diff --git a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/nodes.py b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/nodes.py
--- a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/nodes.py
+++ b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/nodes.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import mimetypes
 from rhodecode.lib.vcs.backends.base import EmptyChangeset
 from rhodecode.lib.vcs.exceptions import NodeError, RemovedFileNodeError
 from rhodecode.lib.vcs.utils.lazy import LazyProperty
-from rhodecode.lib.vcs.utils import safe_unicode
+from rhodecode.lib.vcs.utils import safe_unicode, safe_str
 
 
 class NodeKind:
@@ -100,8 +100,8 @@ class Node(object):
     def __init__(self, path, kind):
         if path.startswith('/'):
             raise NodeError("Cannot initialize Node objects with slash at "
-                "the beginning as only relative paths are supported")
-        self.path = path.rstrip('/')
+                            "the beginning as only relative paths are supported")
+        self.path = safe_str(path.rstrip('/'))  # we store paths as str
         if path == '' and kind != NodeKind.DIR:
             raise NodeError("Only DirNode and its subclasses may be "
                             "initialized with empty path")