10 August 2008

Sunday 10 August 2008

Ate a very nice breakfast provided by the owner of our chosen Pension and made a reasonable start leaving around 09:15.

Our plan today is to cycle from Turda, Romania to Slimnic, Romania. A distance of approx. 50 miles.

Weather very overcast and a little chilly. Within a few miles, the clouds started to dump their contents for just long enough to soak our extremities, Gore-Tex protecting the important bits. The heavy rain shower was short lived and cleared off after half an hour or so....damage done.

We made short work of the Turda one way system and found ourselves riding east on the E60-15 towards Ludus and then onto our turn off point of Iernut.

The road initially followed the valley bottom and we had a brilliant tail wind pushing us along at warp speed.

We made a couple of refuelling stops at the customary hour and 2 hour marks At the first, we each had a mega Twix. At the second we shared a bag of mini croissants which qualified as our portion of CAKE for the day.

We turned due south onto Route 14a at Iernut and though the road was marked as an 'A' road on our maps, it quickly degenerated into a broken up bump fest. Not quite as bad as yesterday though it reduced warp speed to cruising speed.

The riding was once again in fantastic countryside, very varied though the towns and villages looked as though the American Infantry had called in airstrikes....

The road rolled on and up. We had a total of three significant ascents to a maximum altitude of 550m. Each of the climbs were gradual and zig zagged their way upwards.

At the top of the last climb, we stopped for coffee and crepes at a nice café. Shortly afterwards we were joined by 2 German cycle tourists who had been on the road for 4 days.

We chewed the fat with them for an hour or so before heading off to complete our last 10 or so miles into Medias.

After a fantastic descent, we scuttled around the Medias by-pass and so committed schoolboy/girl error number 1.

We were expecting accommodation on the outskirts of town and we were somewhat disconcerted to find......nowt.

Our choices were either to retrace our steps and go into the centre of Medias or peddle on. We chose the latter.

Bad news. There was the sum total of the square root of naff all for the next 27 miles when we stumbled across a suitable Pension in the small village/town of Slimnic, Romania.

Our day was a little longer than planned and we were very pleased to finally find somewhere to stay.

Despite this, we had a really good days cycling and Romania may well have redeemed itself after the first day's nightmare. We shall see tomorrow.

Today a more than intended total of 81 very enjoyable miles and a whopping 930m of ascent. Total trip 2792 miles.

More Southerly ramblings to follow.

Back soon. Miles & Tracey.

09 August 2008

Saturday 09 August 2008

The plan today takes us from Huedin, Romania to Turda, Romania. A distance of around 60 miles. Obviously our destination was chosen primarily due to the comedic value of its name (tee hee).

Decent breakfast in our hotel, again waited on by the Romanian equivalent of Basil Faulty (don't mention the war...).

Hit the road shortly after 09:00 and we were pleased to see a lot less traffic, particularly HGV's.

Weather much cooler and overcast today. Almost had to button up as temps were down to a 'chilly' 24 degrees Celsius. During the day, the skies made a couple of rather pitiful attempts at unloading the contents of the clouds on us but in both cases gave up after a few minutes.

Followed the main E60-1 due east for 20 miles. Along the way we had the delights of two (yes two) killer 1:10 hills, the second followed by a fantastic long descent. In both cases, the lower temps. helped us reach the tops slightly less saturated than usual.

Just outside the town of Gilau (probably twinned with our local Council rubbish dump), we made a beeline for our newest preferred confectionery supplier; OMV.

Unusually, it seemed 10,000 people also had the same idea as the place was heaving.

We soon discovered there was a very well attended car auction going on in the field next door and we were witnessing a Romanian car buying frenzy.

This was good news for us, as OMV still had sufficient supplies for Miles & Tracey to gorge themselves on warm Pain au Chocolate CAKES.

After refuelling, we jumped back into the throng and made our way back to the E60-1.

Within a couple of miles, we turned due south at the nonentity village of Luna de Sus to pick up 'B' and 'C' roads to our destination.

Due to the high levels of traffic yesterday, we decided to give the less popular roads a go instead. This could backfire however as we've seen the lesser roads degenerate into cart tracks elsewhere. We shall see....

Initially the going was good and we revelled in our traffic free environment and enjoyed Count Dracula's back garden.

Unfortunately, the roads quickly started to disintegrate and after a few miles became little more than a rubble chute.

Along our route we had another of those nasty ascents, this one probably 1:8 and very broken indeed. More 3rd world than Euro zone. The broken surface conspired to get us walking as traction was a bit hard to come by even though we had the lungs for the effort.

We were keen to see a bit of 'real Romania', well we certainly got it today Just a few miles from the main drag had us transported to an almost medieval scene. Many horses and carts, rutted cart tracks and little villages cut off from each other.

We did smile however when we witnessed a chap chatting idly on his mobile phone whilst steering his horse and cart.

The 'road' occasionally improved for short sections but soon degenerated into rubble fields again. All this had us travelling at a super slow pace and bobbing up and down out of the saddle to try and avoid damage to both Disharmony II and our nether regions.

We quickly abandoned our plan to explore any 'C' roads on the basis that if 'B's were this bad, 'C's' would be impossible on a laden road bike.

After too long, we joined Route 75 (an improving 'B' road) at Buru. There followed a lovely ride along a deep gorge into the outskirts of Turda (apparently twinned with Baghdad).

The town improved as we cycled through the outskirts and we made our way to 'Centru'. Eagle eyed Miles spotted the Tourist Info. Bureau where we booked our bed for the night in a nice clean Pension.

An hour or so later had us chomping through our lovely dinner and talking Romanian recent history with the well informed and fluent in English owner. Just as well her English was good otherwise it would have been a very short conversation.

