Heading north...

A sunny early start from Jane and Mike's house helps our journey north. They see us off, Jane waving her crutch, as she badly broke her foot just before the holidays and so has been an heroically-hopping-host. Other early risers include 2 deer bobbing through a cornfield, a combine harvester team returning for 2nd breakfast, and lots of people with wicker baskets collecting mushrooms beneath the trees on the wooded hillsides.
We retrace some of last week's trip from Prague, pausing to pick up emails outside an unsuspecting restaurant in Pribram, then head in a new direction as we pass to the west of Prague. This side too is dominated by colourful blocks of high-rise flats. We lunch in a bus shelter as a sudden shower turns to heavy rain with thunder and lightening. It does not feel safe, being essentially a metal box on top of a hill! Waiting for the rain to clear, we read Ted and Sue's Norwegian trip blog, which we had down loaded earlier - ferries, fjords and magnificent views. Then we bypass the airport to reach the small town of KRALUPY NAD VLATAVOU, where our Warmshower host is Kamil. He is a young man who has treked and cycled the world, fascinating to hear his tales of China and Mongolia in particular. He has a small flat so has arranged for us to stay at his family home instead, where they happily give us the keys whilst they all go off south for a long weekend. Kamil takes us on a wander round town, showing us tomorrow's cycle route and introducing us to a very smokey traditional pub doing a great line in local beer and dumplings.
In the morning we return the keys to Kamil's Granny, who lives in a nearby flat. There are many blocks of Soviet grey flats, but they are gradually being modernised with coloured insulating panelling attached externally.
We have to cross the local river. The first bridge is up 3 flights of narrow metal steps, so we give that a miss. It is alongside large pipes, part of the communal hot water system that many towns still have. The heat losses from these must be excessive. The next bridge is an old metal
road bridge but unfortunately 2 cars have become entangled in the middle and the fire brigade have shut it while they sort it out. We have to take a very busy modern road bridge instead, flattening ourselves against the barriers as a Wide Load passes. After this we are on and off road through farm land, where cabbages and new potatoes are being picked by women in aprons, and ripe pears are falling from roadside trees.
ROUDNICE NAD LABEM is a lovely old town with a massive central cobbled square, and for us it is the start of the River Elbe cycle route. We see the large river barges again; the first time since the Danube. There are quite a number of touring cyclists now we are on an official path. The route is mostly alongside the railway and car free as the river enters a narrow gorge. In some places it is only very rough gravel. We camp in the little riverside village of BRNA, in a waterski club grounds, 30 miles from the border with Germany. The owner tells us he is a former national water-ski champion, and has photos on the walls of himself in action. He and the premises have seen better days, but are fine for 1 night. Anyway, he gives us a free bottle of ice-cold beer, so he was ok by us! The other few tents are all German touring cyclists.
It started to rain as we went to sleep and was still raining when we set off next morning. By the time we reach the border and cross into Germany, it has rained non stop and we are like drowned rats.


The river is still in a narrow gorge so the road is restricted and in 2 places rock chunks the size of elephants have recently fallen from the shear cliff bringing the traffic to single file. There is a lot of deep surface water covering nasty potholes so all in all this is not fun!
We do not have a cycle route map up the Elbe, and although you would think it easy to just follow the river, there are confusing rough tracks and dead ends. There are quite a lot of tourers around so we wait until a very competent looking pair of Germans pass us and follow them. It was a good choice as they take us along a dedicated woodland route, and then onto a ferry. The riverside towns and the cliff formations are very photogenic but it is raining too hard to risk taking out the camera. They wave goodbye at the historic town of PIRNA and we proceed into the suburbs of DRESDEN, by early pm, to book into the first apartment we find. We hang all our gear around to dry and have a long soak in the bath. With our own kitchen we need not venture out again.


Miles to date 2,906

Location:NESTRASOVICE to DRESDEN

Family reunion...

