Pinch punch first of the month and no returns!
This is our second start to a month whilst we've been away. Makes it feel like we've been gone ages....
The plan today was to firstly catch up the shortfall in yesterday's mileage (due to the thunderstorm) then knock out another 60 or so miles to the nonentity town of Sahy, on the Slovakian/Hungarian border.
Sahy was chosen as our destination as it a) Had a campsite marked on the map and b) Was roughly 60 miles from our last overnight stay. Arbitrary or what?
The day dawned hot and sunny again and after enjoying a decent enough breakfast at our hotel, we hit the road just after 09:00.
Breakie is very important to hungry cyclists (as is any form of calorie consumption) and this one comprised of peculiar choccy 'cornflakes' with hot milk (looked a bit like a bowl of black toenails!), cheese on toast with fried eggs for Miles and sloppy scrambled eggs for Tracey. Mmmm.....
Unfortunately not all our kit had dried fully from the previous evenings rainstorm and we squelched our way out of the hotel in still soggy shoes. Trench foot anyone?
We hit Route 66 (no not that Route 66, that's for another day....) and dispatched the 10 or so miles from yesterday in a speedy 30 minutes. No hills and we were flying.
Arrived into and exited Banska Bystrica without drama thanks to a little routing advice from good old Tom Tom. We turned south and picked up Route 69, a secondary road that ran parallel to the main E77.
We must admit to a minor navigational faux pas here that had us scuttling across the 4 lanes of dual carriageway to pick up the smaller road which we had somehow missed.
Bet the locals don't see many fully laden tandems being run across their motorways by mad Brits!
The 'B' road was wonderfully quiet and took us to Zvolen where we once again joined the 'A' road alternative though now diminished to a friendly and quiet single carriageway.
Our first refuelling stop was taken just before 30 miles when local CAKE, coffee and pop were consumed. Yum.
Refreshed, we hopped back into the saddle(s) and span away the miles to an ice cream break in Krupina. Miles had a greedy 4 blobs, Tracey a self controlled 3.
En route, we spotted a giant knife, fork and spoon at the side of the road. When we say 'giant' we mean about 5m high! Imagine someone giving directions near there; 'Turn left at the fork in the road'...... 'No....the FORK in the road'.....
10 miles or so south of Krupina, we took a lovely 'C' road alternative to the 'A' we were on. Even though the bigger roads were very quiet compared to Poland, we fancied a bit of real countryside.
The first few hundred metres proved to be a very tough climb out of the valley followed by a ridge traverse in lovely surroundings and then a fantastic descent into a parallel valley.
We followed this minor road alternative all the way to our destination of Sahy. Fantastic riding, best of the trip so far.
On arrival in Sahy, we checked out the campsite which was rejected by the Goff quality control department on the grounds that it was crap. We then backtracked as rain threatened and booked into a pleasant (though very pink) town centre hotel.
Dinner was taken in the hotel restaurant followed by more in room gonking.
Hungary tomorrow, Budapest beckons.
Today a very pleasant and not too hilly total of 72 miles and 420m of ascent. Total trip 2273 miles.
More Southerly ramblings to follow.
Back soon. Miles & Tracey.
