31 May 2016 (sunny and hot!) 112km

We woke early this morning at 5.45am and decided to get underway as it looked like it was going to be another hot one.  I think that was Pete’s reasoning anyway, or maybe it had more to do with not having any breakfast and he wanted to get to a supermarket.

So as soon as we packed up the tent, first thing on the agenda was finding somewhere that was open that sold milk.  We cruised along a very flat, smooth and pleasant road for 5km until the next village and I went inside to buy milk, yoghurt, bread and bananas.  But when I went to pay, I only had the coins in my purse, not any notes as I had removed these the night before as I didn’t want to flash any money around in front of the young men looking after the camp.  I went out to get the money from where I thought I had put it, but it wasn’t there.  It was 1500 Hungarian florins, which might sound like a lot but it’s only about ten bucks.  However, it was the only money any good to us here so it meant the world to us.  After racking my brains I remembered having put it in a small tin we weren’t using anymore – a small tin we threw in the rubbish at the campground we’d just left!

Saw this stork stalking round this field as I waited for Pete

So we hightailed it back there, Pete at a much faster rate of knots than me as he was fuming a bit seeing as he hadn’t had his muesli, so I gave up halfway along and rearranged my bags while I waited for his return.  He didn’t take long and luckily the money was in said tin in the bin where he could get it.  So we returned to the shop and bought our breakfast and not far out of town found a lovely shaded picnic table to eat.

While we ate we heard a woodpecker pecking hard on one of the trees so we crept up to have a look as we’ve never seen one in real life before.  Then we left him in peace and carried on our merry way.  And merry it was.  Lots of crops, colourful orange and purple coloured poppies growing between, nice houses in the villages with lovely gardens.  There have been copious amounts of white buddleia, laburnum and what looks like our native clematis over the last week and the scent is beautiful as you cycle along.  At the end of one street, we saw a telephone pole with a huge stork nest built on top of it and the stork standing in the nest!  It is such a huge bird and looked a bit precarious in this nest on top of the pole.  Managed to get a few photos of it and was pleased it didn’t fly away.  Then we realised it was feeding it’s young as it seemed to be regurgitating into the nest.  Either that or it had a hard night last night.

Just past the phone pole was an information map so we stopped to take our bearings and two helpful Hungarian chaps pulled up in their car to offer their assistance.  It was good they did because they showed us where we were on the map and it’s not where we thought we were.  While we talked, a second stork flew into the nest and when I started taking photos, the guys informed me that they had just arrived from Africa and they come back to the same nest every year to have their young.  Then they take their young in September back on the long flight to Africa.

Absolutely magnificent looking birds

These two gave us some good advice on our chosen route and suggested we head back to the Danube as it was really nice down there.  They asked if we kept a blog so they could follow us so we gave them our blog address and one of the guys handed over his business card.  I only looked at it properly after they had jumped in their car and left – his name was Attila….seriously, Attila the Hungarian?!!  (Well, it was one of his names anyway and we couldn’t help having a little chuckle).

So we set off for the cycle path along the Danube again but we were not impressed.  There was for starters not as much variety of stuff to look at but the big downside for us was the gravel road surface.  There were lots of little potholes and ruts which you could handle if you were only riding your bike for a couple of hours but when you’re riding all day, every day and have been for the past month, your bottom appreciates a smoother ride.  Plus because of all the bumps, we had to slow our speed right down so couldn’t generate enough of a breeze to cool us down and it was like cycling in an oven.  We endured five long dusty kms until we came to the village of Puski and gratefully went back to the road.  However, the road was no longer as delightful as it had been.  The potholes were more plentiful and so was the traffic.  We often had a cycle lane at the side of the road but it too, was often very bumpy.  However it could have been worse.  It was flat and the sun was shining so we just plodded along, stopping briefly for an energy fix from a local bakery until we eventually arrived at Gyor about 1pm.

This city was a delightful surprise.  We suspect it is a university town as it is full of young people and seems very vibrant.  There are a lot of old buildings and churches and a lot of construction and roadworks going on.  They seem determined to build on the assets they have here and in another few years it will be quite the tourist town I would think.  The water in the canal looks very dirty but they seem to have recently rebuilt the canal walls so hopefully cleaning up the water will be next on their agenda.

We hadn't been inside a church for awhile so decided the time was right....as it was extremely hot outside

After visiting the WC we started looking for Tourist Information.  Pete approaches a young lady and asks her if she speaks English.  “A little” she replied modestly as they often do over here when in actual fact they know hundreds of words and communicate very effectively.  Pete then proceeds to baffle her by asking in his best Italian accent for the Touristo Informacion?  She gives us very good directions despite this and we find it no problem and get some info on camping grounds in Hungary.  Then it’s off to the supermarket to buy lunch (two buns, 100gm ham, 100gm camembert, a tomato, a can of Radler beer, two pastries all for $8 NZ!).

We couldn’t find anywhere to swim but got close with a paddling pool in a shady park where we ate our lunch and dried out the flysheet from the condensation of last night.  Then a further look around Gyor and a trip to McCafe for an Iced Coffee and some free wifi (which cost the same as our entire lunch, but is still cheaper than NZ).  They played Five Seconds of Summer’s “Amnesia” as I sat waiting for photos to upload which reminded me immediately of Georgina and the video she made to this song over a year ago.  While I uploaded the blog, Pete got tonight’s dinner sorted and directions to get out of town. 

Oh yes…directions to get out of town. Just follow Eurovelo  6, that will get you where you want to go. So we did….and it didn’t..! In fact Eurovelo 6 took us all over the district and on some of the worst tracks imaginable. We’d left Mc Donalds at just after 5pm, thinking no more than an hour and a half and we’ll be at the campground at Acs.  Evening is not a good time for us. We either can’t find the route we want….the route we want suddenly comes to a complete stop….the signs either no longer exist or they are covered with bushes or we miss a sign.  Tonight we followed the signs but when you are fully laden and are looking at 100kms plus for the day, the last thing you need is a mountain bike trail.  After what seemed an endless amount of time, we finally hit a decent road and made good time for the next 10kms, before turning off onto a potholed road which varied in quality, from bad to worse.  

A quick shot of a typical road, one pothole repair after another.  This was taken on the run as we wanted to find a campground before dark.

When we say the roads are bad, we're not kidding!

By 7.45pm we were picking up a treat from a supermarket closing at 8pm, before leaving Acs on the road to Komarom and not a second too soon, as it was becoming rather seedy. From what we’ve seen of Hungary so far, it is prospering in its agricultural endeavours and there are crops everywhere. Some of the scenery today was gorgeous and the views at the tail end of the day, when we had climbed to oversee the landscape, were just like the English countryside. Arrived at the campground where a lovely guy took a shine to Julia and brought her loads of info on the surrounding district and Budapest.  More importantly he sold her two cold beers for $1 each which we enjoyed with our meal and after a coffee, we turned in for the night, suitably tired.