Day 39: Rest day in Berzasca

Day 39: Rest day in Berzasca

27/08/2017. Today Pascal spontaneously decided to take a rest day. "This morning I was a little lacking in motivation", he told me. Who could blame him, after all, he had his last rest day in Vienna, around 25 days ago and 1,000 kilometres back. In addition, yesterday evening there was the considerable noise of a Romanian wedding. His accommodation in Berzasca is idyllically situated, with a view of the Danube and the mountains. There are worse places to pass the time.

Together with Nils and Matse, Pascal is using the sunny morning for a little interview session. The boys were still a little sad, as yesterday their camera drone knocked into a tree, fell into the Danube, and sank into the waters – and the drone recordings from the previous day went with it. The Danube has always demanded its sacrifice. Perhaps that's a good omen for Pascal's onward journey, because the river god should now be appeased. And then Pascal also lost his red paddling trousers. After hanging them on the washing line, the wind seems to have taken them and carried them to the Danube. As a result Pascal now also has made a small contribution to the pollution of the Danube – but obviously not on purpose. And who knows, perhaps the trousers will turn up again somewhere on the riverbanks tomorrow as part of the next stage. In any case, he has replacement trousers with him, so no nudist excursion necessary. That said, doing so might perhaps generate more attention for his mission. But now time to get serious again.

Matse and Nils later took their leave from Pascal. After a few further shots of the landscape, the pair were heading back to Belgrade.

Pascal used the day to simply do nothing. He enjoyed an afternoon nap, he read a little, and he let his thoughts roam free. He gave me a book recommendation that I should pass to you on the way. He also wrote me a few lines about it: "Today I read a few speeches from Kodo Sawaki from the book Zen is the Biggest Lie of All Times. I heard about the book through the film ZEN FOR NOTHING, which I saw two years ago at the International Documentary Film Festival, Munich. I became interested in Abbot Muho and so fell upon his book. In relation to this, there's another, more up-to-date book: A Raindrop Returns to the Ocean: Why We Shouldn't Fear Death. The film, in combination with the books, gave me a new attitude to the everyday things in life, leading to more openness and life in an instant."

These thoughts come to Pascal at precisely the right time, as, after he spent a little time planning the next few days, it occurred to him that accommodation over the next few stages was really hard to come by. This is naturally something that caused him some concern. But now he is ready to sleep outdoors if needs be. And he feels that if you just let them flow, things will sort themselves out. In just such a way, for one thing, he got some tips from an innkeeper from Orsova at the end of the Iron Gate as to how he could best conquer the Iron Gate's giant dams, and, for another thing, this innkeeper will also sound out accommodation for Pascal for the next stages.

In the evening Pascal would also like to simply continue relaxing, as tomorrow will bring a hard stage of around 50 kilometres. It leads to Dubova. TF

PS: Today we received an interesting comment from Christine from the Chiemgau on the subject of plastic waste. You can find the comment in our entry from yesterday by simply scrolling down to the end: http://sup-muenchen-schwarzesmeer.de/tage-3738-paddelausflug-ins-neratal-von-moldova-veche-nach-berzasca-315-km-540-stunden-9-748-paddelschlaege-gesamtkilometerstand-1-4403-km/. Thanks Christine!