Day 27 Budapest to Lake Balaton

120 km (75 miles) day, 1,366 total

Not much to report today really. Today,  was mostly about the ride. I set off  reasonably early and went to visit Fishermans Bastion on the Pest side of Budapest - which I hadn’t visited the Previous day. It was lovely as the photos show. Getting out in Budapest was hard! It was rush hour, very poor, or no, cycle lanes, direction finding difficult, many roads with four lanes and no protection for cyclists. I did get out however, and as soon as I cleared Budapest I stopped for breakfast. Bought the best that the Spar could offer. Strangely, Hungary has four supermarket brands found in England (Tesco!, Aldi, Lidle and Spar).  I had a typical continental breakfast ( see photo) of cheese, bread, tomatoes and some sun-dried tomatoes. The rest of the day was spent dragging myself 120 km along the same road, mostly road number seven. This is a busy road with very few cycle paths, and those that are there are not very good. I had several problems with drivers who came to close. One in particular, driving a rubbish collection vehicle, almost touched me. I shook my fist and he stopped. I rushed to admonish him. I’m not sure if dickhead translates directly into Hungarian? If not, I have contributed to its vocabulary. Nevertheless, he was getting out of his cab when he saw my face. I imagine my look of disappointment in his driving made him realise his error and immediately got back in the cab. He drive off, issuing what I can only assume was a loud, and hopefully sincere, apology.  “Apology accepted” I shouted back (or words approximating this and using my newly introduced word ). Stopped at a village to take advantage of the fountains to cool down physically and metaphorically. Didn’t see any other touring cyclist until the afternoon when I met Karsten from Dresden. He introduced himself as being from East Germany - not Germany. This has happened more than once before when meeting those from the former East. There is clearly something in this. He was a nice chap and we chatted as we dodged idiot drivers for an hour or more. Until I stopped for lunch when he left me. 

This afternoon saw the thunderstorms that were promised. They were very local but one, eventually, got me. It was lovely cycling in the rain. The road was so hot that as soon as the rain started it  began to steam, I took a photo of  this. Cycling through the puddles, what  splashed up felt very hot on my feet - like a hot bath. After 120 hot kilometres I finally reached my target campsite on Kake Balaton. It is the biggest freshwater lake in Europe and 40 times bigger than Lake Windermere. The guy on the gate said it was full! He went and got the receptionist who was a young girl. I gave her my very best lost-puppy look and she found me a place. Result! Had a swim, made dinner and went and found a very nice bar only five minutes from the campsite where I’m writing this. It’s going to rain in biblical amounts soon by the look of the sky! Lots of thunder and lightning about. Going to get an early night and cycle the northern Shore of Balaton tomorrow. This is the wine growing region and I travel in hope. 

Heading West! Early morning, rather than early evening shadow now points the way!

Fisherman’s Bastion








Breakfast on a pannier!


Emergency cooling


Lunchtime temperature 


Karsten from Dresden


Squinting into the sun but oh my it feels good 

Storm brewing