VIENNA TO BELGRADE (Part 2)

DATE:  July 30

LOCATION:  Belgrade, Serbia

This post covers the trip from Budapest, Hungary through Croatia to Belgrade, Serbia.

WEATHER:  After the hot spell heading into Budapest the weather has been decidedly cool.  Temperatures have been in the 18-24 range.  We have also had several days of rain. 

These bronze shoes are a monument to holocaust victims.  The Chain Bridge and the Royal Palace are in the background. (Budapest)

A view of the Danube River, the Chain Bridge and the city of Budapest from the top of Galiert Hill.

This part of the world receives quite a bit of rain to go along with the high summer temperatures.  As a result, the grass is not that fried brown colour that we get in Ontario but remains a brilliant green.

ROADS AND TERRAIN:  We have abandoned our efforts to follow the cycle paths because of poor signage and because many of the paths are extremely rough.  We would never achieve the distance we have to make if we followed those paths.  Thus we have taken to cycling along roads.

Most of the roads south of Budapest were flat and fast.  Those conditions continued for the first part of Croatia but gradually the roads are becoming rougher and many have considerable traffic.

One of the flat and fast roads between Budapest and Belgrade.

After several days of flat roads we began to encounter hills as we approached the Serbian boarder with Croatia.  Heading out of Novi Sad (Serbia) we climbed 24 minutes up an 8% hill!

REPORT:

We have travelled through Hungary, eastern Croatia and now the northern part of Serbia, generally following the Danube River valley.  We took advantage of the cool weather and fast roads to put in a few extra kilometres, thinking an extra day may com in handy as we head through the Carpathian mountains next week.

We are self-catering most meals, meaning we stop at the end of the day, find a grocery store and buy food that we prepare.

This is a water tower in the town of Vukovar, Croatia, showing sigs of the fighting that took place in this area within the past 20 years.

Joe is excellent at reading maps.  Here he is discussing the best route through the Carpathian mountains with Duro and his son.  Duro is from Bucharest, Romania and has travelled many times along the route we will be going.  Duro is the friend of the owner of our wonderful hosts at the Garden Paark Hostel in Belgrade.

We continued our tradition of joining a hash whenever possible.  Here Joe and "Rabies" run through the palace gates on Castle Hill in Budapest during the weekly hash of the Budapest Hash House Harriers.

Street and other signs in Serbia are often written in the cyrillic alphabet, making navigation a bit more challenging.  This sign sazs  "Territory of the municipality of Indjia".

This part of Europe produces wonderful fruit and vegetables. 

NEXT:  On Saturday we head toward Romania.  With luck we will enter Romania on Sunday and make our way to Bucharest.  It is the longest continuous stretch of cycling days and takes us through the Carpathian mountains.  The next post should be from Bucharest in approximately 8-9 days.

VIENNA TO BELGRADE

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DATE:  Sunday, July 25

LOCATION: Budapest, Hungary
WEATHER:  Today it is cool and raining, but the previous week has been very hot, with the temperature in the shade reaching 37.  At one point, the thermometre I brought with me read 47 in the sun!  However, Joe tells me it is a dry heat. 

ROADS AND TERRAIN:  The roads have been good.  Much of this section has been on dedicated and paved cycle paths.  There has been a small amount on very rough tracks - across a farmers field, through a wooded area, etc. but that has been a relatively small amount.
REPORT:

THE HEAT
The heat during the summer of 2ö1ö may compete with the rain of 2öö9 as a major factor we have to contend with.  Although it may or may not be a dry heat, it does not feel like 47 or even 37 when we are cycling.  Probably the breaze we create by moving along makes us feel cooler.  Regardless, we are coping with the heat, drinking litres and litres of water and getting cool whenever possible.

Joe splashes himself from a pump during a short stop in ruraral íhungary.

Young people play in the fountain in the square in Gzor, Hungary to cope with the heat.

It must be hot, even for the citiyens of Budapest.  There were fans spraying a fine mist of water set up in the main square.

BIKE PROBLEM

 Joes bike was damaged during the flight from Toronto to Vienna.  We fiddled around with it at the airport and on the road but were unable to fix the problem. (The chain would not stay in the lowest 3 gears.)  We were finally able to get it fixed in Bratislava.  As it turns out, the bike was quite badly damaged - both the back forks and rear derailer were bent.  Now things are working well!

NEW FRIENDS

Meeting folks along the way is a special part of travelling.  Here Joe talks with Christina and Fidel from the Czeck Republic about how to get out of Gyor, Hungary.  just like last year, it can pose a real challenge getting into and out of cities.

SIGHTS

We are trying to see some of the sights and cultural events along the way.  One eveing in Budapest we attended a performance of the NATIONAL FOLKLORE ASSOCIATION, which included traditional music and dancing.

