Day 77 Turkey 4/12/2010, Istanbul. A better day and our last in Istanbul.

After yesterday's troubles I woke up feeling strangely philosophical. I think sometimes you have to except that things are going to go wrong, it's how you cope with them that matters. Especially on a trip of this length and challenge.

In a more buoyant mood we walked down to the ferry port and booked our tickets for tomorrow. All we have to do now is get up and packed early as the ferry leaves at 7am.

Heading back into the city we bought a Turkish sim for Debs' phone, to replace the lost one and stocked up on toiletries.

We then spent a while sitting in the park eating simits, drinking çay and people watching. The day has been a vast improvement on yesterday. I even went for a haircut and it wasn't a complete disaster. I will be able to appear in photos not wearing a hat!

Hopefully a nice meal and a trip down to Eminonu docks to watch the illuminated boats will round off what has been a eventful time in Istanbul.

Day 76 Turkey 3/12/2010, Istanbul. The worst day so far!

Returning back to the hotel from seeing Justin and Emma last night, we were handed a letter from Fedex. Our initial excitement at thinking this meant our parcel had arrived quickly faded. Inside was an invoice in English and another letter in Turkish. Even with no real knowledge of Turkish it was obvious that it was a customs demand. It looked like we would have to pay again to get our parcel delivered. Putting it aside, we decided to worry about it in the morning.

Phoning the couriers in the morning it became clear that we would have to go and collect the parcel from them and pay 150YTL (£64) to get the parcel released. For some reason Parcelforce had put a value of £200 on the items for insurance purposes, even though my sister had put the value as zero.

Unhappy about the situation, but aware we still needed the contents we decided we would have to bite the bullet and pay. The next problem was how to get to the depot.

Looking on google maps, the address we had been given seemed to come up as three different destinations, none of them close. Ahmed, our hotelier proved very little help here, although in a city as big as Istanbul you can't know everywhere! Fortunately, bearing in mind our fortunes with other countries tourist information offices, the girl in the tourist office was most helpful.

With a map and some written instructions in hand, we embarked on a very long and very overcrowded tram journey. It was on one of these overcrowded trams, while we were separated, that Debs had her backside grabbed. This is the second time in two trips to Istanbul that such a thing has happened and it is about time it stopped! The tram was then followed by a long and not inexpensive taxi ride. The tone was set for the day.

With the help of the staff in a nearby bank we were directed to the courier depot, where it all started to go wrong.

Thinking that we would just pay our 150 Lira, take our parcel and leave, turned out to be a mistake. The 150 Lira was just the start, there had been no prior mention that we would also have to go to the airport to pay customs another 125 Lira. Putting aside the fact that the airport and back would have cost 40 Lira by taxi. The final kick in the teeth was being told that there would be a warehouse charge of 100 Lira as well.

Looking at a bill, excluding our transport costs, of approximately £160 for a parcel worth £30 left us with no choice but to treat the goods as abandoned. It looks like I have yet another cash card to cancel, at least I know what happened to this one!

My usually cheery disposition had been fading fast and its fair to say that it ended entirely when I discovered that I had lost our phone somewhere on our travels. It is only fortunate that Debs tram incident didn't occur on the journey back as I may well have started a fight in the tram.

Some days it is probably best just to stay in bed, this was definitely one of them. Never have we been so glad to get back to the hotel.

Neither of us had a lot of enthusiasm to start packing our gear up. So as a way of putting the day behind us, we have decided to stay one more night and hopefully leave Istanbul on a better note.

Day 75 Turkey 2/11/2010, Istanbul. Debs has a bath!

Debs decided that she really couldn't leave Istanbul without having visited a Hamman (Turkish bath). With so many to choose from, Ahmed (our hotelier) came to the rescue and recommended Gedikpaşa Hamman. After a brief visit to the post office, it was hamman time for Debs! I went off for an amble instead, as massages and washing are really not my thing.