We follow the Vltava River valley south west between steeply wooded hills, and cross the river three times. Firstly by a metal structure covered in worn planks, then a rusty metal, open mesh gangway, attached to the side of a railway bridge. Finally a rather narrow bike lane on a road bridge. Here at DOBRICHOVICE it is clear what the old grannies need their industrial size shopping trollies for, as an old dear leaves the Co-op pushing a very large LPG cylinder, for all her household needs.
The gentle cycling is over as we leave the valley, climbing for 10 miles through wooded hills. The large town of PRIBRAM is quiet of lorries as it's Saturday, and then the final stage through tiny villages amongst arable fields. The GPS brings us straight to sister Jane's door (it was our first visit). Their newly built house is right by the lakeside on the edge of the village of NESTRASOVICE.


From their balcony we watch swallows catching insects over the lake and herons and harriers fly in and out of the reed beds.


Jane tells us the lake is owned by the local major landowner who drains it once a year, to fish out all the carp, and keep them in tanks ready for the very busy demand of the Christmas season. There are flotillas of mallards destined for the table too.
They feed us up with local dishes, including deep fried cauliflower (smazeny kvetak), fist-sized herby meatballs (sekana) and big round biscuits (oplatky), washed down with local beer (budvar).
In the village centre is a large deserted farm and outbuildings, and we have seen similar seemingly abandoned homes and businesses elsewhere. Apparently these were taken from their owners for State ownership during the communist period. Since the fall of communism, they have been "restituted" to former owners, but in some cases there is no one left to return them to, or they cannot afford to repair them, so the buildings fall into decay.

Location:PRAGUE to NESTRASOVICE

Headlines - Velke Voda....

As we are based in Prague for a week, there is the opportunity to follow the local TV news. Two items catch our attention this evening. The first is the number of car driver deaths on unprotected rail crossings. This worries us too, there are so many to negotiate! The rail operatives were shown strimming down tall vegetation so that at least there is a chance of seeing a train coming in time to stop. The second report is about a local who has just "scooted" around the world, pulling a Bobcat trailer, and with front panniers. These scooters are very popular here, with one bike size wheel at the front and a smaller one behind the standing platform. We noticed this tourer has Schwalbe marathon tyres (as we have).
Shamefully, the international Headlines are the News of the World scandal. The statements by the PM and the Opposition Leader are broadcast in full from the recalled Commons. The overdubbed translation is difficult for us to follow but WiFi is easy to pick up in cafes, so we can fill in the gaps in our news from the BBC and online papers.
On our last day of sight seeing in the city it is raining! This turns put to be a blessing as although the rain has stopped by the time we reach Charles Bridge, all the "artists" have taken down their stalls so the bridge is clear to stroll across with ease. There are no Segways chasing us up the street to the Palace either.
Apparently this is the biggest palace in Europe, as a result of being extended by each occupant over 11 centuries. As well as the seat of the President, the site includes 2 churches and the cathedral, all on an elevated site with the surrounding gardens affording panoramic views over the red roofed city below.


We take one last stroll through Wenceslas Square, (not a square actually, more of an avenue) looking up above some unfortunate shop fronts to admire the many fine Art Nouveau facades. Our favourite is the Koruna building with it's enormous, eccentric, burnished, crown on top. Then it's back on the underground for one last time - we never had to wait for more than a minute for a train.
The TV news is now dominated by flooding in the north of the Czech Rep, where rivers have burst their banks and it is still raining. The young lady reporter started out with a pink raincoat on but has now fashioned a second layer over this, out of what looks like a green fertiliser bag. She is stoically standing, in the rain, in front of a road bridge that appears in imminent danger of being swept away by a swollen river.


Our plan now is to cycle south west on Sat 23rd, to the village where my sister and her family hopefully will have arrived to meet us at their summer home.There is no rain forecast for this area.

Location:PRAGUE

A pause for Prague...

