Day 22 - 50 miles - Mesteri
The week started as the last left off, with flat sunflower lined roads in 35° heat. Although there objectively wasn't all that much to see most of the time, I never got bored out here. The riding was the fastest of the trip and every small town felt very different to everything I'm used to in England and Western Europe.
I crossed over 1000 miles cumulative riding for the trip and celebrated by taking a road side water pump shower, quickly becoming a must at every town in the heat. My only gripe was my persistent appetite loss - this is pretty nasty sorry but by this point I was wretching every breakfast and lunch as I muscled down my yoghurt or veg + salami sandwich. I just had to rationalise it to myself that this was just a necessary evil to get the calories in and avoid a full blown crash like I had in Austria.
I found camp in the woods of what I can only describe as a really crap Center Parcs for UK readers. A few guys came by to talk to me but walked off tutting when they realized I spoke no Hungarian. When I came back after showering there was a smoldering fire 5 meters from my tent. I didn't have the time or energy to second guess it though, so crashed out for the night assuring myself my tent was safe from arson.
Day 23 - 71 miles - Bakonyszentlászló
I woke up to a very interesting text from my Dad. He'd spoke with a family friend Peter who was currently staying at his mother in law's house which happened to be bang on my route, about 60 miles ahead and had offered me any help he could give whilst in Hungary. I still can't quite believe the odds of this, neither my Dad nor Peter knew where I was in Hungary when they'd spoke. At this point I had today and tomorrow to make it into Budapest where I was set to meet my fiancee Nat for a well needed rest. I threw out my original route for the day and drew up a new direct line to Peter's house in Agard.
The first half was great fun, again just passing through all of the little towns which seemed to be celebrating something across the region with decorations all over the place. Honourable mention to the town that made the most cursed looking Shrek scene, much higher effort than the more common stack of tyres made to look like a minion.
Assuming I knew better than my mapping software, I attempted what looked like a 6 mile shortcut to save 20 miles of riding. The side road that I'd rerouted to quickly turned to hard pack gravel, then thick mud and finally thick unrideable sand for over a mile. I had no choice but to push the bike through this section and so 6 miles took me over an hour and all of my water supplies. About a mile from the end of this section I had pulled my phone out to send a voice note update to Nat. Mid monologue, I heard snapping branches and noticed there was something moving in the bushes just off of the trail. From memory it was bigger than a dog and seemingly upright but smaller than a human. I didn't stick around to work it out and started running, losing a Kinder Bueno and half-eaten peach in the process from my open bag.
Once back on beautiful asphalt and thinking I was still on for good time, I made the mistake of updating Peter on my eta, just a couple miles before Komoot (my route planning app) attempted to dunk me into 10 miles of riding on the highway 88. Riding a bike on this road was forbidden and with good reason, I reckon there was a 50% minimum chance I'd have become a Hungarian smudge. Scrambling through Gmaps, I thought I'd found a slightly longer alternative route on quieter roads but it turned out to be 10 miles of rough farmers field trails.
Day 24 - 47 miles - Gárdony
I woke up to a hearty breakfast and packed lunch from Csilla before making my leave around 10. All morning we'd been watching the weather warning of a storm rolling in but jusy 2 days out of Austria I'd already forgotten about all of my past mistakes and decided to press on.
I made it 8 miles from my start when the storm really hit, thankfully I had enough time in the bank with only 40 miles to ride until Budapest that I could afford to wait it out in a bus shelter.
Once moving again, I realised I'd once again been failed by the promises of brilliant artificial intelligence as Komoot was forcing me down tight yet fast roads that were starting to rattle me after a few close passes. I rerouted and followed the Eurovelo 14 route for the rest of the day. Horses, hills and an extra 10 miles of riding was a very good trade-off considering I wasn't passed by a single car from here on.
I cruised into our central Budapest Airbnb over the Rácókzi bridge, threw my bike inside and got to work on my laundry list of tasks to do before Nat arrives tomorrow. Clean everything, charge everything, get the bike serviced, repack.
Day 25 to 28 - Rest days - Budapest
We had 3 days together to relax and explore the city by foot whilst my bike was being serviced at the local shop, which was such a novel experience after riding every day for the last month. We treated it like a normal holiday for us and tried not to acknowledge we'd be parting ways after a few days' time. I hadn't realised just how much I needed this time to unwind from the constant riding. Side note, if you find someone that pushes you to follow through on your dreams to travel like this and is supportive the whole way then marry them! Thanks Nat.