Debs day:

Choosing a sauna and massage package from the price list (thankfully in English), I was led through to the women's section (Hammans are rarely unisex) into the camekan (dressing room) and was shown to my private cubicle. My attendant didn't speak much English but we managed to communicate with gestures and a few words. She told me to take all my clothes off and to wrap myself in my peşternal (cotton wrap). I was led through into the bathing area and to a marble wash basin. After a quick rinse, it was sauna time.

When I had sufficiently cooked myself in the sauna, it was time to be cleaned. I was instructed to lay on the centre goebektas (raised stone platform). Firstly, she poured lovely hot water over me and then used a coarse mitt to scrub every square inch of my body to remove layers of dead skin (nice!). Next she used a lacy cloth to create lots of bubbles and I was soon covered from head to toe with white frothy bubbles. I was washed and massaged all over, which was very relaxing as well as somewhat painful at times! Finally, I was led to another wash basin for my hair to be shampooed and to be rinsed.

I was then free to use the sauna and have a dip in the pool to cool off. My skin was glowing and I felt very relaxed, so it was a successful outing.

While Debs relaxed, my walk led me back through the Grand Bazaar to Beyazit square. The square is home to the main entrance of Istanbul university, which is clearly a hotbed of political activity. At least I am assuming it must be, because that can be the only reason for the huge numbers of police carrying shields and dressed in riot gear. Either that or the pigeons inhabiting the Square are particularly aggressive!

The University is off limits to tourists, so I visited the nearby Beyazit mosque, which is once again beautifully decorated inside. I really think that I should call it a day on Istanbul's mosques now though.

By the time Debs had finished her Hamman it was lunch time, so we decided to diversify our eating habits in Turkey by having a kebab. Except this time for lunch!

During our drink with Justin and Emma last week they had told us about an English book swap that was on every week day evening from 5:30 until 7pm. This worked out well, as we had arranged to meet them later for a drink, so we could replenish our dwindling reading material on the way.

The lady who runs the book swap was very friendly and we were told we were welcome to take as many books as we liked. Much to her disappointment we didn't want one of the many 'Lonely Planet' guides to Turkey that she is stock piling.

Books in hand it was time to meet Justin & Emma. We started off in a world music bar, where the slightly discordant jazz wasn't particularly conducive to conversation and then moved on to a very nice restaurant. We finished the evening in a bar, selected because it had the cheapest beer!

It had been another good night out with them both. It has been good to meet such friendly people, we may see you both further down the coast at Christmas?

Day 74 Turkey 01/12/2010, Istanbul. Rabbits for the first of the month!

Had a late breakfast this morning and then went down to the ferry port to get some information for our onward journey. It looks like there is only one ferry a day to Bandirma at 7am, so our leaving day will be an early one.

Walking back along the sea front we marvelled at the lengths some people will go to, to make some money. Several people had set up air-gun rifle ranges using balloons and drinking cans as targets. This has the added bonus of allowing you to shoot your litter into the sea!

The walk back was marred slightly by a young shoe shine boy who was determined to polish my sandals. When I said no and pointed out there was nothing to polish he obviously decided that grabbing me and saying “yes, yes, yes, one Lira” repeatedly would convince me. If he had then given up it would have been fine, but he followed us until a çay salesman told him to go away. Needless to say the çay man then thought we should have a tea from him! I was not that angry with the child, he didn't know any better. The sad thing is that they are being taught to be like it by the adults.

The whole experience was a shame, because we have never encountered that level of pestering in western Turkey. We hope it is not a growing trend.

Seeking some solace, we visited the charming Little Aya Sofya and spent a short while looking at its beautiful interior. Then it was back to the hotel to psyche ourselves up for yet another dinner of Kebabs.

Day 73 Turkey 30/11/2010, Istanbul. Had to take a ferry to find the sights today!

The parcel is on its way, my little sis has been a star getting it organised for us, thanks Elsa. We may be able to get back on the road by the end of the week. Anyone sensing that we are running out of things to do is probably correct, but we need to wait for the parcel containing Matt's new credit card and some decent maps of Syria, Jordan and Egypt. We have discovered that outside of Western Europe you will struggle to get anything other than a tourist road map.