Today, total of 61 very rough though lovely traffic fee, cool miles and 575m of ascent. Total trip 2711 miles.

More Southerly ramblings to follow.

Back soon. Miles & Tracey.

05/06/07/08 August 2008

Tuesday 05 August 2008

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.

04 August 2008

Monday 04 August 2008

After an exceptionally hot and sticky (uuugh) night, we skipped breakfast at our digs and hit the road just after 08:30.

The early start lasted just long enough to get around the next corner into the town centre. Breakfast was purchased from a supermarket and consumed al fresco (posh for eating outside) in the park.

Our plan today is to reach Eger, Hungary. A distance of some 50 odd miles, quite a bit of climbing and hopefully, mostly spent on 'B' and 'C' roads.

Finally set off in anger at around 09:30 in already extremely hot conditions. Forecast today is for 33 degrees Celsius....

Followed Route 2203 North (yes, North though what we were doing riding North during a North to South ride is a reasonable question) and followed this in delightful countryside to Gyongyos, Hungary.

Our first refuelling stop was made at their mega Spar. Pop and ice cream later, we were back on the road trying to dodge too much radiation.

From Gyongyos, we followed the 'A' road Route 3 for a couple of kilometres and then turned off once again for 'man's country' and some more 'C' roads.

Almost immediately, we were into Hungarian wine producers territory completely surrounded by vineyards.

Rolling countryside with the odd barsteward of a hill and lovely quaint villages were the order of the day all the way into Eger.

On arrival, unusually, we immediately spotted directions to the the camping site. More unusually, the site was where it was supposed to be though at the top of a real killer 1:3 climb. Just what is needed at the end of a day....

We pitched and without further ado, marched into the town centre for a gander.

We were expecting a medieval hill town and were somewhat surprised to find a bustling modern town centre complete with ultra modern shopping mall.

Despite this, the centre was very nice and we made full use of both its supermarket (ha Tesco's again!) and a very nice restaurant for dinner.

Pigged out, we tackled the mile and a bit walk back to the campsite for a gentle lie down.

Chatted to our neighbours on one side; some nice French lads and stoically ignored the Poles on the other who'd invaded our space and pitched within feet of our tent.

Tsssk. Johnny Foreigner, just doesn't know the form.

Tomorrow we have our delayed rest day, this time back on normal schedule. There's quite a bit of housekeeping to do so we're unlikely to get back into Eger until late afternoon.

Today more hot, hot, hot miles. Total 53 miles and a quite hilly 625m of ascent. Total trip 2421 miles.

More Southerly ramblings to follow.

Back soon. Miles & Tracey.

02 & 03 August 2008

Saturday 02 August 2008

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.

01 August 2008

Friday 01 August 2008

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.

31 July 2008

Thursday 31 July 2008

We've been away 6 weeks today! Yay!

Started the day with an attempt at breakfast in the Butlins canteen. Suffice to say, our first impressions didn't change with repeated exposure. Cereal was OK mind.

The plan today was to reach Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. A distance of approx 60 miles and the last instalment of the Tatra's for us.

The day dawned hot again though more overcast than of late which helped to keep temperatures more manageable on the ascents.

We left the hotel at around 09:30 to pick up Route 537 where we left off yesterday and straight into a delicious descent. This helped us to knock out the first 10 miles or so with little effort and in very short order. About bloomin time!

We crossed the main E50 motorway (uuugh) and continued on our way via Routes 18 and 72 in very light traffic.

Once complete, these two roads would see us traverse the Low Tatra's to add to the High Tatra's already knocked off over the past two days.

Shortly after crossing the motorway the road headed in an upwards direction from which it didn't deviate for the next 15 miles and nearly 700m.

We spun away with tired legs and flagging spirits until about halfway to the summit. A roadside restaurant beckoned.

Coffee, pop and choccy later, we were re-energised enough to complete the rest of the climb.

As the road levelled we took in the view, sipped some water and pointed Disharmony II downwards for the mother of all descents. 20 miles and 750m of descent later, the road levelled out.

At a confusing set of roadwork's, we attempted to make life difficult for ourselves by taking a wrong turn but after a couple of miles we discovered our error and turned tail.

We passed through the town of Podbrezova which appeared to have the biggest steel re-processing plant in the known universe. In fact, the plant seemed to be the whole town. When we get proper Internerd access, we'll check out what secret mission is being carried out there.

A few miles later we pulled over for the obligatory CAKE, coffee and weeee break. Shortly after stopping, we were sent a message from the Big Man and the heavens opened.

What followed was an uninterrupted couple hours of the heaviest rain, the thunderiest thunder and the ...oh you get the message!

We waited out the storm for a suitable lull and in full Gore-Tex, made a break for freedom.

30 seconds later, it all came down again. How we laughed.....

Within minutes we were drenched and had to pull in again as we could see neither the road nor the other road users.

We were still in good spirits though having effectively 'finished' the Tatra's on schedule and the warm rain and head to toe bath did nothing to dampen our mood.

Happily, in a slight let up, we spied a big orange sign advertising an hotel in a small town that we had just passed.

Our plan to reach Banska Bystrica was rapidly abandoned 10 miles from target in favour of an earlier finish with half a chance of drying out before morning.

'Abart Tarn' instructed Tracey and we legged it back up the road and splished and sploshed our way to the digs for the night.

We were pleasantly surprised with the hotel, the food and the price. Three out of three ain't bad.

Bet you can't guess what we had for dinner!? You bet, that Eastern European staple.....pi...oh you've guessed already!

Back to the room for a well earned gonk. Hopefully tomorrow will see a reduction in the climbing for a bit.

Today a moderately hilly, spectacularly descending and jolly damp total of 53 miles and 745m of ascent! Total trip 2181 miles.

More Southerly ramblings to follow.

Back soon. Miles & Tracey.