It's a pleasant change to cycle without the panniers as we leave our gear in the Pension to pedal into Prague. The cycle route is not terribly well marked and a bit complicated, but eventually we are alongside the river approaching the historic centre. For the last mile there are noisy, congesting roadworks as the tram rails are dug up and replaced. It is a Sunday, so less traffic than in the week, but all the tourist spots are heaving with visitors, with many Americans and Japanese amongst the crowds.
We start off at the iconic Charles Bridge. It is a very slow walk across the cobbles as the crowds stop to admire the river views, and so much space is taken up with street portrait "artists" and other purchasing opportunities.


On the West side of the river now we follow the cobbles up a steep hill, overtaken by Segway tours, and are rewarded by panoramic views over the red tiled roofs. We people watch as we lunch on traditional meat and dumplings under a shady umbrella at one of so many small restaurants.


Prague's castle, monastery and the C18 domed St Nicholas church are all within a stone's throw of each other, on pleasant cobbled squares. There is more space up here so we can stop pushing the bikes and ride around the city fortifications, and then down a very steep path through a park, back to the river. We have seen plenty for one day, but will return to start exploring the flatter East bank side.
Before more City sightseeing,we spend a day exploring the outer area, to make sure we can find our way out when we need to move on. As elsewhere in Bohemia there are shops with union jack flags selling only secondhand British clothes. The labels they stock are listed outside, including M&S, River Island & Laura Ashley. We stop at a Tesco Express out of curiosity - similar to British ones, with some English labelling, but otherwise pretty Czech. We are ashamed to say that we bought our evening meal at a Lidl's - well "our" village doesn't have any other. We spot 2 young touring cyclists with a trailer. They are from Belgium, speak good English, but they have not cycled far, having brought their gear most of the way in a van.
Next day we feel overly pleased with our modest achievement of catching a bus to the nearest underground and actually get on the right train to the city centre! We are exploring the flatter area which includes many streets full of wonderful art nouveaux buildings, culminating in the Obecni Dum concert hall with such a richly decorated exterior.


The old town square has wow factor with so many different styles and eras included from the unique 14C clock tower. A newly wed bride and groom emerge from the adjacent church, their photographer having to push aside tourists to nail that iconic photo in front of the clock face. A cheer goes up as they elbow enough space to release 2 white doves.


The Old Jewish quarter around the old synagogue and Jewish cemetery is packed so tight with tourists that we give up trying to look around as there is no chance of reflective walk through an area that witnessed such persecution. There were quite a lot of visitors when I was here 20 years ago, but not this many and now so much circulation space had been lost to cars. There had been just the odd Trabant about in those days.

Location:PRAGUE

Bohemian Rhapsody...

CESKY KRUMLOV is clearly visible as we whizz down a steep hill through woods; dozens of blocks of highrise flats all in pastel colours and a large Tescos! Once we reach the River Vlitava the view is much improved, with a decorative castle looking down from a high crag over lots of narrow twisty cobbled streets. All immaculately preserved but unfortunately overrun by tourists, including the first English voices we had heard in ages, and some signs in English. Inflatable canoes are hired out to visitors who then sweep out of control down stream, some sideways or beached, thankfully none upside down.