Decided to go to Kadikoy today and the Asian side of Istanbul. According to the guidebook there is a huge Tuesday market and a very well respected produce market.

The ferry ride to Kadikoy was good with excellent views of the city and at 1.75TL (about 40p) very cheap. After getting our bearings we found the produce market which although good didn't seem as large as the guide book suggested. Nevertheless the fish, olives, fruit and vegetables, cheeses and meats on offer all looked lovely.

From the produce market we headed towards the Tuesday market site only to discover a car park and the back of Fenerbahçe football stadium. We re-checked our directions but to no avail, the market was not there.

Somewhat dejectedly we went back to the produce market, bought some food, had a çay in a nearby café and then went back to the ferry.

A bit of research later and I discovered that the market moved in 2008 to a new site out of the town centre. Bearing in mind that the Lonely Planet guide we are using was updated in April 2010, you might think that they would have corrected their information. I guess they rely on people telling them though, so perhaps I better get on the case!

While Debs had a rest, I had a stroll along the waterfront and had several entertaining conversations with friendly Turkish men (carpet sellers) who all thought that what we really needed was a nice Persian rug to go with our tent. Unsatisfied with the answer that I couldn't carry it or wouldn't be going home for a while, they all kindly offered to ship it home for me (at my expense obviously). Interestingly none of them seemed that interested in actually showing me a carpet. Clearly they are so confident in their sale skills that there is no need for me to actually see the product.

Tried a different kebab restaurant for variety last night, I am starting to miss cooking on the stove!

Day 72 Turkey 29/11/2010, Istanbul. Still finding sights to see!

We loosely followed a 'Lonely Planet' walking tour today through the mosques and markets. Starting at the Grand Bazaar we continued through to the book bazaar and then on to Süleymaniye Mosque (my personal favourite of the Istanbul Mosques) via Istanbul University. Unfortunately due to a restoration project going on, the gardens of Süleymaniye mosque are currently closed. Still it was nice to see again.

Following on from the mosque we had çay (tea) at Lale Bahçesi Cafe and then headed down the hill towards the spice bazaar and docks.

The Christmas stalls were in abundance, so Debs got some tinsel for her bike. Although I had to draw the line at the huge inflatable Father Christmas!

Back at the docks I had one of Istanbul's food institutions, the 'fish sandwich' cooked freshly on the very ornate and very rocky boats. Anti-fish eater Debs looked on in disgust. I couldn't even tempt her with some very sticky doughnuts for desert.

A quick visit to Yeni Cami (new mosque) capped off a pretty full day.

Oops forgot to mention the kebabs we had for dinner!

Day 71 Turkey 28/11/2010, Istanbul. Yet more sight seeing!

Headed to the enormous Topkapi Palace today and spent a pleasant few hours wandering round the beautifully decorated rooms. The amount and size of the jewels on display in the treasure rooms are quite staggering, especially the 86 carat 'Spoonmaker's diamond'; so called because it was originally found on a rubbish dump and purchased by a pedlar for three spoons. Maybe all those people who hang around the local tips are on to something!

While in the palace we also went into the Harem which was very beautiful. It is a shame though that they don't include it in the entrance price of the palace, although it does make it quieter.

We spent the rest of the day visiting the Blue Mosque and you guessed it, dining on kebabs!

Day 70 Turkey 27/11/2010 Istanbul. Still seeing the sights.

Decided to just amble and take in the sights today. We went inside the beautiful Basilica Cistern and had a look at the carved Medusa head columns.

Afterwards we spent some time in the park outside of Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, where we had a frankly horrible corn on the cob each. By the amount of half eaten ones in the bin near us, we were not alone!

Perhaps you can spot a pattern here, but dinner definitely involved some kind of kebab!

Day 69 Turkey 26/11/2010, Istanbul. Seeing the sights.

Decided to put the disappointment of the Syrian visas behind us today and get down to some sightseeing.

As the skies weren't too overcast we decided to go up the Galata tower for a panoramic view of Istanbul.

