Day: May 24, 2024

Friday, May 24, 2024

Ok, going back to my previous update from Veroce. We took a stroll after dinner to see the Danube.

Next day we made the last leg to Budapest. Saw God on the way.

The biking into Budapest was at first boring (ugly buildings), then at times harrowing when I lost the bike path and got into traffic. Oops. But Rick blocked the traffic, and we made it back to the path.
But we got to the pretty part. Got an apartment in a great location! Budapest is actually 2 cities, Buda and Pest. Buda is on the west side of the Danube with steep hills right close to the river. Pest is on the east side, which is relatively flat, so that part has expanded kind of endlessly out. There are a couple of islands in the middle of the river. We stayed in Pest, close to Magrit (Margaret) Island.

Above is a view we got from a hill on the Buda side. (Buda on the left, Pest on the right.) Way off you can just see Magrit Island in the middle. We hiked WAY up before we got to a sign saying the ruins of the old castle were under renovation. So, at that point we just kept going.

Oh, just saying, Hungarians are fond of the letter Z.

Here is the Orszaghaz, the Parliament building.

We went up to the old part of Buda on a funicular. Here is a view from that ride.

You can see one of the bridges across the river that ends at Parliament. Apparently, the cultures of Buda and Pest were pretty distinct for a long time, as there were no bridges across until the 1800s!
We watched the changing of the guards at the palace, then later the full inspection of the guards. Pretty cool!

Enjoyed a garden.

In the evening, we walked over to Magrit Island to watch a wonderful fountain show of music and lights! They would play a song (varying between rock and classical) and the water would dance to the music in all different colors.

Then we walked back across the bridge and got to see the Parliament and other buildings all lit up.

If you are curious about the currency here, the Forint…

I think that’s about $50.

So, then we reached the half way point of the trip. Next morning Rick and I each picked out what things we wouldn’t need for the rest of the time, and I took that stuff to Mailboxes Etc. and shipped it back to the US. That significantly lightened my load! Which is good, because I’ll need to be able to wrestle the bike into trains by myself mostly. So Rick headed out by bike to the lakes that are southwest of Budapest. I, on the other hand, checked into a spa hotel and signed up for badly needed massages!

The thermal water here is supposed to be quite healthy.

But it smells a bit of sulfur (holding nose).

What was the final biking distance? About 380 miles because we took a train for part of it. Would have been closer to 540 miles otherwise. There will be more bike-riding, but the 20-40 miles in a day part is probably done.

Rick, on the other hand, will be going much longer distances each day, with lots of hills/mountains.

240524-I’ve seen Hell

I work Friday morning to the sound of rain on the tent. Still half awake, I got up for a run to the bathroom and to put a plastic cover over my bicycle seat, then snuggled back into bed.

Then woke up. The rain was light, but the weather forecast showed more rain inbound. I prefer packing up when everything isn’t wet. I scrambled to pack. By the time the rain began in ernest I was tucked under the shelter at the campground, eating breakfast and charging my phone.

I spent a while intently peering at the weather forecast and weather radar. By my best calculation, a gap in the weather would occur at, unsurprisingly, 10:00 a.m. Destiny.

I started out on dedicated bicycle path, but with the weather as it was, I took a shortcut onto a heavy highway. Too heavy. When I passed a ” bicycles are not permitted here ” sign I detoured off to a smaller road.

That worked great until it didn’t.

A little bushwacking later I found myself back on the road, and finally on Eurovelo 14.

Thursday I ended up at a beach without Linda. Friday I saw a camel (and a llama) without Linda as I passed by a circus. I don’t do these things on purpose, but she’ll be sad she missed them.

I stopped for lunch at noon in a shelter with signage suggesting bathrooms, water, and a shower. All locked, but an active charging station let me top off my phone — not a complete loss. By the time I had finished lunch a storm had rolled in. So I waited. Then the weather radar showed thunder storms and hail. I finally rolled out about 2:00 p.m.

However, more storm cells were moving south to north south of me. By my best estimate I could move west fast enough to cross in front of the next one. That worked.

For the NEXT storm cell, I think I’d have to call it a tie. But, moving hard and fast I managed to mostly stay ahead of the rain. Same for the next one.

At one point I passed a German cycle tourist headed the other way. You shouted something to me, and I stopped. So he stopped. His question was effectively, what’s the weather ahead of me. We were both racing against the rain!

I crossed over the hills to Lake Balaton in sunshine, a gentle ride along the southern edge of the lake. I passed by my originally intended campground to add an additional 15 km my planned day (and 15 km fewer tomorrow).

Arriving at the next campground in Zamardi, I could see what would have happened if I had been caught by one of those storm cells. Tree limbs had fallen across multiple campsites. Heavy rain had left puddles of water everywhere, although they pointed out a dry spot for my tent. All told, it’s a dinky little campground, on a lot in a residential neighborhood with only about eight sites. The bath house has only one shower, which is jury-rigged off of a sink!

They had lost power, and they informed me in broken English I wouldn’t have hot water for 3 hours. Skeptical, I set up before heading out to grab a bite to eat.

When I came back, jury-rigged or not, I had a hot shower. After they rebooted the Wi-Fi I had internet. All good!