Day 26- Budapest to Kalocsa - 131.1 kms

22 Jun

We had a reasonable night of sleep despite having some close neighbors in our bunk room. I think it was party central last night at the hostel. When we got back after dinner last night there was a lot of noise in the main dining hall and plenty of beer was being consumed by the young folk many of whom seemed to backpackers from many parts of the world.

This morning we were up an packing our stuff at about 5.15 am... we had to be quiet so as not to wake the others in the bunk room

We were on our way on the bikes by 5.45am in an aim to beat the Budapest traffic and get a lot of the ride done before it got hot.

Getting out of Budapest was my responsibility as I was the navigator for the day.... We managed to get out reasonably well... I think I got off course twice which is not to shabby for me

The roads out of Budapest and for most of the first 50 kms were simply terrible. There were pot holes everywhere on both the main roads and the lesser roads and bike paths... after the double flat a couple of days ago I was worried it was going to happen again...

We stopped for breakfast at about 30 kms which had us well out of Budapest. The breakfast consisted of strawberry jogurt and a bread roll. It was enough to keep me going as we rolled on over the very rough roads hoping the conditions might turn around by some miracle

Rather than go on bike paths which were terrible we made a decision to take one of the major roads which is always frought with danger as the traffic and trucks can be real hazardous.... luckily the traffic seemed to be light and we managed okay

We pushed through until about midday at the 90 km mark at a place called Salt.... yes you read it correctly SALT

Couldn’t see much salt around and the eateries were hard to find..... we managed to find a bakery who had Hungarian bread and drinks.... so here we are sitting ona park bench under the shade, with temperatures around 34 degrees having our drink and pasteries.

We made a decision to continue on the main road to Kalocsa which turned out to be a good one for 2 reasons.... first the distance for the ride was shortened by about 8 kms.... second the road and bike path surfaces improved greatly which made riding easier for us both.

Finally we arrived at the hotel at about 3.15 pm which was an excellent outcome for the day. I was happy with my navigating and am starting to understand the features of the Garmin.... finally!!!!!

We are staying in what seems to be a family owned hotel tonight. For both of us on s shared room we are paying 30 Euros for the night ( roughly $ 50 Aust). We have found the the prices of everything in Hungary seem cheap

Tonight we also did a wash catch-up as we were unable to get our washing done.. so today we were in “ used” riding gear and the smell!!!

Looks like we will eat dinner at the hotel where we are staying tonight

Tomorrow I think we have a shorter ride planned

Now for the photos

Early morning on the Danube