I left my campground this morning a bit disturbed as my phone hadn't charged and wouldn't charge 😥. I had some complex riding through Hungary as there are a lot of waterways and it's easy to get stuck on islands and have to backtrack. I was able to buy a map and sat and studied for a while and mapped a course.
I set off and the brutal headwinds from yesterday had kicked up a notch and so it really felt like a day of battling everything.
The rural scenery was quite lovely but I wasn't in a state to really enjoy it. I went through a spa town with hot springs that would have been great to try out.
The ferry I had hoped to catch is seasonal and so I had quite a diversion before I could move over to the Slovakian side of the Danube as the riding was less complex. The Hungarian side had a separate cycle path which was great, although the surface was often correlated or affected by tree roots. The town's use roses as tree plantings which was a joy 🌹
Just when I felt like I had had enough and it was all too hard, I saw the two lovely old German men from yesterday and we greeted each other like old friends. We shared our frustration at the strong headwinds, and they said they had been thinking of me all day and hoping I was ok (they had ebikes) - they were calling it quits at Gyor. It was a morale boost for me and we waved each other off.
At 75kms I had crossed through the disused border gates and over the river! I had decided that I would find a hotel in Medvedov, just over the border, and call it quits for the day. As it turned out it's a tiny town and the girl at the one pub said there was a hotel 2 towns away and was able to direct me to the cycleway. Back on the Eurovelo 6 and well signed and so that felt like a relief. Somehow I missed the turn to the town and realised about 5kms up the road. I decided to keep going. I exited at the next town and found some men chatting and they said no hotel or campground in that town and said two towns away!
The sun was dropping and so back on the path I went and took the turn as per the signpost. I came down the ramp and into the town. Along the road and two men were sitting on a bench near their letterbox. I asked where the hotel was and made a sleeping motion. He said to wait and called his wife. She said, we are not a hotel but you can stay with us. And here I am tucked up on their lounge, tummy full with a delicious Slovakian chicken casserole and pasta, followed by 4 big dumplings with poppy seeds and amazing homemade Apricot jam. Washed down with a shot of homemade Apricot schnapps (aka rocket fuel!!). Elisabeth got out her laptop and google translate and it seems my situation has happened many times and she showed me a visitor's booklet with names and comments from cyclists from all over the world. Last week an Australian doctor and his wife.
I had a lovely evening looking at their family photos, son's wedding photos, daughter's ballet on you tube.
Amazingly my phone has charged tonight (wouldn't when I tried it multiple times today so something is not right). I took a handful of photos today with my little bit of battery.
Big day today, and another tomorrow as I hope to make it through to Budapest.
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