Bratislava to Budapest by bike - (part 4 - Esztergom to Budapest)

So the rains arrived and stayed all day but undaunted, and possibly still fast asleep, we set off to cycle the remaining 75kms to Budapest - not the wisest decision as within 2 mins we were all drenched and the April showers showed no signs of letting up.

Unfortunately, the cycle path along the road appears and re-appears so the merry foursome had to cycle along the road which, thankfully due to it being a national holiday, was not too busy.

As the sight of Visegrad castle hove into view, appearing and disappearing behind the low lying cloud that served to make it further and further away, we stopped for a coffee and someone made the observationt hat we had seen no other cyclist despite covering 30kms - now call me a cynic but there were probably 3 or 4 reasons for that

1) It was a national holiday
2) The  road is not ideal for cycling along
3) It was monsoon style rain
4) The rain was not due to stop all day

Having boosted morale with caffeine and chocolate, we proceeded to push on to Szentendre - again on a mixture of roads and cycle paths and through a cloud where we stopped for lunch - a lunch that then extended as we took an executive decision in unison that the HEV back to Budapest was the most sensible option - agreement reached, Steven and I ordered another beer pleased that the gilrs had made a decision that we wanted to make but didn't want to appear as a pair of wooses!

Finally made it back to the flat at about 5.30  in the evening having cycled back along the riverbank in the smallest hint of sunshine.

All told, we cycled 255kms in 3 days (and 20kms on the HEV) - not a bad achievement considering that we had no experience of cycling long distance in the past, but I am not sure that we will be in a rush to repeat it, although apparently the route round Lake Balaton is supposed to be very good and with some vineyards along the way, it might be somewhere to check out (although this idea has not been checked with Katy yet).

Bratislava to Budapest by bike - (part 3 - Gyor to Esztergom)

Setting off on Easter Sunday morning, we did suspect that we might need some form of miracle to get us going and out of the city - luckily after cycling for about 20 mins past seemingly identical concrete tower blocks on the outskirts of the city, we managed to pick up what constituted the cycle path. But not before we had had to ask one old Hungarian gentleman, who bible in hand appeared to be on his way from church and decided that the usual game of confuse the tourist was not a suitable game for Easter Sunday, and a helpful garage attendant after the usual game of 'Nem beslek magyarul, beslesz angol?' 'Nem beslek angol, beslez nemetul', and so in a mix of Hungarian, German and English (hundeutlish, which seems to be a good lingua franca for tourists outside of Budapest).

After about an hout of cycling along a relatively quiet road and crossing over the M1 motorway, we found a hill, yes a hill on the Carpatian basin, something to break up the monotony of the rolling plains - and on top of the hill was the biggest collection of wind turbines, we had ever seen - unfortunately, by some feat of engineering brilliance, the wind turbines were posted on the top of the hill and it was a wind tunnel - not so brilliant was the fact that the route took us up the afore mentioned hill and into the afore mentioned wind - needless to say, sense of humour was struggling somewhat and it was not even midday. Coming down the hill was a more pleasurable experience, although the presence of around 200 birdboxes in the trees a long the side of the road was alittle more striking.

The route then took us back across the motorway and a long a dirt path alongside the main Budapest - Vienna train track - despite several attempts at the internationally recognised action for honk your horn, only one train obliged - leading me to the conclusion that the Jet Train trains (linking the 2 airports) are driven by Austrians with no sense of adventure or sympathy for lunatic cyclists whilst the local Hungarian services are a little more friendly.

