Nea Ivan is 71, has a wooden rowing boat and one rule: “No motor, no phone, no hurry.” I found him through a host in Mila 23 who told me he “costs more than the others and says nothing all day”. Exactly what I was looking for.

5:40

We leave along the Șontea channel in the dark. The first sound is the oars; the second, after a quarter of an hour, a pelican taking off, looking like a giant paper plane. Nea Ivan points with his chin. That is all.

9:00

On Lake Fortuna, water lilies to the horizon. Nea Ivan sets a small net, we stop, he takes out bread and cheese. We eat. I start talking about Bucharest; he looks at me until I stop.

13:00

Heat, shade under the willows, an hour of sleep in the boat. A cormorant drying its wings on a post three metres away wakes me. I have no camera with me. I look. I realise it is the first time in years I have looked at something without photographing it.

17:00

The way back, the water red. The net has caught three crucian carp and a small catfish, which Nea Ivan throws back. I ask why. “Small.” It is the longest sentence of the day.

What it costs and how to find him

400 lei a day for the whole boat (two people at most), with food from him. He has no phone; ask at the guesthouses in Mila 23 for “Ivan with the rowing boat”. Bring water, a hat, sunscreen and nothing to read: you will not read.