Cycling: Vienna to Budapest (through Slovakia and Hungary)

Day 58: Tuesday 30th June
Vienna - Hainsburg (53km)

The proximity of the motorway and train made for a bad nights sleep. Updated the blog and found out some more on the web about the flooding. Extended forecast was for rain every day for the next week and a bit.

Despite the conditions we decided to at least get out of town and back to the peace and quiet of the countryside. Vienna is a stunning city but better suited to those in elegant dresses and designer suits than smelly cycle clothes.

We headed out of town past big bronzed bodies lounging by the river. After passing the last of the nudies we encountered more industry before the trail once-more was blocked and we navigated through the forest on trails using our trusty key-ring compass. We met a Venetian chap on a mountain bike with a trailer. Mark had been eyeing up these single wheeled luggage carriers with envy however a brief discussion confirmed the 6kg weight of the trailer along with the extra length made the bike unwieldy to handle. They are popular with 26" wheeled mountain bikes because you kick pannier bags as you peddle on the smaller mountain bikes.
In the heat we found a radler (bike) stop. These are very common on the Donau cycle trail and we enjoyed an escape from the heat.
We crossed the river to the south bank just before Hainsburg and again the trail became impassable.
The temperature however was soaring and at 6pm it was 32 degrees in the shade. Hot for riding.
We found a nice but expensive zimmer (room) with breakfast and TV. Bliss. We spent the evening pouring over maps. By around 10pm we had agreed to give the trip to Budapest a shot. We spent the remainder of the evening debating shortcuts to avoid the flood waters.

Day 59: Wednesday 1st July
Hainsburg - Kormano (127km)

Unsure of the availability of currency and therefore food in the small towns of Slovakia we stocked up before departing Austria. It was about 10am by the time we headed off on the main road out of town. We had figured on a big short cut avoiding Bratislava to cross the boarder at Kitsee. The area wasn't shown on our maps but we decided to take a punt since we had details of the adjoining areas. We flew along the road at around 35km/hr, a record for us cruising on the big ladened bikes. Entering Slovakia back in 2006 with the car was a bit of a headache, wanting to see all your vehicle papers etc. At the border we pulled over and asked a police officer who was resting in his vehicle if we needed to have our passports stamped "Nooo, aaayyyyyeeee - oooooowwwww" (thats EU) came the reply as he waved us on.

Passing several small towns we reached the main stock bank where some 95% of the water of the Donau is diverted into an enormous canal which is used for hydro and controlling floods. Apparently its construction destroyed a lot of wetland, what remains of the river is still running naturally on the Hungarian side of the boarder (the river is the boarder in this area). The canal was massive and it was 30km before we had to turn across it. Water was on the horizon in front and behind us as we rode.

It was seriously hot on the stock bank and free from traffic our pace slowed first to 27km/hr.Riding through a haze of tiny bugs our pace slowed again. Every few minutes you needed to wipe the tiny critters from your sweaty skin as you rode - nice.
Polishing off the last of our 3.5litres of water we abandoned the river and headed to a local town. We had caught up with our Venetian friend with the trailer, who joined us on the detour. Fortunately he shop took Euros, but not many of them. Food and drink is very cheap in Slovakia. We later found out the official currency had switched to the Euro on 1 January this year.

In the afternoon we arrived at the industrial town of Kormano. The city centre as pleasant and we enjoyed a 500ml Budvar for E1.06 before finding a E37 pension with a courtyard to lock the bikes.

Day 60: Thursday 2nd July
Kormano

Kormano was cheap and nice, so we decided to stay. Having ridden 684km in the previous 8 days from Straubing we were well in breach of our target of rest day every 350km.

We took a E2 tour of a massive and impressive fort. The guide spent over an hour with us and a torch guiding us through the fortifications that had once resisted the turks, and more recently housed Soviet troops. It was interesting to see the old Soviet marching ground. The place has applied for Unesco status and funding etc. It is really impressive but to restore the pace would cost millions, it is just so big.

In the evening we returned to our favorite restaurant (previous night we had the meat platter with sirloin steak, chicken etc for two people E14). Mark had a E2.20 trout for an entree which turned out to be an entire fish!

Day 61: Friday 3rd July
Kormano - Dunabogdany (97km)

Hot morning with slow riding on loose gravel stock banks. We past several cycle signs indicating Budapest was 100km away. This didn't correlate with our maps, and it seems they made a run of identical signs then paced them different distances to Budapest.

