I joined the Germans for breakfast at eight. Normally I would be on the road by this time and have been turning down breakfast at recent accommodations as they would have prevented my timely start; for some reason breakfast seems to be getting later as I progress on this journey. But I wanted to say goodbye to the German group and you never know, maybe the universe was trying to teach me something.
As I cycled along there were occasional large groups of cyclists coming in the opposite direction, like a cycle race peloton albeit slower, less sportily dressed and mainly of a more advanced age. I came across one group of about twenty, stopped and taking photographs of the poppy fields and it turns out they are on a Danube river cruise mixed with cycling; dropped off at one location, they cycle through the countryside to a collection point before once again enjoying the luxury of a river cruise. I have to say it all sounds quite appealing after over five weeks on the road. Before heading off I had a good chat with an American contingent about our respective experiences and I learned that yesterday had been the last day of a four day holiday in Hungary which I guess explains the traffic I experienced yesterday and today’s relative peace.
My route passed through a series of small villages with houses of red tiled roofs and pastel coloured walls - Ordas, Géderlak, Dunaszentbenedek, Uszód - each dominated by a central church. They form the heart of the main paprika growing region here in Hungary although sadly there was no drying paprika hanging in doorways; the harvesting season is not until September. Not long after I inevitably ended up doing stretches on the Danube flood dyke. Like yesterday there was bare earth for a path and like yesterday the Danube was hidden behind woodland. But it was hard-packed and relatively smooth (although I’m not sure how I would like doing these tracks in the wet) and I made relatively good time.
The afternoon was one long stretch on the flood dyke which today proved a little challenging. Maybe it was the fact that I had started a longish day much later than usual and would unlikely get to my destination by 5pm, too late to properly relax with everything else I needed to do. Maybe it was the knowledge that the ferry I needed to catch at the end of the day would stop running early evening, plenty of time if all went well but not a lot if I had problems. Or maybe it was the monotony of more miles on a levee disappearing off into the distance, no view of the river and the hot sun baking down. Likely it was a mixture of all of these but whatever, my mindset was not as positive as I would have liked for parts of the afternoon and there were times when I was trying to wish the miles away rather than enjoy them.
Eventually of course the end arrived: a ferry jetty my side of the river with the small town of Mohács opposite. I bought my ticket from the tiny kiosk as the small, open topped ferry was heading away from the opposite bank. It disgorged its cargo of cars, local cyclists and foot passengers and before long I too was stepping off, but on the other side. Interestingly that short ride across the river, looking along its brown-green length, instilled a greater sense of discovery, a sense of travelling to foreign parts, than some of my days cycling even though I was remaining in Hungary, albeit on the borders of Croatia and Serbia.
I found my accommodation - a handy two hundred yards away from the slipway - went out for food and wandered the peaceful streets of this small town. Then it was back to my small hotel where they tell me that breakfast tomorrow starts at eight thirty.
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