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Published: August 12th 2008
Today we are taking a rest day after 10 days of cycling. We left Austria 2 days ago and are now in Hungary. Initially after leaving Austria we had to nip into Slovakia for a few miles before entering Hungary. Unforftunately our route was blocked because of an Air Show taking place in the capital Bratislava - the area we where going through was the designated crash zone if something went wrong with the aircraft. At first the security men told us we had to go back to where we come from. These were typical security thugs - looked like skinheads etc. Anyway I told him that there was no way we were going back. Luckily a man came along and showed us an alternative route. This involved going over a bridge into the city. Unfortunately half of the population were on the bridge to look at the air show and the half were on their way to the bridge. It took us about 2 hours to push our way through the crowds to get back onto the correct route. During that time I lost the cycle path route guide which I had bought the day before in Vienna. Without this we didn't have a clue which way to go. Fortunately I managed to find it after about 30 mins of searching - most people were looking up and not at the ground otherwise someone would have definately taken it. Anyway we eventually reached Hungary but we didn't have any Hungarian currency. The first ATM we came to wouldn't accept any of our cards. Luckily for us the camp site accepted euros (at a rediculous rate). The next day all our cards were not accepted at 4 other ATMs we passed on route. It was not until we reached Gyor that we could finally get some money. All this messing around with banks meant that we didn't reach our camp site until 1850 - just before the reception closed. We had cycled 65 miles in very hot conditions and with a strong head wind.
It has been a bit of a culture shock for Joy coming into Eastern Europe. Gone are the nicely paved cycle paths, regular refreshment stops, and abundant accommodation. This is where our trip really starts.
Thanks again for all your messages. Sorry if we can't reply straight away to all of you but some of these internet cafes are expensive. In Austria I thought the woman said 2 euros for 50 min and was therefore a bit annoyed when she charged us 2 euros for 15 min - we had been on line uploading photos for 2 hrs!
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Geoff and Cerry
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The Epic Journey
This is the first chance we have had to check your progress. Andy has very kindly let us use his PC at work. We are not sure whether you have a tan or rust streaks but are very impressed with your progress. We hope that you do not find eastern europe too frustrating. Wait till you have to deal with the Turks. You are both looking very well. In one photo Steve looks a bit like Terry Waite!!!