The tower is one of the oldest in the world although it has been rebuilt several times. Amazingly they had the technology to install a lift, cafeteria and a night club. Which goes some way to explaining the somewhat steep entrance fee of 10TL (£5). Still the view was nice.

Crossing over the Galata bridge, we watched the throngs of fisherman all vying for the best spot and headed onwards towards the spice bazaar.

The spice bazaar is our favourite market in Istanbul; the stalls are lined with piles of every spice and herb imaginable. Plus there was a man with a cat on his hat, what more could you ask!

Dinner as you can probably imagined involved a kebab!

Day 68 Turkey 25/11/2010, Istanbul. Could be here for a while!

The hunt for a Syrian visa continued and this time concluded with failure. The Consulate are only allowed to issue visas for Turkish nationals, so we have no choice but to chance it at the border. Of course we could have found this out yesterday, if they hadn't ignored us when all I wanted to do was ask a question!

Slightly dejectedly we headed back into the city, had a welcome coffee and then went to walk round the very touristy Grand Bazaar.

We met up with Justin and Emma in the evening and had a good evening chatting over a few beers and some delicious mezes in the Flower passage area just off Istiklal street. We will hopefully meet up again before we leave.

Day 67 Turkey, 24/11/2010 Istanbul. Just hanging out in Istanbul while we regroup and wait for some important post.

The hunt for a Syrian Visa began and ended abruptly when we arrived just after the Consulate's 2 hour long working day ended! Of course they were still there but unable to answer any questions. Oh well we got a form at least, just a shame it was such a long walk. Spent the rest of the day ambling down Istiklal street (Istanbul's main shopping and eating street) and the roads around Sultanahmet.

Contacted Justin and Emma from rolling-tales.com to see if they fancied meeting for a drink. They are wintering in Istanbul before setting off again on their travels in April. Hopefully we can get some insider information on cycling in Turkey!

Dined heartily on a Tavuk şiş (chicken kebab) washed down with an Efes or two!

Day 55 Hungary 12/11/2010 Dunavecse–Solt–Dunapataj–Uszód–Kalocsa. 36.63miles/59.31km, 3hr34minutes, Av 10.2mph.

We survived the night and weren't rudely awaken by any walkers, or more importantly police officers (free camping is technically illegal in Hungary). Today's route was to be a straightforward ride south to Kalocsa, where hopefully we would find somewhere to stay.

Within a short while we knew the day was going to be tougher than we had thought. Although the temperature was still mild, a strong head wind had got up and that's the way it stayed for the next 60km. Spending 40km of the day on a piece of raised, so we got the full effect of the wind, disused road didn't help matters either.

We had really been looking forward to our journey through Eastern Europe, but days like today really put a damper on things. Fortunately there were enough friendly waves to make up for some of the lack of scenery.

Looking at the map the rest of the route to Belgrade doesn't look too inspiring either. We will travel through another two countries over the next week though, so things may improve.

Arriving in Kalocsa we found a hotel and got checked in. The hotel is nothing special and I would have to say quite expensive for what we have got. The main thing is that it is open and we haven't had to cycle on in the faint hope of finding somewhere else.

Hopefully the weather settles a bit tomorrow and we haven't pushed our luck with the European winter.

Day 54 Hungary 11/11/2010 Budapest–Ráckeve–Dömsöd–Dunavecse. 56.7miles/91.89km, 5hr21minutes, Av 10.5mph.

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!

Day 53 Hungary 10/11/2010 Budapest Trams, Metro and on foot.

We had another good sleep followed by a leisurely breakfast. It's good to make the most of these as they don't happen too often on the road.

The plan today was to visit a bike shop and get some inner tubes to replace the ones that I had punctured. In this we were successful which was a 100% improvement on yesterday's shopping attempts. From the shop we visited the Parliament building and then took a tram along the river to the central market. The market was very good and had we been in a position to buy lots of things I am sure we could have filled our bags. Not least with honey, paprika and some very nice looking sausages and salamis. Upstairs Debs had a lemon and sugar pancake and I filled myself up with a rather more traditional Lángos (a deep fried flat bread topped with your choice of filling).