The town is certainly worth the visit, but we are relieved to escape from the coaches bearing down from the north, as Mike and his GPS finds us a lovely little back road, right through farmyards at times. The little brown chickens and the farmers, picking another crop of cherries, just ignore us.
Now we are on one of the loveliest roads we have ever cycled, an undulating smooth tarmac way shared with hardly a car, past small herds of Herefords, fields of mauve poppies and woods.
Only a handful of tourists have found the peaceful village of ZLATA KORUNA, with it's monastery and ancient cottages, where we pause to eat lunch under a tree.
CESKE BUDEJOVICE, a big city with an old walled centre, is famous as the home of Budweiser beer. Again the outskirts are a large area of high rise coloured flats, and an even bigger Tesco's! There is a good river cycle route all the way through. For the first time in quite a while we meet other touring cyclists, mainly Czech.
We look for a Pension for the night at HLUBOKA NAD VLTAVOU but only see Hotels in the cobbled town centre. The tourist office give us the business card of a private house on a side road. The lady owner shows us the fantastic apartment, furnished totally with antiques and with a conservatory overlooking trees, giving us close views of Woodpeckers, Nuthatches and Redstarts - perfect. We are staying 2 nights as we are way ahead of schedule and it gives us a good chance to do the washing and get maps out to plan the next phase - 2500 miles completed.
We join other diners at tables outside a town centre restaurant. Thunder and lighting have the staff rush us inside just before an enormous deluge. The chap in charge then pulls a screen down, switches on his computer and entertains us with old black and white family photos. The little boy in beret and knickerbockers, looks familiar and then we realise it is the elderly owner, sitting quietly with his wife near us. Their wedding photos looked like something from 100 years ago!
We have castle fatigue so walk up the hill to the local pile mainly for the view, but are so glad we did, as it is a magnificent place, a hunting lodge the size of Hogwarts, with lots of nooks and crannies, though not very old as it was restyled c1850.
There is a new tarmaced cycle route up the side of the Vltava valley where the river has been damned to the stillness of a lake. It leads to tranquill villages such as PUKAREC, where not surprisingly, recreational fishing is the main activity.There is a lot of damage from last weeks storm with apple and rowan trees wrenched to the ground on many farms. We have crossed hundreds of railway lines on this trip, and now most are now without barriers , so we have to try and remember to look! Little local 2 carriage trains in red and cream chugg slowly between tiny rural stations. At BECHYNE the railway line shares a tarmac narrow bridge over a very deep gorge - I suppose the cars just move over when a train comes.
We get back onto the Greenway cycle route to Prague at the large town of TABOR, another walled old town centre with cobbled square. The campsite is in a wood on the outskirts near a small wooden restaurant where Friday night brings a folk band and a large crowd of locals. Many of the tunes sound familiar, but not the Czech words!
The cycle route sign states 100k to Prague. It is signed well most of the way and we make good progress on the village and forest roads. It is a bit of a slog after lunch by a pond as we follow a river up a valley for 20k to get through the high hills just south of Prague. At the top we have a view of Prague's suburbs stretching for miles under the cloudless sky. We stop and take a big modern room in the first pension we spot in the suburb of PRUHOVICE. The lady owner (it always is a lady) lends us her maps of Prague so we can plan how to visit the city over the next few days.


Miles to date 2,618

Location:KAPLICE to PRUHONICE

Czech wanderings...

We had another wander around beautiful old Telc before breakfast in the Pension garden. The old terraced and gabled buildings are all painted different colours, and some are highly decorated with painted scenes. The intricate trompe d'oeil is typically Czech (I remember it from a previous trip to Prague).
To avoid the busy main road out of town we walk the bikes for about a mile through fields and a wood, negotiating mole hills, huge nettles and branches felled in the recent wind. It is worth it though as we are soon on quiet farm roads again. Here is more wind damage. A good job this Silver Birch fell on the corn not the road!


JINDRICHUV HADREC was busy with traffic and road works, but the old town square was worth the effort, a little faded but still attractive.
As everywhere in mainland Europe, there are wooden huts on stilts at the edge of woods, which we understand are for hunters to shoot deer etc from. We have also seen reinforced concrete bunkers along the Czech/Austrian border section - they look post WW2 as they show no evidence of damage, so we guess they are the remnants of the old Iron Curtain defence line.
The Greenway route heads N to Prague now but we want to explore this area more so are taking a SW loop mostly through tiny villages. If they are not big enough to have a Co-op then they have a smaller Flop shop with bare essentials so we can at least get the very tasty bread. Every village also had a duck pond or a larger lake and I guess this is where the carp comes from on most menus. We camp in a field by a forest and river. The other campers have arrived by canoe. A blanket of mist in the morning wets the tent so we pack it away at the last minute when the morning sun has had time to dry it.
We join Czech tourists, many of them day riders on bikes, in the centre of the town of TREBON, and admire the cobbled square surrounded by the now familiar gabled buildings and colonnades. There is also an attractive castle complex right in the centre. It is bit too touristy with Segway or horse drawn carriage trips being touted, so not such a good experience as Telc.
The roads and villages are unbelievably quiet now, but when a vehicle does come along it is usually a speeding logging lorry or tractor. Outside one smallholding a chap with typical long grey beard and ponytail is drawing water from an old hand pump in front of his house. He stands resplendent in just his boxer shorts alongside an old tin bath. We do not wait to see whether he takes advantage of the hot weather to bathe alfresco!
The forest roads are lovely and cool, but there is enough filtered sun to allow tasty bilberries and wild raspberries to flourish on the forest floor. From the hill tops there are panoramic views of forest, arable fields and village church spires. Late pm we reach the small town of KAPLICE, which has no campsite, so we take a comfy room above a courtyard restaurant.


