Day 4, Vienna to Budapest: Gyor to Komarno: 58kms.

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Well, we can’t complain about being bored today! We had every terrain imaginable. We left Gyor after a very close study of the instructions to get out of the city – right here, left there, left at the railway, straight for 200m, turn left, etc, etc. We went out of town with three friendly Irish who sang Irish songs with gusto for several kilometres until we encountered some rough surfaces. The first roads off the cycle trail were appalling with ruts, broken asphalt, humps and generally a bumpy surface through a pretty run down village with narrow houses and funny little mounds which were likely cellars or cool rooms made of soil over a structure. The gardens and orchards were large so they were obviously used to producing their own food. From here we biked through farmland of maize and sunflowers up and down rolling hills until we reached a little village and had to turn onto a so-called grass track which is part of the Europe 6 bike trail. What a mistake – if we’d known what that was like we would have kept to the road. The track was muddy, slippery, full of puddles and rutted so it was very slow going. It ran alongside the railway and farmland and it appeared to be used by tractors – not at all suitable for road bikes. We only hoped that others behind us, like the Irish on road bikes had not gone that way. We met a guy coming through with a trailer behind his bike and advised him not to go that way and he advised us not to take another path and stick to the road. That took us through to Acs where we found a really nice cake shop/café. It looked incongruous in a village with virtually nothing open and pretty run down in places. From Acs we stayed on the road to Komarom on the south side of the Danube which is in Hungary, and biked across the river to Komarno on the north side of the Danube which is in Slovakia.

It’s a bit weird as we were in Bratislava in Slovakia and a couple of days ago, yesterday in Gyor which is in Hungary, back to Komarno which is in Slovakia and tomorrow we’ll be back in Hungary.

It seems fairly obvious that these countries have been part of the eastern block of Soviet States. The apartment buildings are awful and literally plain blocks of apartments which haven’t seen paint for years. They are incredibly unattractive. However, the town centres which are from a previous time are really lovely. The villages we’ve been biking through are also unattractive with plain houses or neglected properties that people don’t seem to have any pride in. There are the exceptions but in general money needs to be spent and it will take time to improve. Many roads are in disrepair with potholes and tarmac that is moving into mounds from heat and a poor foundation. It is really rutted to ride on. We didn’t notice these things so much further to the west. However, the towns, where important, do seem to have things changing and farming looks to be reasonably prosperous.

Added to the above, the language is impossible to understand. There aren’t the familiar words that can be associated with French, German or Italian that we see cropping up in English. Young people do seem to speak English though. People as a whole do not seem to be that friendly and are quite sour at times. I feel like telling them to smile but then it’s okay for me isn’t it when I haven’t had to spend my life as they have?

Komarno seems to be quite a nice town with a very attractive centre. It is surrounded by old fortifications so must have been under attack a lot in the past. Our hotel called Bow Garden is quite strange. It used to be a winery and has been made into an accommodation and sports facility. In the main part of the building there is a four lane bowling alley right where we will have breakfast in the morning. There are squash courts, a pool room and lovely but over grown gardens and courtyard. It looks like there are many parties here with it set up for wining, dining and music. The rooms are decorated with very stylish furniture and Neil and Karilyn have a shower that you almost need an instruction manual to use – lighting, music and water jets from every direction.

All in all, we had a very varied day in terms of terrain, cycle surface and culture.

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Photos

Yes, this is part of the E6 bike path
Believe it or not, this is part of the cycling trail. It runs beside the railway and farmland and is very rutted and muddy after rain and tractors using it. This not a a suitable surface for bikes of the roading kind

A bowling alley in the restaurant
One of the quirky features of this hotel is the bowling alley and other sports facilities

Komarno town centre
Komarno in Slovakia is a pretty fortified town for the most part.