From the market we made another attempt to find swimming shorts and then gave up and returned to the hostel. It has to be said that we did find some shorts, but I didn't want to pay nearly £30 and although smaller I still won't fit into an XS size.

With the weather overcast and rainy we decided to spend the afternoon at the Szechenyi baths. The Szechenyi baths are the biggest in Budapest / Europe and the first built on the Pest side. With three outdoor pools and twelve indoor, not to mention several saunas we were spoilt for choice. For me personally the 38°C outdoor pool was the best. It was nice to be sitting in the warm water, breathing fresh air in beautiful surroundings as the sun set on our last day in Budapest.

We will be spending a bit of the evening re-packing as our, or at least my bags, have rather exploded all over the room. There also appears to be a wine tasting on this evening in the hostel so Cheers or Egészségedre for now!

Not sure where we are going tomorrow other than south, hopefully the weather and roads will be kind!

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!

Day 50 Slovakia/Hungary 7/11/2010 Komárom–Komárno–Kravany–Stúrovo–Esztergom. 37.6miles/60.78km, 3hr32minutes, Av 10.6mph.

We had quite a good nights sleep in the tent and woke up to a bright but colder day than the previous few have been. A bit out of practice having not camped for a while we still managed to get back on the road by 8:45am.

Today we headed back across the border into Slovakia onto what was a less hilly route than the Hungarian equivalent. Across the river we found a sign post that pointed to the correct route and never saw another one for the next 55km! To be fair we were mainly following the Danube so it didn't take much working out.

In Kravany we were stopped by a very helpful man who told us that the road we were on was closed further ahead and that we would be better off on another route. He told us that he had had the same conversation with an Australian cyclist the week before. We obviously never did find out if the road was closed but are very thankful for his help. It could have been a long detour for us to get back on the correct route.

With no signs to follow, we decided to stick to the main road. The traffic was light and apart from a strong headwind that had sapped our strength all day we made it into Stúrovo. Stopping for a brief look at the impressive Citadel of Esztergom across the Danube we then set about crossing the river back into Hungary.

Drama!!! Debs fell off her bike in the middle of two countries! She was fortunately unhurt, but she does have a damaged pannier and a bit of bruised pride! We will address the pannier when we get to Budapest. Toad survived the incident from the safety of his bar bag!

As the main road route had shortened our distance for the day, we checked into a lovely guest-house, got sorted and then went for an explore. Esztergom came as a very pleasant surprise to us. The Citadel is very impressive and as it stands on a hill, the views from the top are great. Back down in the town the streets are very pretty, with many old buildings painted in mainly yellow hues.

So far Hungarian towns have been very pretty, we are really looking forward to having a proper look around Budapest when we get there tomorrow.

Day 49 Hungary 6/11/2010 Györ–Bönyrétalap–Ács–Komárom. 35.64miles/57.76km, 3hr18minutes, Av 10.8mph.

With a shorter day ahead of us, we had a hearty breakfast at the hotel and set off. Getting out of Györ proved to be a bit more difficult than we had anticipated. Not least because the Eurovelo people have changed the route from the one on our map. We can't complain about the change because it is shorter and more direct. However as they still haven't produced any maps for this area it is a bit unnerving when you follow the marked route and the signs stop at a junction, leaving you clueless as to which way to turn. We did find a sign around the corner, but it gave us a little consternation.

From Györ onwards the route was well marked and we made good progress until we were leaving Bönyrétalap. Not far out of the village we encountered a Eurolvelo sign telling us to go left. As this time our map covered the area of the change we continued on with some confidence. This confidence may have been somewhat misplaced as when we did find another sign it pointed us towards what looked more like a ploughed field than a track. Interestingly enough this ploughed field was marked as an A road on our map. A1 to be precise. We decided it would be best to ignore the sign and go searching for a better road, when none became available we had no choice but to go back to the marked route. The only alternative was a 10km detour back the way we came to rejoin the route we had in our map book. The dirt track did improve after about 6km, but not until we had tried to ride through mud-filled tyre tracks, some so deep that our panniers were clipping the edges.