Eventually we arrived in Komaron where we had planned to stop for lunch - this is an interesting town (apparently) as half of it is is in Slovakia and speaks Slovakian and uses Euros, whilst the other half is in Hungary and does Hungarian stuff - we thought this might be a little bit of novelty but then when the Lonely Planet to Hungary doesn't even credit it with a mention, you know you have guessed wrong on the side of the river to cycle upon (compare the 2 wikipedia entries for more evidence)

Hungarian one

Slovakian one

Unfortunately, upon leaving the rather disappointing town of Komaron, and completely missing its far more interesting twin, we proceeded to effectively enter what can only be described as the twilight zone - after another 20kms where morale had reached breaking point, we arrived at the gates of a derelict factory in a place called Almasfuzito - claim to fame, it was bombed during WWII as it had an oil refinery - current status, pretty much as we suspect it was left in 1944, although there was a working train station offering trains back to Budapest and at this stage in the day, if the train had been at the platform it would have had two bikes and riders on it - but 'luckily' we had missed one and didn't fancy waiting around in the land of the living dead for an hour for the next one. After a stop in the only bar showing signs of life, and I mean this in an abstract fashion, and some emergency chocolate intaking, we pushed on towards Esztergom - not before having used the facilities in the station which take some element of experience to be believed. I reckong the town would benefit from a sign like this one

It was like the setting for some independent horror film - 2 young, naive English tourists on a cycling holiday arrive in the Hungarian countryside. Having stopped in the local bar and eventually extracting themselves from the attentions of the local drunks, who view them as fresh conversation practice, our young protagonists spy a glimpse of civilisation in the railway station and proceed to try and understand when the next train to civilisation might be (cue, hilarious usage of hundeutlish). Whilst waiting for the train to arrive, our hero makes his way into the station building pushing open the door that has dropped on its hinges and screetches like a banshee, awakening something dark that lives in the depths and comes to investigate...

Anyway, in the real world, Katy and I decided not to wait around and see if the cast of the 'Land of the Living Dead' or any other George Romero movie were about to arrive and, having also discovered that Hungarian buses wont let you take bikes on them, mounted our trusty steel steeds and set off to try and re-discover the Danube, which mercifully we did after about 5kms and the whole atmosphere lifted as we appeared to be back in the realms of the living.

As the Basilica in Esztergom started to appear on the horizon, we stopped to have a celebratory chocolate croissant to celebrate the fact that we had covered 100kms in a day - against the combined efforts of the wind, dust, traffic and the zombie residents of Almasfuzito. Only to then find it was another 15kms in Esztergom but we finally made it to our hotel to take a well deserved shower and wait for Steven and Helena who has decided to come and join us for the final leg into Budapest the following dinner.

After an interesting dinner in a pork knuckle specialist restaurant, we decided that taking a walk across the bridge in Sturovo in Slovakia was in order and so proceeded to follow the noise emanating from the only bar in town that appeared to have late opening on a Sunday evening to find pints of Zlaty Bazant for 1 Euro a go! On the walk back into Esztergom and Hungary, the clouds started to gather and it became obvious that the rain threatened for the weekend has started to arive (late in typical Hungarian fashion).

Esztergom is a really pretty town, a little bit like the Hungarian equivalent of Canterbury, being the centre of the Hungarian Catholic church and we will be back to have a proper look over the summer - especially as the only times I have been previously are to play rugby which has not always been a great experience!

Esztergom

Prague - Euro-pop overkill

Well, it had to happen at some stage I suppose - I am now sitting in a European taxi listening to the crazy frog singing about going to a disco!

To cap it off, the traffic is so bad that the driver is Facebooking (I think his status says the traffic is a mare on the river road), checking the GPS for a better route (I hope), texting and playing with his CD player - yes, he seems to have chosen the crazy frog tune from his favourites

Well that pilsner is getting more and more tasty by the metre (we have stopped measuring time as the stopwatch has maxed out!)

The Crazy Frog

Bratislava to Budapest by bike - (part 3 - Bratislava to Gyor)

Getting out of Bratislava was a bit of a mission as finding the cycle path along the top of the Danube dyke was not the easiest task in the world but once we did, it is pretty hard to go wrong as it is a straight line down the river. (please note who has all the panniers on their bike!!)

