Day 36 - Budapest to Szeliditópart (73 miles)

It has been slow day: just over seventy miles in nine and a half hours of which a large part was bike and body shaking riding on rough roads, rutted tracks and across fields. This slowed me down incredibly and was made worse by the regular stop-starting of needing to check the route. 

It started with an uninspiring exit from Budapest first thing, following a rough and narrow tarmac track near the river, alongside graffitied walls, through wasteland and past piles of fly tipping. It was the sort of track where you are focused on the ground rather than the surroundings, avoiding the cracks and the sharp ridges pushed up by tree roots and keeping an eye out for glass while manoeuvring within the track's narrow confines. Early on a problem that would plague me for the day also became apparent: the signage was poor. When it was there it was obvious but it wasn’t always where it was needed. 

There was a long stretch of country road, the state of which was not much better than the track: a patchwork of poor repairs, potholes and cracks that jarred bike and body if hit. Again my concentration was mostly on the road directly ahead, trying to weave my way through the worst of the problems; I had more room to manoeuvre here although I was mindful of traffic bearing down behind me at speed which, while not continuous, was regular - and this was a Sunday. I couldn’t help but think that I was glad I was not doing this on a weekday.

And then there was a stretch down a narrow track of solid mud through woodland and close to a tributary of the Danube formed by a twenty-seven mile long island just outside Budapest. The track had obviously been shaped by wet weather and the cars of fisherman and day trippers: the deep ruts and hollows along its heavily undulating length were rideable but only slowly and with care. Things improved when the road led to a residential area of small neat houses facing the river but care was still needed to avoid pitted areas on the now gravel track, fine for cars but jolting on a bicycle and often hard to spot with the camouflaging, dappled shade of trees along the route.

It wasn’t all bad: in between there were sections of better road surface through settlements on tree shaded roads - small, individual houses sitting in their own small plots of green, settlements that had grown organically rather shoehorned into the surroundings by a developer - and a beautiful stretch alongside the willow-lined tributary mentioned earlier. But overall the route had reduced my speed across the day to a fraction of what I had anticipated and left me with sore and aching neck and shoulders from my tense riding. I am now wondering whether this is typical of what I might face from now on.

The route eventually took me back to the region of the Danube and a cycle on and near the flood dyke. But no gravel or tarmac track here: for some miles I was pedalling along a thin patch of bare earth among the grass and trees. It was relatively flat, not difficult and undeniably beautiful. But it was slow, and if I had known how this day was to go I would have planned it differently.

The last fifteen miles were thankfully flat and smooth road and track but it was still five o’clock before I arrived at my accommodation, a small lodge sitting by a lake a little off the route. I immediately fell in with a group of five very friendly German bikers cycling the EV6 in reverse as far as Vienna. We shared tips and experiences and I have been loaned a set of maps that show the route between here and the Black Sea which I think might prove helpful. After dinner with one of their number and sharing a few drinks with the others I felt it was time to retire, having not yet done any of my usual daily admin. Still, breakfast is not until eight so if I get up early….