Rest day in Eger, Hungary. No miles planned, no height to gain just lots of dossing and scratching of bellies...
Overnight, we had a rainstorm of mammoth proportions and luckily, didn't get washed away. We were surprised however, to see animals abandoning the campsite 2x2.
Made a late start for a change and after breakfast, Tracey visited the local facilities (river) to bash some clothes on rocks... Well, she did a load of washing at the campsite sinks.
Whilst this was going on, Miles was giving Disharmony II some much needed TLC. Unusually this involved the replacement of yet another drive chain, the last having worn out in less than 1000 miles.
Luckily, we were able to pick up another replacement in a bike/chainsaw/computer(?) shop passed en route yesterday.
The amount of drive train wear is testament to the hillyness of the terrain we've been passing through and hopefully, the tandem's appetite for parts will reduce now we're passed the Tatra's... Maybe....
The afternoon was spent turning....both the washing on the (Miles rigged) line and our bodies as we dossed about in the tent.
Dinner was taken back in the town at the same restaurant we ate at yesterday. Sadly, overnight the quality had nosedived and the food and service were very disappointing. Miles had a near (alcoholic) miss when the waiter (dumb of dumber fame) delivered the devils brew instead of the more acceptable alcohol free alternative.
Watched a bit of a Hungarian folk festival as we sauntered back to the campsite munching on ice cream.
Got back to the campsite and bumped into a couple of Kiwis doing their world tour. They'd driven their camper van from Taunton, all over the UK and arrived in Eger via the scenic route. Had a good natter and it was nice to have an English speaking interlude for a change. Also turns out, they live in the same one horse town in NZ (Nelson) as another couple of Kiwi friends of ours...small world.
Back in the saddle tomorrow.
Wednesday 06 August 2008
The plan today is to ride from Eger, Hungary and finish in Debrecen just short of the Hungarian/Romanian border. Total distance of around 80 miles.
Awoke early due to our Polish neighbours (apparently) packing and leaving before dawn. When we emerged from the tent, we were disappointed to find, they'd just gone for the day.
Met another couple of cycle tourists at the site who had travelled from the Netherlands via Austria and the Danube. Their plan was also to cycle to Debrecen though over two days.
Packed up and left the campsite around 09:30. As usual, we had a bruiser of a hill to start our day.
Found the exit from town easily and stopped en route at our new favourite service station (OMV) for daily supplies. Happily, this did include a goodly ration of high quality CAKE.
In climbing temps. and sunny skies, followed rolling secondary roads 2501 and 2502 to Mezokovesd, Hungary.
Just outside Mezokovesd, we collected our second puncture of the trip which Miles fixed by the roadside. Not bad going, 2 in 2500 miles though shhhhhh, don't let anyone hear that....
From Mezokovesd, we followed secondary road 3305 to a mini RORO ferry at Arokto. Lovely countryside, nice villages and zero traffic. Brilliant cycling
As we left Arokto, we came across a couple of cars stopped in the road with the owners engaged in an intense discussion. It transpired, the ferry was out of service as the river was running too high which stopped the essential RORO bit.
A bit miffed, we turned tail and retraced our hard won steps to pick up the next viable river crossing.
More lovely countryside and ace cycling later, we found ourselves about 30 miles from our starting point though having cycled 65 miles to get there! Hmmmmmm.
We rejoined the main Route 33 which led all the way to Debrecen. En route, we bumped into our Dutch compadres whom we met this morning. They had managed a paltry 30 miles and were planning a stop at the next town.
We also stopped short of our intended destination at a campsite in Hortobagy, Hungary. With the extra, unnecessary mileage we clocked up a total of 93 miles and the extra distance to Debracen would have pushed this into the 130's.....too much.
Dinner was had at a nice restaurant across the road and we sampled our first, genuine Hungarian Goulash. Unfortunately, this was accompanied by a Frenchman with verbal diarrhoea.......
Today more hot and not so amusing unnecessary excess miles. Total 93 miles and a pretty flat 145m of ascent. Total trip 2514 miles.
Thursday 07 August 2008
Today we plan to reach Oradea in Romania from our starting point of Hortobagy in Hungary. This is an expected distance of 65 miles and will see us chalk up our 9th country of the trip.
The day started well when we met a nice Swiss couple at the campsite who regaled us with tales of their 3 year odyssey to Africa and Asia in a 6 wheel drive armoured ex-prison van. As if this wasn't enough, they did it with their 'new' 2 month old kid in tow!
Very interesting stories, these two made the cycling Swiss couple we met in Finland look sane....
Unfortunately, too much chat had us on the road later than planned and at nearly 10:00, we set off into the morning heat and sunshine.
Our first 25 miles or so due east had us making up yesterday's shortfall to Debrecen. The roads were flat, arrow straight for 10's of miles at a stretch and accompanied by the most evil headwind known to man.
