Day 9: Sun 5 Jun - Esztergom to Budapest

Ride: 81km

Today was completely on the Danube which meant that it was flat, and fantastic. However it was still a fairly long day despite its relatively short distance. And that was due mainly to the poor condition of the bike paths, or should I say goat tracks. Considering 1,000s of cyclist tour this route every week the Hungarian government have done very little to update or maintain the infrastructure. I suppose I shouldn't get started on this so will stop at that. 

Talk about a small world, we were just about to head off for the day and four lady touring cyclists rode by and, like you do with all fellow tourers they said hi. Because we answered in English they said where you from. One thing lead to another and as it turns out they are from Canada and are good friends with the two blokes who I met in Vietnam and stayed at my place a month or so ago. One of the blokes had given me a riding jacket from their home state and the ladies insisted I get my photo taken with them. Their husbands are also good mates with the bloke I met in Vietnam.    

Anyway back to today proceedings, although it was only 81km it took most of the day. Firstly we had to catch a couple of ferries as the path crosses over to the other side of the river occasionally. Being a Sunday it was a long wait at one of them. As we came off the last ferry the sky opened and we got hail and very heavy rain for about an hour. We donned the wet weather gear and after a fair while the hail had not stopped so we headed out. It soon stopped and blue sky and sunshine appeared in no time. The last 20km into Budapest was very slow and it took some very skilled navigation to find our way. To make things a bit slower it was Sunday and there were a million people out strolling. The motel is right in the city and it is very nice for the price. Looking forward to exploring the city over the next few days.

Typical Town Square in Hungary