We resorted to roads to the final Slovakian town of Sturovo. We had intended to have a pizza for lunch but ended up lost in translation with a medieval 3-course lunch (soup, half a chicken, soda water etc) for E2.50pp.

Crossing the bridge to Esztergom we enjoyed a slushy on the square, withdrew some money, and decided not to attempt the hill climb to the basilica.

We took the bike trail out of town and again found it consumed by the river. We went cross country past a waste water plant to find the nearest road about 500m away. In the afternoon we passed the fortifications of Visegrad and stayed in a guest house (about E22 total). Dinner again was very cheap and enjoyable, with mains and drinks totaling about E10 all together.

Day 62: Saturday 4th July
Dunabogdany - Budapest (47km)

Hot morning on busy roads into town. We tried several bike paths, all of which were flooded. It was great to see BudaParliament of Pest come into sight down the river. Sadly the camera decided it was time to end the trip also - alas no photos of the final section. In town we met Marks folks who had the champagne chilled. With 3,581km we ended our journey across Europe. Where to next?...

Cycling: Austrian Danube

Day 52: Wednesday 24th June
Straubing to Pyrawag (122km)

Well rested we set off in good spirits. The rain caught up with us after a couple of hours. Fortunately the wind was following us so riding was easy.

At Deggendorf we parked up outside a cafe and enjoyed filled rolls and bircher muesli for lunch. Gravel trails in the afternoon and continued drizzle made for slow riding.

Passau was starting to flood when we arrived.The German town is at the junction of the Inn river, the Donau, and another smaller river. Apparently the sight of the blue river from the Inn joining the Donau are normally impressive, the scene that greeted us was a swirling sea of brown. People were scurrying around boarding up shops and laying sandbags to hold back the rising water. The cycle trails around the old town were mostly flooded. Bedraggled, we arrived at the local campground/canoe club. Unfortunately a school group had beaten us to it. The place was overrun with kids singing Bruce Springstein badly. It was the first time we had seen school kids in Germany who were not throwing rocks at waterfowl but the singing was terrible so we opted for more riding in the rain.

Just east of Passau we passed a sign confirming we had entered Austria. The campsite in Pyrawang was nice and the hot showers greatly appreciated. We made curry-wurst with konodle for dinner and chatted with a German chap who was taking an old German skiff down the river to the Black Sea. Mark had been keen in some canoe touring after the bike trip so extracted as much information as possible. They were managing about 50km/day but portaging the boat over locks sounded pretty arduous.


Day 53: Thursday 25th June
Pyrawag to Feldkirchen (67km)
We awoke to more drizzle. After a long wait the rain eased and we broke camp. We visited Engelhartzell with its Trappist Abbey. The church itself was impressive as was the glass cases with skeletons of the aristocracy adorned in jewels.

Around noon the rain cleared and we reached the Schlogen bend. This impressive stretch of the river was formed by the water hitting an granite formation, being unable to wear through the rock the river makes a u-turn and then wiggles north until it finds an opening. The bike path was almost deserted and the riding excellent. In one bend we came across a viking long-ship with a party on-board and stereo blasting. The vikings made some motions about attacking and Mark responded by mooning them as we sped past on the bikes. Old castles adorned the edges of the valley making this one of the more scenic sections of the Eurovelo 6.

In the afternoon we stopped in Aschach for a coffee and strudel. We pitched camp at a quiet campsite near some artificial lakes. We made good use of the washing machine and spin dryer.


Day 54: Friday 26th June
Feldkirchen to Au (56km)

Awoke to the bright sun and a mouse scrabbling at the tent wall. Our clothes and tent dried out for the first time in days. Setting off around midday we passed a cable-ski operation. It looked inviting but mostly set up for wakeboarders, not slalom skiing.

It was easy riding on stockbanks to Ottensheim where the cycle trail started running parallel to the main road into Linz. We ground against the traffic for ages and were in no mood to cross the bridge and explore the town. Leaving Linz we played the usual game of working out what each of the the factories, quarries, refineries do.

Late afternoon we were jolted by a massive thunderstorm. A stockbank is not a great place to be during a storm, but at least it was better than the tower back in Sancerre. Fork lightening got progressively closer and struck the power station about 500m away. The resulting thunder crack was almost enough to knock the wind out of your chest.

Wet again we pitched camp at a nice little campsite by the river. Mark took a brief detour to pick up beer and a yellow watermelon (that's right yellow) to supplement dinner.


Day 55: Saturday 27th June Au - Melk (65km)

Spent the morning riding along stockbanks. We poked our nose into an outdoor museum then kept riding through deeper and deeper puddles. Sodden shoes riding through farm roads underwater. Turned back after about 1/2hr when we reached a digger clearing the deep mud on the trail.

