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Dunapataj to Mohàcs on The Danube Bike Trail

Posted on September 21, 2013June 8, 2014

A much warmer day in fact a thermometer I saw was reading 26 degrees at noon 🙂 Although when the sun went behind a cloud it soon dropped.

The first bit was through quite pretty villages all supporting a clutch of local shops & a Spar or Co-oP. Then it was back up to the top of the flood bank with its variable surface status, although they are trying to make it all ultrasmooth so that you will be able to rollerblade all the way soon.

I’m getting a bit fed up of the dikes as when you are up there all you can see on one side is a line of trees protecting the banks of The Danube on the other side a landscape akin to the fens. So maybe I should start taking the longer routes through the villages. Baja had quite a pretty waterfront, once you had left the heavily graffitied housing estates, the only problem is that I chose a bar that didn’t serve food 🙁 Whilst enjoying my drink in the sun by the river I thought it would be good to Facetime the kiddies, which worked perfectly in New Zealand, now it is almost useless due to those those damn patent trolls

Mohàcs seems a good little town lots of pensions, hotels, restaurants, bars & shops. The sculpture of three women in front of the town hall is intriguing, if only I could read Hungarian. It’s a pity I didn’t explore the place before checking in at the Szent Jànos hotel by the ferry, It’s a nice enough place but I’m sure the others would be cheaper.

Here is the Strava for todays 63 miles making it a total of 1,674 miles since leaving Cambridge. The pics for today can be found here

Budapest to Dunapataj on The Danube Bike Trail

Posted on September 20, 2013August 26, 2021

The things I can recommend The Hotel Rila for are it’s close proximity to the E6 cycleway through Budapest & the price,. Otherwise the breakfast is mediocre ,it’s a long way from any nightlife unless you are visiting the adjacent hospital. Plus the owner is a bit dour..

The sun was out and a tad warmer than of late. The two notables for me today were the varied road surfaces & the sheer amount of sculpture in Hungary.

The road surfaces varied from ultra smooth cycleways, deeply potholed tarmac, grass banks, mud tracks, old cobblestones narrow footpaths, tree route paths and raised pipes crossing the road! Unbelievable that it’s all meant to be the E6 European cycleway. In fact Hungary reminds me more of the UK in municipal stupidity than Germanic countries connected efficieny . e.g. In one spot outside Solt there is a perfectly good road that has been by-passed so perfect for biking etc. A priority for action with all the stuff that really needs doing? of cause – at vast expense its been narrowed, new tarmac laid with limestone edging. Just a pity that where it meets the new road they forgot to allow access. see the picture.

But one thing that Hungary does different than the UK is the classic sculptures, leaving Budapest in a renovated riverside area just full of lovely bronzes. I fell in love with this guy carrying his cases, the expression on his face was wonderful.

I met up with a young French couple on a tandem, The guy is a rugby player from Toulouse where they had started, so as you can expect I didn’t keep up with them for very long. But very interesting to talk to all be it very briefly 🙂

Tonights place Bringa Panzio (Warning: has a sound file) is ultra modern & really very well built & designed. A good find from AroundMe which I must say is a great app for when you are travelling. It has no fans, lifts & other man made noises However, the rain has just started on the Velux windows 🙁

Here’s the Strava for today’s 74 miles and now very nearly halfway down the Danube with 14 days in the saddle.

Todays pics are here

Danube biking Day 13 – Sturovo to Budapest

Posted on September 19, 2013June 8, 2014

Much better weather today with lots of sunshine. However, the temperature has markedly dropped. After some confusion over English numbers, she said €30 for last nights so called dinner but actually meant €13 with the beers.

The basilica in Esztergom looks pretty amazing although unfortunately I cycled past more interested in the bridge which was only rebuilt in 2001, 56 years after it was destroyed, obviously the Hungarians & Slovaks did not get on with each other. (interesting Wikipedia titbit – “Patrick Leigh Fermor walked from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople in 1933/34. His book A Time of Gifts ends on the bridge”

A quick ride along a semi decent cycleway & road to the ferry. Whilst waiting I discovered the derailleur was really loose 🙁 so a good reason for cleaning the bike periodically and poking around)

After the ferry its a gorgeous cycleway with fantastic views of the Danube as it does a major twist through the hills, be interesting to see the huge boats navigate around the S bend.

On the next ferry at Vac I met another pair of Germanic guys once again one lived in Vienna but this time the other guy was from Munich not Bremen 🙂 One of them had this time, like me, cycled all the way from Donaueschingen. Alas they finish in Budapest returning next year to go to Belgrade.

The hotel Centrooms House is a bit unusual been in a huge open courtyard on the first floor. It was OK, apart from the hum of some huge fan till 2am but it was very cheap & in the centre of bar life.

I make it that I’ve now biked 2678km since leaving Cambridge on the 3 August in 47 days with 12 rest days so far. Here’s the Strava:

All the pictures for today are here

The difference a day makes – Komatron to Sturovo

Posted on September 17, 2013April 8, 2021

Yesterday’s top notch cycling conditions were today replaced by heavy squally rain and temperatures down to 10 degrees 🙁 Plus the condition of the paths has noticeably detoriated.

The breakfast was disappoining but I guess it was cheap. First stop after getting kitted out in full wet weather gear was the Vodafone.hu shop to get one of their 1GB SIM’s for £9. The transaction was easy enough, once the new SIM was installed I was expecting the internet to be there like Switzerland, However, after much debate & discussion it transpires they need 48 hours to turn on the internet 🙁 Fortunately there is a lot of wide open WiFi here so I managed for today.

Then it was time to choose which side of the river to bike. The right Hungarian side seemed to have a lot of my hated artics with huge trailers so I went for the left Slovak bank with it’s broken footpaths & Roman ruins. So back over the bridge I went!

It started OK with the rain easing off the path was very bumpy but passable. The Roman ruins were a bit uninspiring so after a quick walk around. On I went into loads more rain and the pathway detoriating with the sand & mud from the last few floods. I was tempted by the ferry, but to access the ferry meant sliding down a narrow ramp. I continued through the rain & mud eventually reaching a cafe with a pair of guys doing The Danube in 5 day slices over several years. However today was to much for them so they sent for the missus to come & rescue them in her car!

I left and continued in the rain on a track with the mud getting deeper. Eventually I ended up pushing the bike through the goo and finding a way back to the road ;-( for a mud scraping session. By this time a gale was blowing behind me & I was wishing I had a spinnaker 🙂 The trucks blasting pass the other way were terrifying in the extreme as I was shot blasted with spray!

At Sturovo I saw the magical words Thermal Hotel and called it a day, washed the clothes and headed for the thermal pools to warm up. I booked a massage for 7pm. The massage was probably one of the most disappointing ones ever, even for €20. The guy had me lying face down for an hour whilst pummelling me and squeezing my very painful muscles around my ankles. It will be interesting to see what they will feel like tomorrow. Then it was off for an even more disappointing cold deep fried mushrooms, fish & potatoes for €11

I’m now booked into a hotel in Central Budapest via LastMinute.com so here’s hoping for a better day.

Today’s 34 mile ride makes it 42% of The Danube bikeway completed. Here is Strava for the day.

The photos are here