Miles to date 2,258

Location:TELC to KAPLICE

Another country...

We are the first customers at the camera shop when it opens at 8. Our old camera has finally packed in after years of touring abuse. There is a good choice so we are happy with the replacement. We pick up cycle route signs, mainly through vineyards, some tarmac, some gravel.
For those interested in birds, Redbacked Shrikes and Redstarts are common and now we are also seeing Harriers again. For those interested in socks, we pass this array out in the middle of nowhere - we have no idea what this is about!


There are hares everywhere. The only traffic in the lanes are old, speeding tractors with rattling wooden trailers.
POYSDORF would be an attractive town with it's yellow ochre Rathaus and church, if it weren't for the Polish heavy goods lorries thundering through the centre.
The only place we find to cross the border into the Czech Republic (our 6th country) is at MIKULOV, where we have to join a busy dual carriageway to get past the abandoned border posts. The attractive town centre is full of day cyclists, enjoying a beer. It is on the intersection of several cycle routes, so a popular spot. We leave approx west on the Vienna to Prague route, and by late afternoon come to the tiny village of NOVY PEROV where there is a lovely farm campsite. It is owned by a Greek who speaks perfect English. He has set up a home made barbecue in the courtyard and is cooking fish, kebabs and sausages for passing day cyclists' lunch. When he fires it up again in the evening we eat carp at a trestle table with a young couple of students on a walking holiday from the north of the country. Thomas speaks good English and tries to help us with Czech pronunciation. They fall about laughing at our attempts at 'r'. Whilst they round the evening off playing a complicated game of dice, we stroll around the village. It appears to have avoided all development, being faded cottages, each with at least 1 acre of cultivation. The funny peach/plum we discover are called Erdbeeren.
If the dawn chorus doesn't wake you at 5, the church clock ringing for 5 minutes at 6 (which sets the donkey braying) does.
We are tempted to stay another day at this perfect camp, but feel we ought to pedal on to take advantage of the great weather.
The village shop is frequented by cycling oldies again, and there are four ladies in homemade aprons, sitting at a worn metal table by a cottage front door, as we cycle past out of the village. They were sitting in exactly the same spot when we cycled in yesterday.
We are heading roughly west. At the tidy village of SLUP there is a restored water mill with 4 wooden undershot wheels. The mill house is palatial, which shows how important Millers used to be (milling records here go back to 1305). Combined Harvesters going from village to village are holding up the small amount of traffic there is. The route we have been following deteriorates into a rough steep track through a forest, unsuitable for tourers, and the few mountain bikers we meet are pushing their bikes! We give up after 10 miles, rejoin the nearest road and call it a day at the small village of LESNA where we camp in the orchard behind a motorbike museum! The biggest thunder storm we have ever seen lights up the west horizon like sun rise for at least an hour from 2am, we get ferocious wind but no rain and it is all back to sunshine by morning. One fallen tree nearly blocks the road next day but no other sign of damage.
We are now heading to VRANOV NAD DYJI and by good luck the road is shut to cars for repairs, but bikes can get through so a very peaceful pedal down into the gorge where the castle has a magnificent setting
high on a cliff over the river - as good as on the Danube.