We eventually made it to Acs and rejoined the route we would have been on if we hadn't paid attention to the Eurovelo sign. I am sure whoever put the sign up had our best interests at heart, but changing a mapped route when you haven't produced new maps yourself is a little unfair!

We encountered another diversion just outside Acs, but this time we ignored it and stuck to the main road route. Eventually we arrived in Komárom, located the camp-site and got set up. As usual we caused quite a stir when we turned up, you would think it was the first time anyone had camped!

The camp-site was right outside some thermal baths, so we quickly got our swimmers on and went for a relax in the hot mineral waters. Note that this time we were allowed to keep our clothes on! Easier said than done, as with my weight loss my board shorts are a little on the large side; will definitely have to buy some new ones.

The trusty camping stove got some use again tonight after we had picked up supplies from Tesco's. It was nice to be cooking again, although you quickly forget how dark and cold it gets outside after you have been staying in hostels/guesthouses. We had a nice warming dinner and then settled down for an early night. Back to Slovakia tomorrow and then back across the border to Esztergom.

Day 48 Slovakia & Hungary 5/11/2010 Bratislava–Dunakiliti–Püski–Györ. 54.8miles/88.6km, 5hr02minutes, Av 10.8mph.

It is probably not the hostel's fault, but after a night in 'Hostel Blues' I couldn't say I would stay there again. The dorms are in apartments with a central section which people hang about in. The occupants of our room came in, in the middle of the night and assumed we all wanted to hear their long conversation. Then when we went down to breakfast the kitchen sinks were full of dirty dishes and someone had scrawled offensive graffiti all over the blackboards. I know we are older, but sometimes you think you are sharing with a bunch of five year olds.

Heading out we did some shopping in Tescos (yes they are in Slovakia as well!) and then set off for the Hungarian border. The signposting couldn't be described as brilliant, we made it out of Bratislava without any trouble along an old main road, which was excellent. It was afterwards that I took us on a little detour. To be fair the Slovakians probably want you to stay in Slovakia, whereas we wanted to go to Hungary. The sign pointing towards Hungary was in a peculiar position only visible from the opposite direction. It has to be said though that if I had paid more attention to the map then we wouldn't have missed it. I was just too excited at actually seeing a direction sign.

Unsure what we were to expect at the Hungarian border, we stuck to the official crossing point. We may as well have not bothered as like every border before, it was abandoned. Which was a shame as we could have saved ourselves some distance by going another way.

Making our way along the main road, we managed to get ourselves on the right route and almost immediately came across a Eurovelo sign. Thankful to see a route sign we followed it and immediately started heading north west. Now our geography may not be brilliant, but we were fairly sure we wanted to be going south east. On a plus point we saw our first horse and cart of eastern Europe. Giving up on the sign we went back the way we had come and trusted to our map and compass.

We travelled through several small villages and only missed a few turnings along the way. Having had no faith in the signs so far it was with some trepidation that we were directed onto an off road section. For a while the signs were fine, but it was only our trusty compass and some guess work that got us back on to the road.

As soon as we reached the spa town of Lipot the signing was excellent and we followed a well marked route all the way to Györ. Debs had found us an excellent hotel to stay in which was right on our route in to town.

Hotel Révész is cyclist friendly and the girl on reception couldn't do enough to help us. She even helped carry our many bags up to the room, plus she spoke excellent English.

A quick shower later and we walked into the town centre to have a look around before the light faded. If we had to pick a first Hungarian town to stop in we couldn't have picked a nicer one. The streets are full of lovely buildings and it had a pleasant vibrant atmosphere. The only shame was that our map and guide book that we had been given was only in Hungarian. Had we more time we would probably have visited the local thermal baths but as we are planning to camp beside some tomorrow we gave them a miss.

Back at the hotel we had a nice meal in the restaurant and then settled in for an early night.

