Saturday 28 April 2012

27 April Stage 18 Komarom - Budapest

Dep 915     Arr 6.00     Dist 99.5 km     Total 1972.7 km

I didn’t sleep well at all. Maybe I just went to bed too early or maybe the indecision about the digs in Budapest was on my mind. I was taking ages getting organised but then received a call from Ray saying he couldn’t find any hostels or anything decent so we could stay in his brother’s flat. This lifted my spirits and I eventually got going, again in the warm sunshine, this time with my jacket and gloves on. Some bits had got a bit red the day before but there was no discomfort.

I was riding on the old main route from Vienna to Budapest. There is now a motorway. It was a decent road, busy in places and again I had a slight wind against. There was a counting down distance sign along the side of the route which was a nuisance because I couldn’t avoid looking at it. It was quite flat at first and the little towns came and went. I then felt as if I had hit a brick wall. I just couldn’t seem to make any progress and was really struggling. I thought I had eaten enough. Maybe the heat was getting to me. Maybe this was the how it would be from now on. I then started to speed up and realised I had been climbing for the last five miles. I bombed down the other side and then met another hill. There must have been five or six similar hills as I neared Budapest but I managed. The last 5km into the city was murder. I kept expecting to see a bridge but the road just went on for ever. I eventually asked a cycling couple and they told me to follow them. They took me along a route I would never have been able to follow if they hadn’t been there and after what seemed like ages, I eventually got to the part of town I was to meet Ray and Orsolya. This is a big beautiful city. After a bit of the usual FARTING AROUND I found them in the Caledonian pub where we had a drink and got to know each other.

Ray told me to where to cycle to and he followed on the tram. He walked with me to the place and it was fabulous. I started to run a bath, yes, a bath, and my phone buzzed. It was a text from Daniel “landed”. As I undressed another text, “on route” and then just about to step into the bath, “outside”. I got my pants on and there they were. We were soon out having a drink on a beautiful avenue of small bars and colourful restaurants.

Today's Route

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