Breakfasted at our pink hotel. Very nice. Surrounded by young Polish on their way to supporting Robert Kubica at the Hungarian Grand Prix tomorrow.
Our plan for today is to cross the Slovakian/Hungarian border just outside Sahy then cycle the 50 or so miles into Budapest, Hungary. We also plan to use tomorrow as a rest day to look around Budapest as neither of us have been in the past.
Left the hotel slightly late at around 09:30. Chatted to a nice Bulgarian/Swede chap (he couldn't make his mind up which nationality he was) who had motorcycled up some of our intended route from Greece. Good vibes and no nasty surprises.
Left Sahy, Slovakia and immediately crossed the border into Hungary. Our 8th country of the trip. Border, largely another Euro non-entity though there were a couple of bored looking guards pulling the odd caravan over.
In all the border confusion, we missed our turn off for the boonies but realised within half a mile or so and corrected our mistake.
We followed Route 1201, a secondary road both very quiet and picturesque. So much so, we agreed we could easily have been cycling around the cottage in Brittany.
Carried on for approx. 25 miles before an ice cream/pop stop at Szob, Hungary. No sign of Granville (allegedly of Hungarian parentage) or any stuttering Arkrights....
From Szob, we followed the river Danube until Nagymaros where we caught a little, bitty RORO ferry across the river to Visegrad.
Had a bit of a payment panic as we'd not been able to get any Hungarian cash since entering the country and we nearly missed the ferry as tickets were cash only. Miles came to the rescue by running around the town and finding an ATM that we'd previously thought was a phone box.
On the ferry, a nice Hungarian chap (also alleged cyclist) gave us lots of advice and apparent important info. on what we were about to embark on. Most we found, to be not necessarily so.....
Once on the south bank of the Danube, we picked up Route 11 (again a secondary road) and followed this along the river bank into Budapest.
Had a bit of a production trying to find the campsite as both Tom Tom and Michelin were telling porkies.
After a few circuits of what we thought was the correct area, we stumbled across 'Mini Camping' which is exactly what it proved to be.
The campsite was just like a big backgarden though clean enough and with most of the right kit.
Following the advice of the Marty Feldman like owner, we went for a stroll to pick up provisions for the evening meal. Unfortunately, Marty had neglected to advise us of the nearby ghetto which proved to be a 'nice' surprise.
Having circumnavigated the nasty area we came across that paragon of civilisation..... Macky D's.... Oh dear. Yes, we must admit, tonight we ate at that dreadful place.
In our defence, there was naff all else on the menu except perhaps a nice stabbing in da hood!
Had a pleasant evening constitutional along the banks of the Danube then found our way back to Gullivers Kingdom that was our itsy bitsy campsite.
Today again a pleasant and not too hilly total of 57 miles and 275m of ascent. Total trip 2309 miles.
Sunday 03 August 2008
Our miniature campsite was a bit of a rockers paradise until the early hours. Unfortunately, for Tracey, this lead to a sleepless night. For Miles, earplugs saved the day (well night anyway).
Overnight we had a bit of a rethink over our plans. We'd come to the conclusion, Budapest was not really an ideal cycle tourist destination. Too big and too many multi lane highways choked with too much traffic.
We decided to forego our planned rest and exploration day in favour of an early exit during the quieter hours of Sunday morning. This would hopefully enable us to avoid the worst of Budapest's rush and save our nerves and collective sanity.
We packed up and set off shortly after 09:00 in already very hot conditions Temps yesterday were near 30 degrees Celsius and it seemed not much lower overnight.
We followed a riverside bike path for a couple of miles towards Budapest centre until it petered out into a construction site.
There followed a myriad of turns, bumps, crossings and intersections but we somehow managed to avoid getting off route. Uncle Tom Tom was again most helpful.
We picked up Route 31 out of the city and got our heads down to crank out the miles.
Traffic very light and countryside East Anglian flat (once again) though scenic.
Due to the heat, we took regular pop and ice cream breaks though sadly CAKE once again was absent from our daily menu. Double disaster, looks like choccy will also be deleted from the preferred supplies list as it is now rapidly turning to gooey liquid.
We continued to enjoy the light traffic and pleasant surroundings until we arrived in Jaszbereny, Nowheresville, Hungary.
We did a quick circumnavigation of the town and cleverly followed 'bed' signs but missed the hotel they were pointing to.
After another circuit we showed real restraint in asking an ice cream vendor for directions whilst avoiding sampling the product.
In very short order, we were booked into a rather basic Guest House and in the downstairs bar cheering for Lewis Hamilton at the Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix. Shame we were not able to get tickets as the Hungaroring is just outside Budapest.
Dinner was taken in the very nice town centre at the 'Arizona Steak House', that well known Hungarian speciality!
After dinner, we completed the evening by stumbling across the hotel we'd been unable to find earlier. Happily, we didn't end up regretting the near miss too much.
Today a very very hot total of 59 miles and 160m of ascent. Total trip 2368 miles.
More Southerly ramblings to follow.
Back soon. Miles & Tracey.