Day 47 Austria & Slovakia 4/11/2010 Vienna–Hainburg–Bratislava. 49.27miles/79.63km, 4hr33minutes, Av 10.8mph

After yesterday's overcast skies we woke up to a bright sunny morning. Having really enjoyed our time in Vienna we set off once again for pastures new.

The ride out of the city had to be the longest we have yet done. Admittedly we wanted to see a few more sights on the way out, but we had done nearly10 miles by the time we reached the outskirts. The Hunderwasser house is without a doubt one of Vienna's stranger buildings, almost Gaudi-esque in appearance. Built as a social housing project, it must be a more interesting place to live than an ordinary tower block.

Our final bit of the journey out of the city was through the Prater, Vienna's giant park. We must have been looking a little puzzled at the map, because two cyclists stopped to help. One of them led us out of the park, across the Danube and on to the correct route. We were a bit concerned about being able to keep up as he was on a racer, but he slowed down for us!

Safely on the right road we carried on along the Danube until Lobau, where there is quite a long diversion. The diversion is fine but sharing the road with convoys of quarry lorries all kicking up dust and grit isn't much fun. It was probably good practice for the African trucks that we will encounter later on though.

The next section was a bit tedious as we predominantly rode in a straight line for 20 kms, until we reached Hainburg. We have come to prefer the routes that lead through the local villages.

Shortly after Hainburg we finally waved goodbye to Austria and entered into Slovakia. So far so good, the cycle path still existed and there were even some signs. We weren't really sure what to expect as we entered into Eastern Europe. What we didn't expect was a huge logging lorry coming towards us on what we thought was a cycle path as we neared Bratislava. All of the signs pointed to it being a cycle path; a narrow road with two lanes and paintings of bicycles on the tarmac. For all we know it was just a handy short cut for the driver!

Following the route without any further incident we crossed the Danube into Bratislava. Our hostel was not too far from the river and unlike our epic ride through Vienna we quickly arrived at our destination. The 'Hostel Blues', although quite pleasant is a bit of a comedown after our last stop. We do still have wifi though and the reception staff are really helpful.

After a quick shower we had a rapid tour of what turned out to be quite a picturesque little city. The many quirky bronze statues situated around the streets are of special note. With the light fading we returned to the hostel for a rest and then went back out for dinner. The Slovak pub was recommended to us by the hostel staff and turned out to be really good. I had two traditional Slovakian dishes: Small dumplings with sheep's milk cheese and sausage and then more dumplings stuffed with plum and coated in cocoa and rather strangely cheese. Debs opted for the safer, although apparently delicious Goulash. After all the dumplings Debs had to practically roll me back to the hostel.

We leave Slovakia for the time being tomorrow and head into Hungary.

The ease of the Euro zone has come to an end!

Day 46 Austria 3/11/2010 Vienna. Trains and on foot.

We decided to stay for one more day, Bratislava will have to wait. Discussing with Harlan where to visit the previous evening we saw that there is a hidden Vienna tour every Wednesday. With the promise of seeing some of Vienna's underground passages it looked like a good plan.

What turned out to be less of a good plan was the haircut in the morning. The Turkish non English speaking barber even showed me the numbers on the clippers before he started. How I came to end up with what looks like a grade one all over is beyond me. Still I wont have to get it done again for a while. Debs still hasn't stopped laughing.

We were glad we did most of our sightseeing yesterday as we stepped out to a light rain and a much colder day. We spent the morning contemplating buying an e-reader for Debs but eventually weren't happy with the selection on offer. We would really like an Amazon Kindle, but getting one when you are on the road is difficult.

The tour was due to start at 1:30pm, so we went into the city centre and had a walk around the shopping streets before it started. The tour was very interesting, especially the crypt of St Michaels complete with human bones and mummified bodies. We were joined on the tour by most of the people we had been drinking with last night, plus Harlan the Barman.

The tour lasted rather longer than we had thought, so a relaxing day became a somewhat more tiring.

A few beers tonight and then bed, we leave Austria behind tomorrow and head to Slovakia.