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 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!