Enjoyed lunch outside a supermarket and then continued back to river along busy main road. Finally reached a dry section of cycle trail and crossed to the south side of the river.

In Ybbs we visited a small but informative bike museum (E3.00) and stopped off at Lidel to buy a fix for the pannier bags. Opted for shoe laces which have been holding up well. Rode on to Melk where the campsite had been flooded and was covered in silt.

Around 6pm found our way up to the amazing Melk abbey. Officially it was closed but we were allowed into the courtyard areas. Back at the bikes we found a camera which had been left behind. We returned the camera to the reception at the abbey where the woman insisted we leave our details in case the owner of the camera returned.

The campsite across the river looked even worse so we backtracked found a high spot on the grass at the previously-flooded campsite. Nachos, chilli con carne, and a bottle of Spanish red for dinner. We had ditched our cups back in Donnauworth to save weight/space so felt a bit peasant-like eating beans and drinking wine from the bottle for dinner. In the cold however it felt like a 5* experience.

A van-load of french campers arrived late and night and left early to avoid paying. They made some effort to be quiet but it was a disturbed nights sleep none the less.


Day 56: Sunday 28th June
Melk - Tulln (100km)

Crossed to north side of river in the morning. Drizzle and mist surrounded us in the Wachau vineyards. Mark found a milk vending machine and enjoyed a creamy glass of fresh milk for brunch. Mark got chatting to a group of Spanish cyclists as we rode and got a few tips on possible trips. We stopped in Spitz for Goulash soup (a Hungarian speciality) and coffee.



Hillside Durnstein was touristy but nice. We tried a dash of apriocot liqour and apricot schnaps, being local specialities. The drizzle was setting in again so we stopped off in a little wine tasting shop. We tried a variety of local white wines. They had a series of obscure grape varieties, which we had never even heard of. The Reisling tasted like mud. French wines still seem to be comming out tops.

Setting off from we ere stopped by a couple of cyclists calling out "Are you Mark from New Zealand?". After the initial surprise it turned out it was the people whoose camera we had found at Melk abbey. They insisted on taking us for a coffee, which we gladly accepted. Yoga and Godfried were from Holland and spending a week cycling along the Donau. They had children around our age and we enjoyed having a sensible conversation in English (being Dutch they were fluent in Dutch, English, German etc.). Farewelling our new friends we rode on to
Krems and crossed the river to find more flooded cycle-ways.

We came across three people debating alternative routes in German. It soon became apparent two of the riders were English and one was Dutch. Switching languages we agreed to ride on alternative roads to Tulln. It was great to share stories as we rode. It turned out the two English lads, Alex and Leigh, were med students studying at Leeds. They had been following the Eurovelo 5 from Calais towards Vienna (a month riding and only 1 day without rain). Your mind does wander as you ride day after day and it was great to share some comaradery as we rode. Being in a group of 5 was fun, and less cumbersome than we had imagined. It also made us a great presence on the road, meaning more slipstreaming and traffic being less inclined to tail-gate a group.

That evening we shared a bottle of pomegranate liqour we had procured in Durnstein and chatted about bikes, touring, and future plans. Our Dutch friend was testing out his shiney new cycle gear in preparation for a possible trip along the silk road. Sounds intriguing....


Day 57: Monday 29th June
Tulln - Vienna (94km)

After farewelling our Dutch friend at the campsite the remaining 4 of us rode on the north bank until the floodwaters enveloped the cycleway. We followed the main road into Vienna. Marks tyre split just inside the city limits and after replacing inner tubes and sealing the hole with duck-tape (MacGyver was right, the stuff is brilliant) we limped into town. We farewelled the guys outside a bike shop and after procuring a new tyre and inner tube (the old one was starting to look a bit like a sieve) we set off again.


Trzesniewski in town as a great tip from Alex and we enjoyed some tasty pate before hunting out some information about route condition to Budapest. The main info centre in Vienna was a bit hopeless - the staff agreed that much of the route would be in flood but could offer no specific information or alternatives. A book shop in town had a myriad of biking options but none that looked to be suitable alternatives.

Frustrated, we headed to camp just east of the main centre. We took over the kitchen area and debated our next move. With most of the route to Budapest under water, and Google confirming some rivers in Hungary had some of the worst flooding in 50 years. What should we do? Join the trucks heading east on the main roads in Eastern Europe, or back-track into the mountains?...