It's a bit of a haul out of the valley but this takes us on through beautiful hamlets stuck in a time warp. The one little place we find open for a drink is opposite the local storks nest. They have 2 chicks in a big nest precariously on top of a disused factory chimney- how did they survive that wind?We stop for a long lunch break as it is too hot to cycle. The Inn looked at first glance as if it were long redundant, but through big barn doors we found a very welcoming host in his best vest, serving drinks to a group of chaps. One of them agreed to knock us up a Schnitzel, I had a nap on his grass then we were off through rolling hills to TELC. This is wonderful, the whole town is immaculate, from the large colonnaded square to the church and fountain.





We book into a B and B early to allow time to explore.





Miles to date 2,361

Location:MISTELBACH to TELC

Against the flow...

I'm a little concerned that Mike might have become obsessed with capital cities beginning with B. Although it would be fun to continue on down the Danube to
Belgrade (or even onto to Bucharest!) to celebrate with the Serbians their Wimbledon success, we have already gone east into one more country than we had planned. So now we are leaving Budapest against the torrent of commuting cyclists, retracing our path for a few days, to then pick up the Greenway cycle route north towards Prague. Besides, we are having enough trouble learning essential vocabulary (beer is "sor" in Hungarian and "pivo" in Slovak) to take on any more variations.
We will try and take the Slovak side of the river on our return, for a change of scenery, but sometimes there is no choice. This is how we find ourselves back in depressing Esztergom. It looks full of promise as the copper dome of the Basilica dominates the skyline (the largest church in Hungary) but there is still no one about. Even the large Cruise Boat crew are herding all their passengers onto coaches to take them somewhere else for the evening.
We pick up Ted and Sue's Norwegian cycle blog, and are glad we are not facing their gradients and mozzies, it makes our trip sound like a picnic (I expect everyone there understands English though!) An evening stroll takes us onto the metal bridge crossing to Slovakia. As we stand with one foot in each country a car transporter passes underneath, 3 barges pushed by one boat, approx. 1000 vehicles.


We didn't notice we had put our tent under a big light until dark fell and it came on! Well if Sue and Ted can sleep through the midnight sun, so can we.
Once over the bridge into Euro land there are thriving businesses and a new Billa superstore, where we stock up on food. Through Slovak villages with little vineyards and hundreds of acres of blooming sunflowers. There are good numbers of touring cyclists coming the other way now.
We take a five mile off-road detour to visit some Roman remains. The surviving walls outline a fort with 2 towers by the entrance gate, all with a good view of what was happening on the Danube.
Some of the tiny villages are almost car free (apart from this one old Trabant on the cycle route!)



In typical CICOV a gaggle of old dears are gossiping outside the Post Office (we think it must be pension day), leaning on their old bikes with baskets on the front. Everyone else is on a bike too- old gents (some on tricycles ) pulling home made trailers with either fishing or gardening gear piled in, or younger working men in dirty blue overalls pulling their work tools in similar home made trailers. One old dear hadn't got a bike so is just pushing her heavy metal trailer to the shops. They are now are always the identikit Coops.
At 100 m intervals along the roadside are trees laden with an orange fruit like across between a peach and a plum. They must be ripe now, as the locals are picking up the windfalls. However, we're not sure we can stomach all the local food - we came across one menu with a dish of 'constipated pork'!
We pass the now famiar skyline of Bratislava and re-enter Austria at the village of KITTSEE.
We are now leaving our Danube route and heading North, vaguely in the direction of the Czech Republic. So we cross the Danube for one last time, near Hainburg, and follow local cycle routes that we come across. First a castle route takes us past 2 impressive piles, and then a lovely country lane route , through more sunflowers and wheat being harvested. In amongst these crops are many "nodding donkeys" gently bobbing up and down as they extract oil. There must be oil rich shales under these farms (my geological advisor informs me).
There is some off-road, and some cobbles, but only undulating hills so not too strenuous. One slight mishap was that I was stung by a wasp on the leg while cycling along, and the little whatzit survived !
We are spending the night in a room above a Chinese restaurant in MISTELBACH - our last night in Austria so not very apt, but it's all we could find. Besides, we rather fancy a Chinese meal as a change from all that Wiener Schnitzel and there is likely to be rather a lot of Goulash and dumplings from tomorrow!





