Tuesday 9 November 2010

Day 51 Hungary 8/11/2010 Esztergom–Visegrad–Szentendre–Budapest. 46.17miles/74.62km, 4hr20minutes, Av 10.6mph.

We slept well and then had a rather strange breakfast sitting in the guest-house owners house while the owner did a crossword. After eating our fill we loaded the bikes said our goodbyes and set off bound for Budapest.

We rode out of Esztergom straight into a strong headwind. Not exactly what we needed first thing in the morning! With Debbie tucked in behind me, we pushed onwards along a decent cycle path.

According to the map, our route today would be mainly along cycle paths and quiet roads. The cycle signs pointed to some different routes, but as these required the use of a ferry which wasn't running there seemed little point in following them.

The route along the road didn't turn out to be quite as quiet as we had expected with a large proportion of it being along a main 'A' road. Even more annoyingly was the tendency of a Eurovelo sign to appear on the other side of the road pointing towards a cycle path. This would have been fine if there had been any warning and if it was possible to get across the traffic and the high curbs to join it. Several times we got trapped along the main road when there was a quieter alternative.

Fortunately the early strong winds that we had encountered died down and we started to get along well. Maybe our thoughts were on getting to Budapest and having a few days off because the route held very little interest. Sometimes you seem to have one of those just cycling days, usually when you are approaching a large city. The final part of the route took us along a bit of dirt track and then a very poorly paved cycle path and then finally into the city. We went a bit wrong somewhere along the way into Budapest and ended up along a very busy road running along the Danube. We eventually found a cycle path but then encountered some major roadworks which seemed to divert us over a bridge. With only a narrow path and lots of pedestrians we ended up pushing our bikes over the bridge, not quite the glamorous entry into Budapest we had hoped for.

Finally across the bridge we got back on our bikes and rode into the city to find our hostel. Finding the hostel would have been easier if we were on the right road! With all the road works I had got confused and we had crossed the wrong bridge! You would think that getting back to the river and along would be easy, but they seem to have dug up all of Budapest in one go! Nevertheless after a near miss with a tram, a few wrong turns and a bit of getting off and pushing, we made it to the hostel.

The Maverick hostel is lovely, situated in a former royal mansion built by the Habsburg dynasty. Our bikes also have to be the safest they have been, locked behind several doors in the cellars.

With a couple of days here it was good to get some laundry done and have a re-sort of our bags. We didn't bother going out last night, instead settling for a hostel cooked meal and some beers from the local supermarket.

Sightseeing tomorrow so night all!

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