Sunday July 8, 2007

 

DATE: Sunday July 8, 2007
ROUTE: Byele Vody, Slovakia to Godolla, Hungary
DISTANCE: 99 miles
TIME: 8h 40m
CEG: 4706
WEATHER: chilly in the morning, 80s in the afternoon

This was supposed to be a long but easy day. We were all pretty excited to settle in to a nice hotel for 2 days and explore Budapest. So we set out with light hearts ready to tackle our one big climb followed by rollers, ending with the flat Hungarian plain.

Let me take a moment to tell you about how an Expedition differs from the regular tours offered by ExperiencePlus. Many of the daily routes have not been personally ridden or driven. Many of the hotels have been chosen by recommendation of local guides or selected through internet research, but not personally inspected. We all knew this when we signed up for this tour. We all knew we needed an adventurous spirit and a flexible attitude. So far we’ve experienced a wide variety of accommodations and food. We’ve been paupers and we’ve been royalty. This suits me just fine!

OK. Back to today. The first and only (so we thought) climb was long but beautiful. But where were the rollers? And where was that elusive summit? When we had a well-deserved descent, the road conditions were so terrible that our hand ached from braking. The information Monica had was erroneous. But we were assured by Ondrej, our Slovakian guide (mind you that he left us at the border), that the great Hungarian plain stretched out in front of us and the last 50 miles would be flat. Wrong again! Up, down, up, down all the way. For some reason, the weariness that plagued me in the morning evaporated. After lunch and our border crossing, my normal energy returned and I felt strong. Good thing because the next 50 miles took 4 more hours of steady pedaling.

Our hotel was a big surprise. The location was lousy and the accommodations sub-standard. It turns out that the hotel had changed ownership just 2 months ago (news to Monica) and that the girl at the desk had just started to work here 3 hours ago. Things were sub-standard --- especially for a two night stay. Bill did not even have soap in his bathroom --- and went searching in a pink towel. Monica bought everyone a warm beer (no ice or refrigeration) and found us a hotel in downtown Budapest. We sleep here tonight and move tomorrow. Yea!

Thanks to Fritz for sharing his pictures.

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