Egészségedre

After Bratislava I had no clear destination in mind, just follow the trail down river. Györ, Hungary could have been good, but it lies 80 kms away and by the time I finished the job interview, had lunch with the people from the NGO, changed into cycling clothes and repacked my bicycle it was 1500. While sitting at lunch the wind was so strong that we had to change tables and go inside the restaurant. I did take note of its direction….sailors and cyclists have the wind in mind. Normally I don’t even bother to consider it but on certain occasions its importance grows. Also, a few years ago when I was in a sailing school I quickly fell into the habit of automatically observing the wind strength and direction. It was coming hard from the West and once I managed to clear the city and set up on the trail heading east, I was more flying than riding. There was nobody about, no towns and only the now extremely wide Danube and this amazing wind to accompany me I put the bike in the highest gear and put the hammer down. I was probably holding 25 km/h for two hours in top gear, in relative silence because the wind was right behind me. Any time the path curved so that the wind would arrive from the side I would shift down to spinning mode in order to spare my knees, then when again in perfect alignment with the wind upshift to top gear and fly. The pedals rotate quite slowly in that mode, making a whump-whump thumping kind of rhythm. With the bags, the tent and sleeping bag, me and my rucksack the whole package has the aerodynamics of a brick, which in most cases is negative but in this perfect situation was ideal. The wind was even causing white-caps on the river next to me.

While taking a break Chris stopped next to me for a chat. A young kid from Kent, perhaps 25 or 26 on an old beaten-up bike with ratty old gear. He was on his way to Istanbul. We shared some info and then he was off, not wanting to break too long while this wind was offering its services. We met again later and had a longer talk. He had recently been ill and in the hospital for 9 months. I did not ask what it was. He then said that his physicians told him that the chances are high that the illness will return in 5 or 6 years. I assume it must be cancer in remission. He told me he wants to live these years fully while he can and this is his motivation for his tour. By the appearance of his equipment it seems that he does not have much money but he does have courage and I applaud him. It would be great to meet him again, but his is bloody fast and I think I won’t catch up to him.

Well, with that wind I did make it to the point in Slovakia at which I could turn to Györ, 10 kms away. That means I did about 70 kms in 3.5 hours, including breaks. Since I will soon be in Hungary for a week I decided to stay on the Slovak side of the Danube tonight.

The villages here are small and I did not think that the shops would close early. The few small grocery stores had all closed at 18 and I could not find any food to buy. Stopped in a bar and bought a bottle of beer and a bag of nuts, then carried on down the road to find a place to sleep. I came across a type of community house along the trail and looked around for someone to ask. Soon five men came out of the woods and I asked them about sleeping on the grounds. They were very interested in my bike setup and in the idea of traveling by bicycle to the Ukraine. Interested is one way of putting it, on the other hand one could say that they thought I was a little crazy. They welcomed me to sleep on their grounds and made a great effort to speak in German, which they did quite well actually. 

Route Planning

It was a beautiful night and I decided against the tent, just to sleep on the ground in my sleeping bag. Since I had no food I tucked into my beer and nuts but within moments one of the hunters came to me and said “nicht viel essen, machen Feuer, dann viel Essen, verstehe?” He was telling me not to eat too much because they were going to build a big fire, grill food and then there would be a lot to eat. Again, kindness in excess. Later they brought food over to me at my campsite. I thought they would invite me to them, which I am sure they would have if I spoke their language or if I spoke better Russian (I must work on that), but as it was communication would have been difficult. This worked out better because as a vegetarian I would have had to turn down their grilled meats, which would have been a little awkward. They brought me grilled corn, bread, salad and meat. When they were away I discretely put the meat aside and happily ate the rest.