km 811 we only have 511 km to go to Cernavoda and the short
canal which will take us to Constanta and the Black Sea.