NEXT
Tomorrow we head south from Budapest along the Danube toward Croatia and Serbia.  The next post should be in about a weeks time, from Belgrade.

VIENNA - WE'RE OFF AGAIN - 2010

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LOCATION: Vienna, Austria

On July 16, Joe Lehmann and I will fly to Vienna to begin Part 2 of "The Great European Bicycle Tour".  In the summer of 2009, Jos Hulshof and I biked from London to Budapest.  This year (2010) Joe and I will complete the tour by cycling from Vienna to Istanbul.  In so-doing, we will cycle

• 80-85 kilometres per day, 
• for 29 cycling days,
• for a total of approximately 2,500 kilometres, 
• through 8 countries (Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey), 
• from Vienna on July 19, arriving in Istanbul sic weeks later on August 24, 2010.

Wish us luck!

Wayne

BUDAPEST - WE MADE IT!

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July 8, 2009 - Here we are in front of the Hungarian Parliament Buildings, 3,370 kilometres and 55 days after leaving London. During those 55 days we became intimately acquainted with our bicycle seats, sitting on them for 167 hours and 4 minutes. It was a great ride, but we will be glad to be home. Both Jos and I look forward to seeing you soon!

VIENNA TO BUDAPEST (HUNGARY)

LOCATION: Szentendre, Hungary - 30 kilometres north of Budapest, on the Danube River. Tomorrow we will reach Budapest almost 2 months and 3,400 kilometres of cycling!

We have left the Germanic speaking countries and have entered countries whos languages have nothing in common with English. That makes communicating with most people extremely difficult. It also makes it difficult to know where you are and what you are permitted or not permitted to do.

This aquatic facility is in a small town in Hungary, perhaps the size of Owen Sound. The Hungarian (and Slovak) governments appear to be making a great effort to overcome the problems created during the Soviet era and are making great investments in renovating historic buildings and in infrastructure, such as this facility.

SCHEDULE: We are actually ahead of schedule by one day. Tomorrow we will head into Budapest for 3 days before heading home on Sunday, July 12.

DISTANCE: 3,345 kilometres / almost 1,000 more kilometres than I had thought it would be from London. I guess that refelects poor planning, however, it also reflects that we have had to cycle more days and have had fewer rest days that we had planned.

WEATHER: For the past week, the weather has been improving steadily. The constant rains have stopped and the amount of sun has increased as have the temperatures. For the past 3-5 days the temperatures have been 30 or more. Each day it has rained in the evening after we have finished cycling.

Jos follows another cyclist acoss a section of the flooded Danube cycle path east of Vienna. We carried our bikes and paniers across this section which was one of several flooded by the unusually heavy rains in Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary.

FLAT TIRES: No more flat tires since we left Passau on the German/Austrian border.

EATING AND OTHER BODILY FUNCTIONS: We continue to buy most of our food at grocery stores and have picnic lunches and dinners. That means we eat lots of cheese, salami, buns/bread, olives, wine, salads and fruit. The best fruits here are the nectarines. In Germany it was the sweet cherries.

We were surprised to come across this world-class white-water kyaking facility south of Bratislava, in Slovakia. Apparently, the Slovaks have been very successful at the international level in this sport and the government has supported them by creating this wonderful facility along side the Danube.

REPORT: Past Vienna, the cycle paths have been very flat and have hugged the Danube. Frequently we have been able to move along quickly (20-25 kph). Occasionally we have come across flooded areas caused by the unusually high rains in Germany, Austria and Hungary this June. We see that the river was 4-6 feet higher a week or so ago, meaning we would have not been able to pass through here if we had been a week earlier. Still, we have had to wade across flooded areas and have taken to travelling on the roads and avoiding the cycle path along the river to escape the flooded areas and the associated mud that is left once the water recedes.

We met this fellow and his neighbour in a village south of Bratislava. It was hot (over 30) and we were almost out of water. The villages were very quiet and stores were hard to find. This fellow and his English-speaking neighbour said hello in English and German, opening up an opportunity to find water. A half-hour later we had another friend and full water bottles. These experiences renew our faith in people time and time again.

Mavis and John, age 75 and 76 respectively, are amoung my new heroes. They are cycling the Danube Cycleway from Germany to Budapest. They have positive attitudes that have carried them on their 50 year old bicycles through the rains and floods. Hats off to people like Mavis and John!

MUNICH TO VIENNA (AUSTRIA)

 

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LOCATION: Vienna, Austria. We have reached Vienna after cycling over 3,000 kilometres. This report covers the events from our arrival in Munich through to our arrival in Vienna.

