September 11th
Stage 40 Lakihegy to Budapest to
Rackeve 68 kms.
We did as planned today. We drove around Budapest on the M0
motorway, leaving it to reach the small satellite village of Lakihegy to the
south of the city. Good directions from the very friendly bike shop next to the
Aldi car park where I left Katherine (I always feel I should buy something when
folk are so helpful) and I was back in the traffic on my way to where I left
off yesterday afternoon. It wasn’t quite
a straight road but nearly so, and a mixture of pavement riding, bumping along
a narrow cracked cycle path, sharing the road with the traffic and then a
superb brand new piste for the last three kilometres and I arrived at the Euro
6 signpost that I mentioned yesterday that pointed the bicyclist up a very
unlikely-looking dusty back street to the Lagymoyos bridge. I turned round and
was back with Katherine within the hour.
The remainder of the day’s cycling was pleasant but unexceptional.
Gradually, thankfully, the traffic died away until riding along the top of the
embankment between Tokol and Szigetujfalu
there was nothing at all. The wide
Danube valley opened up on either side; here, in effect, I was on a large
island in the river and the views to either side with low forest in the
distance were expansive, a relief after the claustrophobia of the heavy traffic
of the last couple of days. The only drawback was the crosswind that buffeted
me about a bit. Rackeve and a surprisingly good campsite arrived almost too
quickly (I was getting second wind) and we stopped for the night. The next two
days to the Croatian border will be long
ones and the weather is looking unstable. A good night’s rest is essential.
68 kms Distance from
Schaffhausen 1382 kms Distance from
Galway 3292 kms
Our journey continues towards the Croatian
border following the Danube in all its splits, twists and turns. In Hungary we
have been able to follow roughly the same roads but meeting points have now
become supermarket car parks or ferry crossings rather than the churches of
France, the railway stations of Switzerland or the rathauses of Germany and
Austria. The supermarkets that have surprised us most have been the enormous
Tesco hypermarkets, to be seen in most towns and signposted on the route 5 or 6
kms. ahead. There was even a Tesco shuttle bus in one town, making sure
everybody had the chance to go there. We of course have tried them out and
found them very similar to GB, same layout of the shop, same products, all a
bit strange! Katherine
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