Danny Beer - A tour of Eurasia

You move on. It will be dark enough as it is. Thanks for the unnecessary wait though. So you arrive in Bratislava. Finally. And get to the hostel. Sorry. We are full. Fuckers. There are some other hostels nearby though and if you do happen to luck out you can pitch the tent in the backyard of the 1st place. Did you mention yet that it is 8 degrees outside?

12—4 Bratislava to Komarno. 118 km

After a shite couple nights in a hostel being woken up all through out the night by drunken douchebags it is certainly time to leave this place. And what wonderful weather to accompany you along the way. Rain

That’s right, it rains. All day. Without letting up. Lucky you. The ride is quite nice up beside the river. You overtake some sort of ferry. The river on the left is a couple meters below but the land on the right is much further below the water line. Now that looks ominous. Soon however you find the damn and the lock. The water downstream is sever meters lower. Ahhh.

Crossing over the bike trail loses the pavement. Speed drops as you ride on gravel. Good fortune, a sign says just 42 km to go, is immediately followed by bad, flat tire.

At last Komarno is found and none too soon. Pensions here are expensive though. A relatively cheap room is found.

From Komarno it is over the bridge and welcome to home of the Magyars. Important interneting trying to sort out the invitation letter for the Ukraine visa has you wasting an hour or so. You need to transfer some money over for the visa but there aren’t enough spaces in the boxes provided over the internet. So walk into a bank stupid. So you do. Transfer, no problem. But only if you have an account. Fuck.

The day countiey. Apparently day. Wet. It rains the whole day. Apparently the Danube bike trail follows the Danube river but for most of the way there is no bike trail. Just a busy road with lots of trucks. It probably would have been better to just ride the direct route straight to Budapest then. Or stay North of the river contrary to the signs.

Part of the signed route has you on a ferry crossing but although there is a ferry it doesn’t seem to be doing any crossing. Another time waster. Coming in to Budapest it is already night. The inevitable happens. Bam. A flat. Not so nice.

Finaly the hostel is found. Yay Somehow everything is put into the lift and hauled up 4 flights of stairs. But somehow something sometime abouts went wrong. A big gash in the side of the tire is found. Ruined. Destroyed. Tomorrow’s job.

To spend almost 2 weeks in the 1 place 1 would think a girl was involved. Alas no, not here. Meeting some expats you become convinced to live here. So.. 4 days was spent ‘on trial’ at a nursery changing nappies and another day spent at another hostel for a job from May, neither of which you will probably take.

Finally after almost 2 weeks the escape from Budapest is made. Hurray. And none too soon. The plan is to ride to Pecs in 2 days where another short hiatus ensues. The bike path follows the Danube river down. Sometimes on the left, sometimes the right, and sometimes on the island in the middle.

Being a beautiful Sunday day there are a few local cyclists about. But none have anywhere near as much luggage as you. The change in weather also marks a change in attire. Shorts and t-shirt it is. The path surface is a real mixture of dirt trails, grass, and road.

100 km down the road you arrive at Solt. That’s enough for 1 day. But there are no hotels about so it is on the road once more. Not far up the road, Harta has, apparently 3 pensions. 1 is closed and the other 2 cannot be located.

There is also meant to be a campsite on the Danube. Although no official campsite is found you are welcome to pitch the tent in front of the restaurant. And as the setting sun completes the day pork chops completes yours.

After being overcharged for last night’s meal it is decided not to give these people any more of your business. Though this does entail not eating until lunch time some hours later. The bike trail has you riding on a sandy track in a head wind. This is not good.

You leave in good time but the promise of a big climb and a long day means things like a sandy track are bad news. Why would anybody place a bike route along a sandy track? But you persevere. There is a ferry crossing which would knock some 10 km off the ride but can you trust it? No. So the bridge it is.

And onto route 55. With heavy traffic and no shoulder these 15 km are not so nice. Still better Hungarian drivers than murderous Taiwanese. Turning south on the 56 traffic doesn’t really lighten up but now you also have a head wind to contend with. When you eventually get on the 57 the wind changes into a tail however bicycles are not allowed. No problem. There is a separate bike path. Excellent. For about 2 km anyway. Then. Nothing.

So it is back on the road it is despite the legality of it all. Very soon the freeway appears but not only does the traffic not lighten up but it is also still illegal for you to ride on it. So ride on. At times a dirt track runs parallel to the road, which is fine for a little while, but mostly the road is the only option.

And hello Pecs. Hello couch surfing and a bunch of new friends. It looks like a few days in this cultural capital of Europe. There is a seminar of sorts to host on Wednesday and hopefully a train ride back to Budapesti for a job interview. Hopefully. Wait and see. Wait and see.

Pecs sure was interesting. Through couch surfing you stumbled upon a huge network of friends to waste away the days. There’s festival stuff happening on the weekend so you are compelled to stay and see that. Which is interesting and besides, you really don’t need to be anywhere else. Also you kinda meet a girl so it would be nice to spend some time with her.

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