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Published: July 11th 2006
Pannonian Plain
Flat Hungarian lands, scorching hot in the daytime, await us...Day 39, 9th July.
Budapest (Budaors) - Jaszbereny
After a lovely breakfast supplied by our hosts we left for the city centre where the guys went to do their shopping business and I headed off alone to Jaszbereny. The suburbs were huge, cobbled, and choked with traffic. The truck driver were idiotic along with other stupid drivers who used their cars as weapons - why do they do this and what right do they have to inflict serious injury upon persons unknown? (rant) At the city limits, fields instantly appeared and the roads became quieter. The wind was behind again and the roads were nice and straight. It was a funny feeling not being in the group - I felt a little vulnerable.
I arrived in Jaszbereny about 2pm and went to the tourist info office to find out where *Reka’s parent’s street was located, it was easy to find. I was welcomed with a beer by her mum and dad and sat in the back garden talking in German with them until I had to leave to meet the guys outside the info office - with my package from Kathryn which I read with delight while waiting.
Road sign.
What the bloody-nora... how do you prounce that! She had sent me a book called ‘The Alchemist’ and a big lock of her hair that smells lovely. The guys arrived at six, we bough beers at the supermarket and headed back to the house. My bike was unloaded and I swerved a bit… lost it… and fell off - hard! My first pretty serious injury - and last, I hope? Scott patched me up and we had dinner outside, and lots of beer, and wine, and schnapps! They invited us to stay there for the night in Reka’s old room which was nice. I saw some photos of me in Vechta… aaarrrgh! Then went to bed after midnight.
*Reka - In 2000, I studied in Vechta, a small university town in Germany. Being a foreigner, I was part of the ‘auslander’ group, where I met many foreign students, including Reka, a girl from Jaszbereny, Hungary.
Total Miles: 1756.06 Todays Miles: 62.87 Average speed: 12.0 Time on bike: 5:12
Day 40, 10th July.
Jaszbereny - Tiszaroff - Karcag - Püspokladány
Reka’s parents prepared us a lovely breakfast of breads, cheeses and assorted vegetables with eggs. Afterwards, we set about repairing my derailier which
Reka's Mum.
Thanks Reka's mum and dad in Jaszbereny for putting up four smelly cyclists in one room! was bent in yesterdays accident. By ten, we were ready to set out in the scorching heat again. Our route was due east for the Romanian border.
The land was flat and dusty, sunflowers filled the fields, and storks nested on most lamp posts. We took a route off the main road through villages, with water standpipes, that had the bicycle and horse & cart as the major form of transport. The people had started to look noticeably different - dark-skinned and curious as we passed through their lives. There was a ferry we had to take across Hungary’s second largest river, the Tisza, which operated solely by the power of the flowing water. From then on we raced along with the wind behind us averaging 18mph to the town of Karcag where we had a coffee stop and my first glass of iced-tea. Our target was too far away, so we opted for a campground at a place called Püspokladány. The sun was setting earlier as we were now so easterly. For dinner I made a pasta meal and this was followed by countless cuppas before sundown.
Total Miles: 1830.99 Todays Miles: 74.93 Average speed: 14.7 Time
Tisza ferry.
Ferry attatched to a cable anchored 100 metres upstream uses a rudder and the flow of the water to cross the river - ingenious and 'Green'. on bike: 5:02
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