Day 29 - 56 miles - Budapest
Nat was flying home early afternoon and I needed to check out of the Airbnb by 10, so we got up together, packed and walked over to the airport bus stop. Saying goodbye a second time around really is a heck of a lot harder than the first. A month in to the trip and it's felt like a lot longer than that for me, probably around 2 and a half months in my mind, so the idea of doing that again but twice as long is pretty daunting.
I was pretty low all day, and I would have loved nothing more than to pack it in and head home now. This coupled with the non-stop rain and issues with my bike and I was about as fragile as it gets. Trying to reset my mind and pull myself out of my slump I set my eyes on the next goal, Belgrade. My brother Josh had organised to meet me there in just over a week's time. The plan was to now join onto the Eurovelo 6 route, one of the longest bike routes spanning from the East coast of Bulgaria to the west of France largely following the river Danube which passed through Budapest.
Riding the Danube was great, usually flanked by a pristine cycle path or a separate hard packed gravel road with almost no traffic. It was definitely the kind of section where you can ride with headphones in belting out karaoke to the farmers. The only other people I saw were holiday goers out fishing on the banks and a couple other cyclists going the opposite direction (as the route is intended).
Now 29 days in, this was also the point I had a hard word with myself about needing to wild camp if I was going to make my budget last. I should say that I've wildcamped on most of my other trips in recent years but it's really something you have to practice often. When it's been a while the first few nights are pretty sleepless as every sound you hear is almost definitely a murderer. I found what turned out to be one of my best ever spots, a completely private beach to myself with a sunset and easy access to the river to swim and wash my clothes. Aside from some animal coming to sniff around my tent once or twice, it was a really good night's sleep.
Day 30 - 42 miles - Fajsz
I woke up with the sun and took my time packing down this morning. As I had my own private beach it would be silly to leave before taking another dip and wash my clothes before getting back on the EV6 route.
The riding was even better than yesterday, 50 flat miles on almost completely dedicated bike paths with the heat getting back up into the mid 30s. In an attempt to even out my horrific T-shirt tan lines I'd built up, I'd started freeing the nipple and riding topless. This has since become the standard for the trip - the weird looks are completely worth it.
By this point I was getting my first taste of the dog situation in the Balkans too. Anyone who spoke to me in the run up to my trip will know that my biggest worry for the trip has been the wild dogs in the Balkan countries and then the infamous Kangal sheep dogs of Turkey. Although Hungary had very few wild dogs, almost every house had at least 1 dog trained to go 11/10 crazy at anyone who dares to even walk on the path outside their territory. Every time I stopped in a little town for even a minute to check maps or stretch, I had about 20 seconds of silence before the chorus of barking started. Even behind the gates it was enough to make you swerve if you're mid daydream.
I pulled up at the small town of Fajsz looking for a wild camp spot and wasn't alone. In the centre of this tiny town was a small field that had already been found by a bunch of other travelers including Ivan and his dog Uma. Ivan set off from his home in Spain at the start of the year and is hoping to ride to the Chinese border with Uma in tow. Within 2 minutes I had Uma sitting on my feet and lap wherever I stood or sat, she lead the way in deciding that the 3 of us would ride together for the next few days as we head south to Belgrade.
Wildcamping for the second day on the trot meant finding a new routine of showering using a bag hanging from a tree and washing my clothes in the Danube again. It's not the most glamorous life but you very quickly stop caring about anyone else's judgemental eyes.
Day 31 - 44 miles - Dunaegházan
Setting off for the day with Ivan and Uma was such a nice change of pace for us both. I was starting to feel the strain of traveling solo for so long and Ivan who'd been on the road for 5 months now definitely felt the same.
We took it a lot slower than my usual pace, taking it in turns to queue up tunes on Spotify and talk about our highest highs and lowest lows of the trip so far. Ivan was riding with a lot more luggage than me as he had supplies for him and Uma as well as his guitar for busking in major cities. Uma took turns running along side us both and then taking breaks in the crate on the back of Ivan's bike.
We found another ideal wildcamp spot on a small pier on the river. We had our own private spot to cook in the sun and swim whilst Ivan played a couple diddies for us. It's the kind of spot that you picture bike touring being like all the time but just a few weeks' experience tells you that spots like this don't come around all too often.
We watched as another big lightning storm rolled in from the East and ducked into the tents in the last second to hunker down for the night. By this point I'd seen enough storms that I was able to enjoy the rumbling and flashes as I nodded off.
