I’m in Hungary. And I don’t have much to show for it yet.
Todays 120 km were among the most unnoteworthy. The day started on the north bank of the Danube. It was a long stretch of this.
So I decided to switch to the south side, and thus enter Hungary earlier than the route called for. The surface was initially terrible, deep smooth stone gravel, but eventually became paved highway side trails. Which is great riding, if not exciting. Best pictures of the day illustrate this, I think.
I did find a unique ice cream flavor at the grocery store. It wasn’t very good, but hopefully better than my 2 other choices – bounty or snickers.
Grocery shopping here has been interesting. Most products have few if any choice. Whereas in North America the cereal isle may have 50 or more options, here it may be 10 or less. Want hot sauce? Tobasco is all I’ve seen. Instant oatmeal, half the stores haven’t had it. Same with mayo. The bakery sections, however, are amazing.
The campground tonight is huge and almost empty. It’s on the river but nowhere to really get in the water, though it has a pool. So I went in. At the pool was a young man speaking English to two Hungarians. Al, the Swedish English speaker, asked about my trip. One of the Hungarians was interested. He doesn’t have much English, but there is a word he likes. Al: How far are you riding? Me: 3000 km. Hungarian slaps his forehead and calls me an idiot. Al: How many kms a day. Me: About 125. Hungarian slaps his forehead and calls me an idiot. Al: Where are you from. Me: Canada. Hungarian slaps his forehead and calls me an idiot. You get the idea. I think he meant it like crazy, and probably not to insult me 🙂
Al is walking from Sweden to Istanbul. He was inspired, in part, by a Terry Fox documentary he saw on Netflix. He travels about 30 km a day and is 2 months in to what he thinks will be about 4 months. He has no tent, rather an enclosed hammock that he mostly uses on the ground. He dealt with a lot more rain than me, and with less shelter. Wow.
Speaking of dealing, I have yet another flat. Christ. Not sure what the deal is, I’ll investigate in the morning to start my last day of bicycle travel. It’ll be fairly short at 80 km, unless I take the long way. Which is pretty unlikely at this point 😉
An uneventful day, other than the flat tire and meeting new people, even if one did call you an idiot! Snickers would have been my choice of ice cream. I’d say it’s time to get to your final destination where food will be plentiful and lots of sights to be seen. Had a good laugh from your Hungarian story. You’ve meet some interesting folks on this trip. Enjoy the last day of your ride. Wish I could be there to welcome you after such an achievement. Proud of you.
Hungarian 1 = very funny. What did Hungarian 2 have to add to the entertainment?
He seemed like a sweet guy. Bought Al a beer and shook my hand
Flats on flats on flats. What in the world is happening?!
Bad patch job
Well Chad here’s your challenge should you choose to accept it. Find THE most cheesy, doughy, deep fried, salty/sweet Hungarian food possible to make up for this M&M fiasco 😉 Have fun during these last days of your trip!
Sounds like another day in my life
Wow, Al was inspired by Terry Fox, what a small world we live in! May your final days be flat free and fanciful!
Iain
If it makes you feel any better, I got a second flat of the year today, too. Same place as the one a week or so ago, and sure enough, there’s a 2mm hole in the tire. I went to three shops today looking for a new one for my upcoming trip (I glued in an innertube based boot for now). Not a single shop had regular Schwalbe Marathons! One had the “Plus” version, another tried to convince me to get a Continental, and the third had no tires at all in the size I wanted (32-622.) I’ll try Urbane tomorrow.
That bike trail looks wonderful!
And what *was* in the ice cream, if not M&Ms?
That sucks. No regular marathons? Wow. You can try hoopdriver too. The ice cream has regular m&ms with crappy vanilla and peanut butter ice cream.
Thanks – I’ll add them to my list. I thought they had closed but they just moved to near Jane and Annette.
Update: Urbane Cyclist not only had the Marathon tires in my size, but even had the new version (made with recycled rubber.)
Alas, I bought an old-style one, as I have yet to read and long distance reviews of the “greener” ones.