Twenty One Days on the Danube | A Journey of Endurance and Grace
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Moments of Beauty Captured Along the Way
“Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life.”
― John Muir
Every sunrise was beautiful.
Recovering from my headache and still dizzy Cristian found a solitary sunflower who allowed him to pick her. Grateful for a woman knows she’s loved when gifted a flower.
Sacred Fire ~ Lighting a fire every night for warmth and cooking one quickly finds out just how sacred of a gift fire is. The evenings we spent watching the dry wood burn to embers is a language, one that imparts knowledge of things unspoken.
Always a delight was seeing so many horses and other animals running or flying free.
Bathing in liquid light.
We Meet Sushi the Kayak Cat
As we made our way toward Brăila where we planned to buy some needed supplies we spotted some other kayakers and their well set encampment so we rowed to shore to meet them. A Romanian couple from Galați they are making their journey in a homemade kayak complete with sail and a small outboard motor, something we had wished we had many times already.
They have with them a beautiful white four month old kitten named Sushi, another longing we shared was to have our cats with us as we would imagine them on the bow of the kayak sunning themselves and eating the fish we caught (we never did catch a fish by the way).
Sushi after a meal of fresh live fish, she was adorable in every way reminding us the even “domestic” animals have a wild side, especially cats.
Cat meets cat.
Inspecting our kayak and sharing stories of life on the river.
We didn’t linger too long as we hoped to make Brăila before sundown so we said our goodbyes, held Sushi for a few more moments and wished each other a blessed journey we then set off.
Turning the bend to Brăila a storm meets us head on.
As the day grew long the wind picked up, we were aware of the oncoming storm from checking our weather app and by the clouds building on the horizon. The way a river continually bends you change direction often and we soon found ourselves with strong steady wind gusting in our faces blowing so strong that no matter how hard we paddled our kayak came to a standstill in the water. Exhaustion begins to take hold so you acquiesce. Blown to shore Cristian and I got out of our craft, he pulled her along and I walked the shore just behind or along side on a rise in the bank.
With Brăila in our sight it was obvious we would not reach it to seek shelter for the night. Just as Cristian called it with the announcement that we needed to make camp soon before it rained an oasis appeared before our tired eyes, there was an abandoned camp complete with a three sided wind shelter made of sheets of packing plastic strategically wound between trees, ingenious and welcoming. As a friend later said, “Perhaps there is some good use for plastic after all.”
Shelter from the storm and camp is set.
For us this was how Grace moved when we made no demands, she presented us with gifts that could only come from the Universe and all we could ever really do was humbly acknowledge just how abundant she is. So while Cristian walked to the nearby village for a few beers I set the tent and gathered wood for our nightly fire. We rested that night with the howl of wind and the sound of rain drops pelting our tent embraced as we were by the sounds of a Mother’s song we slept like children.
We spent two days in this refuge relishing the needed rest and preparing for the last leg of our journey which would take us to our destination, the Danube Delta and the Black Sea. A quick micro-bus trip to Brăila for supplies left us exhausted by having to deal with the energy of unhappy people, traffic and big stores. Our recovery was equally quick on returning to our camp and lighting the night’s fire.
The following day dawned bright and calm as we assembled the sail for the long promised wind at our back. Neither of us are sailors though I grew up on the Pacific and have some recall of sailing as a child and younger woman some of which I managed to reboot such as tying knots and vague memories of how to tack in cross winds. There actually was some magic in allowing the freedom of not being trained experts guide us.
The wind gusts had shredded part of the plastic during the night leaving us with a better view of calm waters.
Phones and batteries are fully charged from the sun rays, kayak is once again assembled as we make our way back to the river. Obvious to us by now that we are river gypsies not able to stay still for too long in one place, even the slow moving current is welcomed rather than being land bound for too long.
The sky held promise as the bright sun shone from behind big puffy white clouds. Brăila was no longer our goal we wanted to get as close to the delta as we could so off we sailed with the gentle breeze at our backs.
The glory of the sun shining through clouds greets us rested and happy.
Our sail is set and the wind is finally at our back!
Sailing at sunset in peaceful waters.
We make a quick camp at sunset not worrying to find the perfect place for this night as we know we will return to the river early. Even without the ritual of fire this night we slept well and I woke to experience a most beautiful morning for the night had grown cooler and the warmer water of the Danube formed a mist on the water with the rising sun. A quick coffee and we set off approaching a sweeping bend that turns the Danube East and toward Tulcea.
Mist on the water at sunrise.
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