Miles to date 2,227

Location:BUDAPEST to

Hungarian Rhapsody...

As we pack our bags we watch the river traffic - cruise boats, freight barges and a large hydrofoil whizz past our windows. After disembarking up the gangway from our 'botel', we wander through the suburbs, searching out the Chilli Bikeshop. Away from the restored city centre, the streets are full of dusty shops of outdated fashion in postwar blocks, some soviet style high-rise flats are empty and graffiti covered. The tarmac has grass growing through cracks. The bike shop is on the first floor of such a block. The window stock is promising, however, as it doesn't open until 11 we will never know.
We are dodging roller blade users now rather than Nordic walkers as the main Danube route takes you away from the river to a large town.We don't fancy town traffic so cross the border south into Hungary (our 5th country!), to follow the alternative, with very quiet, flat roads through villages. Now out of the eurozone the exchange rate is 1,000 Hungarian forint = £4. At the first village shop we buy lunch supplies. She does not have a till, but can show us the bill on a calculator. The fields are full of ripened corn and sun flowers. After days of hot sunshine and rising humidity, rain is forecast and catches up with us just after lunch. We dive into a large bus shelter (bikes and all) just in time to avoid a sharp thunder storm.
We notice a camping sign on an ordinary house, as we approach the centre of the large town of GYOR. Pushing our bikes around the side we find a rear garden orchard with small kitchen and shower room. We have the place to ourselves so finish the afternoon drinking pots of tea and lounging on their garden furniture.
We pass through the tidy historic centre the next morning, after which tarmac is reserved for main roads only, villages linked only by unmade dirt tracks. We have to negotiate some busy roads, where signs show horse and carts are not welcome (probably as the poor horses would fall into the huge pot holes).


In villages most folk are wearing track suits, and many are on bikes - no one wears helmets. Storks (always 3 to a nest- parents and a large chick) stare down from the tops of telegraph poles.
We reach the large, mostly empty camp site at sizeable ESTREGOM, and wander round the centre, an impressive castle and large churches, but no life about, only one small restaurant in a hotel - a bit depressing.


Our route to Budapest involves two ferry trips as we have to cross to the north bank where the Danube is squeezed once more onto a bendy, picturesque gorge. The ferry is typical of the many we have seen plying the river, but note the decrepit-looking lifeboat hanging on the left - in poor condition, but also only just big enough for the crew!


Ancient castles look down from many peaks, more decayed than the "disneyfied" ones in Austria, but all the more attractive for that. We have a few kilometres of frighteningly very busy road before the first ferry, but a surprise on the north bank where a lovely, brand new, tarmac stretch of cycle path cuts out a busy road.
Approaching Budapest we have marvellous views of their enormous, gorgeous Baroque Parliament on the Pest side, and the castle and ancient citadel tower above us on the Buda side.


We are booked into the Marriott in a central location, just over the concrete Elizabeth Bridge. A local cyclist confirms the only way on is up a big flight of steps. Enjoying a stroll in the evening through the vibrant restaurant area we come to an older metal bridge which would have been much easier, so will use that on our way out.
Sunday is reserved for a tour of the castle area and the opulent streets of Baroque apartments and embassies. We get our fix of Post Impressionist art at the Fine Art Museum, beside the impressive statutes of Hero's Sq. We the love the city! Fabulous Baroque and Art deco architecture on one bank, medieval castle on the other. Acres of faded, formerly, grand facades, and lively streets of pavement restaurants.


Miles to date 2,046

Location:BRATISLAVA to BUDAPEST