Well a few more countries down..Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia - for a quick overnight stay in Bratislava before heading into Hungary.
Current location Budapest
I promised myself that I'd go through my journal and pick out interesting bits to put into the next email, but here i am in a net cafe, thinking that I need to send an update and I don't have the journals with me. Doh! (Hey, I just realised I have typed all of the above without thinking - It's a US keyboard on a PC with English as a Locale.. Yippee)
Please check the map from http://www.whereonearthisjeff.com/ for where I've been. I continued along the Elbe/Labe River to just above Prague then followed the cycle route down into Prague. Staying in a Hostel in Prague was a nice change from picking off Ticks in the tent, then leaving Prague on my birthday travelled east toward Brno to pick up a bit more of the Czech experience before heading down into the Vienna corner of Austria. Again a couple of days in Vienna in the luxury of a Hostel room before a just in time arrival into central Bratislava (Slovakia capital) As I approached Bratislava the sky ahead turned black and when I got to the river bank opposite the city centre I needed to find shelter fast. (From the previous week I knew the pattern, very overcast and wettish in the morning, stinking hot in the afternoon then the thunder & lightening wind and downpours starting between 5 & 6pm and continue into the early evening before the really strong wind and rain disappear until the same time tomorrow.) There was the UFO bridge that I could have stood under, but it would take hours to clear (as long as it followed the pattern) and then I'd have to find a home. Fortunately for me, just past this area the river bank turns into a once loved but no longer loved type of river bank, and there is bush that just sits there waiting for travellers like me to make a home in. So once again i camped 1.5km from the main city centre in bushland with nobody knowing I was there. The first drops came as I pushed in the last pegs and in the next 15 minutes I collected almost a litre of emergency water (in my billy and into a cup off the door of the tent fly (as I'd not had time to find fresh stocks). I didn't have to use this water and tipped it out the next day, but it was nice to know it was available if I needed it, and it was a good measure of the intensity of the rain
From Bratislava the path continues along the Danube (which I'd basically followed from Vienna, and will continue to follow when I leave Budapest) and I left the bike path just before the Hungarian border and headed for the varied scenery of the road and villages instead of the view of the top of a levy bank with trees either side. The Hungarian border crossing was an unofficial one - much nicer than the official one between Czech & Austria (that's another story), and I've stayed largely on roads, some of which have been the official cycle route along the Danube and others which have not (yet another story).
The border crossing to exit Czech Republic is one I'll remember. It was manned by an official that unfortunately for travellers, has nothing better to do. She was dressed for the part too. Very official, never the crack of a smile. and typed in perfect civil service manner, one button at a time using her pen the press the keys (after studying the keyboard to locate the right letter). She copied manually all the information from the first info page of my passport and finally let me through. As soon as I started riding I found I had my first ever flat tyre. Checking the tyre there was no visible puncture item, so I opened it up to find the tube had a pair of cuts from the rim, where I had hit an extremely sharp edge on a gutter to get over from the cycle path onto the roadway to where the gestapo woman was. I thought the tyres were rock hard , but obviously not quite as the rim contacted the tube and pinched holes in it on this extremely sharp edge. I big patch over the two holes fixed it and it hasn't been a problem since. So the reputation of the Schwalbe Marathon XR tyres lives on, they haven't let me down yet, no punctures through them. The entry into Austria a kilometre down the road was a complete contrast. The officer there saw the BCN stamp in the passport and asked if I'd come from Berlin. I said that the stamp in the passport should say BCN for Barcelona as that's where I entered the EU. He asked where I'd been and then couldn't stop saying Super, Super.
The other story i mentioned above was about Hungarians roads. They have this official route that follows the Danube from way back before Vienna where I joined it, all the way to the black sea (through many countries). All other roads within cooee (in hungary) get a sign banning bikes. Which I, like any locals that need to travel there ignore. Fortunately the motorists too are aware that there is no alternative road to Highway 1 (except the motorway) and so they never bother tooting or getting impatient that you shouldn't be on the road. I even went through a police road block without a comment from them - on a road marked as no bikes (or tractors or horse drawn carts). Such a contrast to BeNeLux were if you so much as look at a road the motorists will blow you away with there horns.
Well I should be out exploring Budapest - having arrived this morning after a leisurely 30km ride fro a place called Dunabogdany. (Gotta luv the name)
Here for a couple of days at least.
jeff
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http://www.whereonearthisjeff.com/
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