We woke up to our last morning in Budapest feeling refreshed and ready for a day in the saddle. After a hearty breakfast, I set about trying to get our bikes out of the basement. This proved to be tougher than expected as the girl on reception didn't have any idea about the basement, I couldn't remember exactly what door they had gone through and the porter wasn't sure which key opened the doors. We did get there in the end but not before it rather delayed our early start. It is worth mentioning that Debs knew exactly what door they had gone through. If only we had asked her!
Expecting a tricky journey to find the cycle route out of Budapest, we were pleasantly surprised. We managed to avoid most of the traffic and got onto the correct path first time. It was even signed; we were expecting good things from today!
According to our map, accommodation opportunities were a bit thin on the ground during this section. My plan for the day was to not go too far, find somewhere to stay in Dömsöd and then have a longer run tomorrow.
The best laid plans have a habit of going wrong. First Debs took another tumble, this time on a muddy track and banged her shin quite badly. I got her up and dusted her off and she bravely continued. In her defence the track was very slippery and our semi slick tyres that were fine for Western Europe are probably not the best thing for the current conditions. If the roads continue to deteriorate we may be changing to the expedition tyres sooner than Turkey. Continuing on our way we passed through the town of Ráckeve which was if anything, over blessed with hotels and guest-houses. As we had only gone 50km at this point it seemed silly to stop so early, so we pressed on, which turned out to be a mistake. Of the guest-houses in Dömsöd, one we couldn't find and the other was very much closed. With no choice but to continue we started to discuss the idea of free camping, which rather required us to be in an area where it might be possible.
As the day wore on and the kilometres racked up we failed miserably to find anywhere to stay. Even a motel on a main road with a big highway advertising sign was closed down. With the next town marked as having a hotel being 30km away and the daylight fading, we found ourselves in a bit of a dilemma. In a bit of desperation we made a turn off the main cycle route towards a bit of parkland next door to the Danube. We were getting to the stage where we just had to put a tent up. Fortunately off the park was a quiet path leading to the river and we found a secluded spot in some woodland, where we only have mosquitoes for company!
Despite the earlier disasters today became a day of firsts, our first free camp, our first over 90km and with only river water to drink, the first use of the water filter.
We have both had quite enough of today so after a hasty dinner it's off to bed at 5:40pm. We will definitely be stopping when we find a hotel tomorrow though!
No comments:
Post a Comment