Lots and lots of bird life on the river - Tufted and Mandarin ducks, Little Grebes, Herons, Buzzards, Kestrels, Gulls, Pied Wagtails and Skylarks to name a few all joining to make a fair about of noise in places.

We have also seen the major hydro-electric dam on the river which is a feat of engineering, been chased by dogs (not much fun), crossed a border (never done that on a bike before) and spent most of the day in Slovakia, as well as seeing some pretty ramdon stuff such as 20 street lights that were on the side of the river but with nothing to light up aside from the cycle path - but in the middle of nowhere, very bizarre.

In all honesty, the cycle path is pretty boring as it is along the top of the Danube dyke - all the village along the way are off the beaten track and so there is nowhere to stop en route which makes for a long days cycling when there is no food or drink stops to be had.

Just arrived in Gyor having cycled 86kms and now staying in an old monestary in the city centre - the city is in the process of having some major renovation work done to the central square and looks like it will be a pretty well looked after spot when it is all finished - with fountains and cafes set out on the cobbles. The City Hall is evidence that the city once had money although it looks like it has been living on some faded glory for a while.

Gyor

Bratislava - Budapest by Bike - (part 2)

Having arrived just after 8am and managing to get lost trying to find the hotel - quite an achievement given that Bratislava is not very big, we spent a good day waking around and visiting the city - spying out the key statues around the city

- the workman in his manhole

- the photographer snooping at Paparazzi

- the Dandy with his top hat

- the French man

- the Kids' postbox

We also managed to squeeze in a visit to walk round the outside of the castle which is deep in restoration as well as the Primatial palace and its hall of Mirrors, where Napolean and Francis I signed the treaty of Pressburg in 1805.

It really is a great little city with some wonderful architecture, some great examples of Communist building like the New Bridge with its UFO and some great restaurants.

The Old City walls are still visible in a number of parts of the city and must have been an imposing obstacle to anyone trying to get in, which I suppose is the idea behind them - unfortunately only one of the old city gateways still exists.

The old city centre itself is a UNESCO World Heritage with lots of cobbled streets, low buildings and ornate decorations - Katy also managed to find the narrowest house in Europe - only slightly bigger than her armspan - worryingly enough, it contains as a kebab house so customers cant eat too much or they will never get out the door again.

 

Our B and B was top notch and well worth a booking should you ever be in town whilst the 3 Musketeer themed restaurant was a great place for dinner.

Bratislava to Budapest - by bike (part 1)

24 hours late to be an April Fool prank, the earl went off at 4am to ensure that we arrived at Keleti station with plenty of time to work out the complicated bike rack system in the cycle carriage, before the 5.28am departure to Bratislava.
In Hungary, you can travel on any train you like, but should you dare to want to do something as daft as cycle, then the options of train times are somewhat limited - namely, 1 train a day to Bratislava. I can only assume that this is done out of the goodness of their hearts, and copious MAV research, that has shown people want a full day cycling down the Danube path, but for those wanting to have a day to explore Bratislava, it also works quite well.

Empty train, costing less than 40 GBP for 2 people for a 2 1/2 hour train trip, including the 5 GBP per bike - how far in advance would you need to book that on trainline to get that price? And the best bit about it, it comes complete with a Sancho Panza)a look alike train conductor, complete with breast pocket bientot of 9 silver topped pens - a magnificent site to accompany us on our way!

With the bikes hanging from their transport racks, looking a little like stags in a highland chillies hut, we are now wending our way through the Hungarian countryside towards Slovakia and the delights of the old town of Bratislava - hopefully there are no stag dos in town. The train follows the route of the river, but very thoughtfully from the opposite bank to the one we will cycle along taking in the sites of Vac and Visegrad, as well as Esztergom, Komaron and Gyor - all of which we will pass through coming back this weekend.
Currently Visegrad castle is wreathed in mist and low cloud but the forecast for Monday is sunshine and a better photo opportunity than one that has been afforded so far.