The original plan was to leave on Friday so that I could make it to Belgrade in time to go 200 km further south to Vrnjačka Banja. I was to meet friends at the Love Festival. Work put paid to that 😑
Never mind, I left Prague, 4 days later, on the 6am train to Budapest. The engine broke down in the arse-end of the Slovakian countryside. It was 3 hours before a replacement arrived, enough time for the stranded passengers to hold an impromptu party in a tiny nearby pub. It would have been rude not to join-in 😁
Czech trains are otherwise excellent, cheap, and well equipped for transporting bicycles. On-board breakfast was pretty good too!
More delays ensued as we were dumped off the train at the Hungarian border, told to board another, before being herded back onto the original which had somehow fixed itself. High comedy in the blazing sun. I’m travelling much lighter for this trip, so throwing the loaded bike between platforms was no problem.
Reaching Budapest Nyugati station after 3.30pm, I made a beeline for my starting point, – the Hungarian Parliament (Országház) and started south without delay. The aim for today is still to reach Dunaújváros, just over 80km on the flat.
I’ll be hugging the Danube all the way to Belgrade, so getting lost shouldn’t be an issue, nor should hills, except for a couple of steep climbs after Novi Sad, in Serbia. Also, the prevailing wind is north-westerly, so I fully expect to have the breeze behind me. 500km in 5 days should be no problem, even with plenty of stops for vittles and beer. My only concerns are the muggy heat (35 Celsius forecast), and the unavoidable clouds of mosquitos. West Nile virus has established around these parts, so I’ll be sure to slather myself in DEET come dusk.
It was close to 5pm before I hit EuroVelo 6. I made good progress along decent track, crossing the river several times until I reached the bridge at Dunaharaszti, but the damn thing was being repaired and was closed to cyclists. This required a 10km detour along a ridiculously busy and narrow trunk road.
When I eventually crossed the river the surface varied from bad to appalling. I needed my wits to avoid the precipitous camber and dodge the huge potholes. I was swerving like a demented chicken. A road bike would be totally destroyed.
After about 50km pleasant views of the Danube opened-up, lots of holiday villas and people out fishing or drinking wine on their private jetties. Vast fields of sunflowers were the norm. Along the way were many drinking water pumps which provided great relief from the heat, and I took every chance to douse myself with cold, fresh water.
I stopped short of my target, at a small town called Dömsöd where I found a nice campsite for 5 euro. After a dip in the river, and while pitching my tent, I was approached by some people who were pre-apologising for the noise . It turned out to be a Christian community group who were on a canoeing trip down the Danube. They invited me to dine with them – a delicious stew laced with paprika, which required copious amount of beer to restore homeostasis. Lovely people, they wouldn’t let me pay. Two brothers – both scientists – latched-on and we had a fantastic conversation about animal testing. Cool guys.
Pretty knackered after the long day, though happy with progress after the very late start. Looking forward to tomorrow. The mosquitoes are huge and aggressive, but I have their number. Well, let’s see how I look in the morning.