Last night was probably the most comfortable night’s sleep I’ve had since leaving Kyiv last Sunday. The room was modern, clean and air-conditioned and the bed was comfortable. So, I slept like a baby and woke up feeling rejuvenated. Breakfast was the usual eggs, ham and cheese and after a large coffee we were on the road by 08:00.

I’m still travelling with Dylan, the other Brit I met on the first day of my trip just south of Budapest and I’m glad I’ve had company for this first week as I get used to cycling long days through unfamiliar places.

It’s still stupidly hot (about +37) so leaving early means we can get much of the cycling out of the way before the afternoon when the heat is unbearable.

Someone was blaring 1990’s pop-music out at full-volume as we ate breakfast, so as various Haddaway ‘What is love’ and ‘don’t leave me this way’ played we pack and left.

As we did so, our hostess gave us a bag of pears which we gratefully accepted and we were on our way.

The border from Croatia to Serbia was about 40km away and was about half way from Novisad which was today’s destination. The morning was OK, the border crossings out of Croatia and into Serbia were painless and by about 10:00 we were heading through country number 3 – Serbia.

I’ve been to Serbia twice before, but despite having traveled all over the neighboring countries I’ve only ever been to the Serbian capital Belgrade. This makes Serbia quite exciting because its one of the few places in Europe, let alone Eastern Europe which remains unexplored. Like Ukraine they use the Cyrillic alphabet and they are not an EU country so I’m curious to see what other similarities there are between Serbia and Ukraine and also between Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia which I know much better.

The most obvious (and for me on a bike, most difficult) difference between Serbia and Croatia are the hills and today taught me that the effort to cycle uphill on a fully loaded bike in the sweltering heat is several magnitudes higher than the effort required to cycle across Hungary, which is as flat as a pancake.

I ran out of water quickly and with only Euros to spend I convinced Dylan that we needed a rest break at the next restaurant. The barman didn’t speak English, but his friends did and 5 minutes later we were sitting with a large group of friends from Belgrade and Novisad with two ridiculously large glasses of Rakije (Schnapps) in front of us. This is not what I was expecting and not exactly what I needed, but they were funny and proof that things are no different this side of the border. Citizens of ex-Yugoslav states greet guests with hard liquor.

Our hosts were well educated, funny and exceptionally friendly and they had been drinking and sailing up the Danube from Novisad all morning. They were all shirtless, one had a Mexican-style mustache, one looked disturbingly like Richard Mumford my friend from Uni and one looked like a Marine. There was also an older guy who they called Schumaker and their friend who owned the bar who was wearing a black and orange Jaegermiester T-Shirt and bright blue tracksuit shorts. He likes fashion TV (apparently) and is heavily involved in the local football team.

They were all having a great time and despite being less-than sober, they all spoke exceptionally good English. At one point Mexican moustache corrected the phrase ‘It depends on the worker’ with the correct phrase ‘it depends on the employee’ and then ran around high-fiving everyone shouting ‘ooooh, I know English!’

Over the next hour and a half there was a lot of singing another exceptionally large Rakije and lots of stories about life in Serbia before we managed to escape and make our way to the small ferry which, according to the guys, would take us to the other side of the river and a much flatter route to Novisad.

I was now hot, exhausted and now a little bit drunk and I think a guy on the ‘ferry’ (small boat with a platform attached to it) noticed because he reached into his white van and pulled out a pear (yes, another pear) for me and another for Dylan and with a big smile shouted ‘Serbia’ before he drove off.

Serbians seem very keen and very proud to tell you that you are in Serbia.

Hot and tired by the time we got to Novisad, we ditched the idea of staying in a tent, hit booking.com and checked-in to Hotel Park for £18 each. Its huge, posh and we get full access to the swimming pool, sauna and gym.

I complimented this with a massage and a 7-up from the mini bar and do not feel at all guilty that I’m in a 4 star hotel looking over the city and not sweating in my tent.