Having skipped breakfast due to the chatting, we arrived at the outskirts of Debrecen a bit knackered to say the least.
We easily navigated our way through the town and the homing beacon must have been functioning as we shortly found ourselves standing in front of the biggest Tesco store we had ever seen
The old adage of never shopping whilst hungry should have been applied as Miles emerged from the store 30 mins later with two carrier bags laden with sugar filled goodies.
After double helpings of CAKE and a litre of pop each, we felt both a little queasy and re-energised in equal measure.
Recharged, we hit the ring road to take us towards the Romanian border.
At this point we also turned due south and away from the spiteful headwind we'd 'enjoyed' from the start of the day.
Due to the unfeasably long place names now, we adopted our own system based on peoples first names.
En route to the border, we visited, Mike, Sara, Derek, Betty and Peter. These towns all have names with at least 20 letters in them and many syllables. Too much for our addled brains.
We reached a real country border for a change. Romania only joined the EU in 2007 and clearly have not got used to the idea of ceding sovereignty to the Eurocrats in Brussels.
We were asked to produce our passports by a real live customs official and then demonstrating a modicum of humour, he asked for the papers for Disharmony II.
'On yer bike' would have been an appropriate response but of course we were too polite.
During the run out of the border zone, there were hundreds of HGV's stacked ready to be processed through the border.
Again, our new Romanian cousins haven't quite got the idea of open borders and reduced bureaucracy between the EU member states. Perhaps they'll get the idea in a year or so and make all their customs men redundant.
In busy traffic we made our way into the outskirts of Oradea. This part of the city looked really grim with several closed down, rust coloured industrial plants peppering the route in.
As we followed the signs for 'Centru' and dodged the traffic, we stumbled across a respectable looking and alleged 4 star hotel.
Before you could say 'bugger me, that looks nice', we were booked in and lounging in our room.
DISASTER!!! At this point we discovered we'd left our UK to funnyeurojohnyforeignerdodgyelectricery adapter in a previous hovel. Double drat!
OK. Necessity being the mother of invention, in short order, Miles had fashioned a 'work around' from a hotel table lamp and some insulating tape and he now sports a very fetching frizzy hairstyle.
Dinner was had in the very pretentious hotel restaurant and was actually quite nice though we were served by a Mr. Bean act alike.
Later we had a double doh moment when we realised we'd 'lost' another hour by passing into the Romanian time zone. Mind it felt more like 50 years at times......
Today more hot, flat, straight and bum burning miles. Total 71 miles and 120m of ascent. Total trip 2585 miles.
Friday 08 August 2008
With the big miles of the past couple of days and having missed an hour's sleep, we started the day feeling a little jaded.
Breakfasted at the hotel which was a splendid affair.
Shortly afterwards, we were amused to see a couple of businessmen 'parting company' with their economic overnight companions.
The plan for today is to dispatch the 60 miles to Huedin, Romania and in fact in the middle of Transylvania.
Left around 09:00 into the bustle of the Oradea rush. Thankfully the rust coloured architecture of yesterday had been replaced with some lovely Baroque buildings which was much better.
We got our heads down in very hot temps. and very heavy traffic. We've notice an immediate change in HGV driver behaviour, the Romanian's being very aggressive bordering on witless at times.
The villages we passed through were more run down than we'd seen elsewhere though the scenery was very pretty. We also saw our first shoeless beggar children of the trip and the whole place had a bit of a depressed air to it.
Though the HGV drivers did their best to force us into the shrubbery, the public at large were very welcoming and beeped and waved as they passed by.
About halfway to our destination, we met another pig of a hill and gained over 600m up a 1:10 hill in the midday heat.
We were both dripping (and gasping) as we crested the summit though the descent down the other side was surprising free from HGV intervention. Unfortunately this did not last long.
We carried on fighting the heat and trying to keep on the white line at the side of the road to avoid any HGV aggression.
A little later, this proved our undoing when the bike dropped off the edge of the tarmac and spun back across the road spitting it's precious cargo of Miles & Tracey off in the process.
Fortunately, we seemed to be in a rare non-traffic bubble and we somehow avoided getting in anyone's way.
After rolling around a bit, we scuttled to the side of the road. We then tended a bit of first aid to poor Disharmony II, checked each other out (not necessarily in that order) and got on our way.
As we arrived in Huedin, we were both equally unimpressed and cycled straight out of the other side.
We then found a roadside hotel for the evening that was better than it looked.
Checked in, showered, changed, ate and slept.
Today more hot, traffic infested (and at times acrobatic) miles. Total 65 miles and 655m of ascent. Total trip 2650 miles.
More Southerly ramblings to follow.
Back soon. Miles & Tracey.
