Budapest
This morning was another dewy day with the sun rising through a morning fog. Heard a few moans and groans but not much as a result of yesterday's tough hills and extra length. This crowd doesn't have any whiners. Congratulations to Jenny's dad Casey who did 90K yesterday on his second day ever, or in a long time, of serious riding. And Carrie did a half day, too.
Today we found the bike path right out of town with incredible ease. It was already warm enough for me to be in one shirt. Wasn't long though before we found a police tape "barrier" across the path. Well, barriers are made to be crossed, right? – so we did. A little ways longer and we found the reason for it. First there was an inch or so of gooey slippery mud over the path, then water, more mud, river trash – grass and small branches, then 6 inches or more of water that we all road through. By then our bikes were pretty muddy anyway. More flooding from the day before. And our first Hungarian mud bath. Isn't it fun doing these things as a group?
We made lunch at the van of Lady Genevieve at 11:00 on the bank of the Danube(now the Duna) at Szentendre. Had pate, cheese and cucumber sandwiches, peach, orange. Good lunch but too soon after breakfast to eat a lot. That's another town that probably deserves a look sometime.
As soon as we got on the path the first thing of note we saw was a guy waterskiing on a small manmade lake. The thing was there was no boat pulling him - he was just zipping along, arms out in front and skiing. Turns out there was an overhead cable system pulling him in a big circle around the lake. Do they have these in N.America? If so, I've never seen them.
The next noteworthy item almost ended Chuck's ride. A little boy (maybe 6) on a tiny bike popped out from a side path about 5 feet in front of him without looking or slowing. Bushes kept us from seeing him until he was THERE. Ol' Chuck's got pretty good reactions for an old guy, otherwise there would have been one seriously injured kid and old man.
Another exciting day tomorrow. Two days in Budapest so first thing is laundry, then touristy stuff.
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Posted August 30, 2005 by Tour Participant
Hungary |
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