Day 14: Fri 10 Jun - Kalocsa to Mohacs

Ride: 85km

Well, I couldn't see a great deal of difference in my health or beauty this morning, although I did forget where I had placed my bike chain key. So all those minerals in the spar may have affected my memory.  Found the key in my jacket and then had a nice breakfast, which in Hungary consists of plenty of cold meats, cheeses, chopped tomatoes, yoghurt, eggs, pastries, bread (mainly white), a small tasty sausage and a token amount of cereal just to shut people like me up.  

Surprisingly for Europe the ride today was through some sparsely populated areas. We saw some wildlife; deer, hare, badger (dec) and plenty of birds. We were riding across the Danube from a large National Park. Unfortunately we hadn't factored it into our schedule so couldn't cross over to it. 

This arvo we hit some rough sections and my back tyre punctured, number two for the group this tour.   I was able to fix it with some puncture goo I'm carrying so wasn't a problem. However it damaged my tyre, so when I got to the motel I had to use my spare tyre. I can keep the punctured one as an emergency spare but the wall is damaged. Four of the others have the same size tyre as me so between us all we should be ok.  

While we were having lunch beside an offshoot canal in Baja a young lady walked past and saw our Aussie flag. We found out that she was www.Sandy-robson.com, an Aussie who is kayaking from Ulm, Germany to Cyrus on her own!! She is from Freemantle WA. All I can say she is gutsy considering the countries she is paddling through. 

Our motel tonight is Szent Janos Hotel right on the Danube and we got to it via a five minute ferry ride. But no wi-fi!!  

Mohacs is famous for a 1526 battle with the Turks (Ottoman) who had a force of 100,000 troops and gave 25,000 Hungarians a flogging. It was an important turning point in Central Europe and the beginning of the end of the Hungarian Kingdom. The Turks were eventually expelled from these lands about 150 years later. That's Europe for you, wars and changing borders.