After leaving the Rhine River, we took the train the 100 kilometres over the mountains in the Black Forest to Donaueschingen, where the Danube River begins. There was no way that we could get through those mountains, let alone in the one or 2 days that we had allotted for the task, so, being the mature individuals that we are, we took the train.

In Munich we stayed with Gerd Mischler, his partner Doerte and Leon, renewing a friendship that began in the Jakarta airport in 1994.

Together with Gerd and Doertre, we visited two of King Ludwig's castles, the most famous being Neushwanstein. King Ludig is known as "mad king Ludwig" becuase 9of his verz strange behaivour. He avoided state events and generally avoided people. In one castle he had a mechanism that enabled him to lower his dining table from his dining room into the kitchen where it was set and raised back uip to the dining room in order that he could avoid contact with his servants.

This is a view of King Ludwig's parents home, below the castle of Neuschwanstein.

The visit to Dachau Concentration Camp was a moving experience. The camp displays the personal stories of several individuials who died and who survived in this camp, where 30,000 people died between 1933 and 1945, most in the final years of the war. The processing rooms, the barracks, gas chamber and crematoria are displayed in a straight-forward manner. In our discussions with Gerd and from watching German television, we have been impressed with how the German government has taken the responsibility to educate the nation's children about this horrid aspect of the county's past.

The rain that started when we reached the Danube, continued all week. By the time we left Munich, the rivers were swollen and manz cycle paths and highways flooded. This caused numerous detours. Several times we had to wade or ride through water up calves.

Travelling along the major rivers (Rhine and Danube) was quite simple, unless there were detours. However, travelling cross country (e.g., from the Ulm on the Danube River to Traubling, south of Munich where Gerd and Doerte live) was much different. There were hills to contend with, more towns and villages to get through and a million more ways to get lost. We found the trip from Traubling back to the Danube near Passau on the German-Austrian boarder to be very challenging. Theere were the afore-mentioned navigation issues, as well as the constant rain and the many detours. However, we made it!

These two photos show some of the picturesque scenery along the Danube Cycle Path up to Vienna. Many stretcvhes are flat and boring, but others are maked with great castles or monestaries, quaint villages or beautifuil vineyards and orchards.

LOCATION: We have reached Vienna after cycling over 3,000 kms.

SCHEDULE: We are on schedule.

DISTANCE: 3, 123 kilometres

WEATHER: During the pate 2 weeks it has rained 13 days, although on a few of those days it rained either before we started or after we had finished cycling. However, on several days it rained ALL DAY!

FLAT TIRES: 2 - we had our first two flat tires.

One week to go. We are enjoying the adventure, but have begun to look forward to seeing everyone at home.

FRIEBURG TO MUNICH

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LOCATION: Right now Jos and I are in Munich in southern Germany at the home of Gerd Mischler who Sandra and I met in 1994 while travelling in Indonesia. This update covers the period between Frieburg, Germany near the Rhine River and the Swiss border, to Munich in south central Germany.
We left the Rhine River valley at Frieburg after travelling south for almost 800 kilometers and entered the Danube River valley at Donaueshegan and begun our eastward journey that will eventually end up in Budapest. After about 200 kilometres along the Danube, headed southeast toward Munich, leaving the Danube to make its way northeast. In another 10 days, after our visit to Munich, we too will travel northeast and rejoin the Danube. 

This is a typical evening meal, consisting of a leafy tuna salad, yogurt, fruit, olives, bread, cheese and wine. At the end of most days we search out a grocery store where we purchase our food for dinner and lunch the next day. We then eat in our room or in some convenient park.

This is the dreaded DETOUR sign. Keeping in the right direction and not getting lost has proven to be very important. Even though we have been following the Rhine River and now the Danube, it has been surprisingly easy to get lost as the bicycle trail leaves the river to avoid industrial zones, swampy areas, power plants, etc. These detours have added many hours and kilometres to our trip, especially in the Rhine north of Mainz which is less-frequently travelled.

Distance to date: 2,438 kilometres

Number of hours riding the bike: 107 hours and 7 minutes

Average speed: 15-18 Kilometres per hour, depending on the terrain and weather (expecially the wind)

Maximum speed: 54 Kilometres per hour

Although most of the bicycle paths are paved there are significant sections that are not. Some sections are gravel and some just dirt which deteriorates into mud after a rain.

Longest distance on any one day since leaving Amsterdam: 113 kilometres

Number of flat tires: 0

We took the train the 75 kilometres through the mountains of the Black Forest, from Frieburg to Donaueschegan, the source of the Danube (known here as the Donau). The climbs were just too difficult for our old Canadian legs. The Danube starts from this pool in the shadow of an old church in Donaueschegan.

The initial streatch of the Danube Cycleway or Danube Radweg is through rolling farmland. It was shortly after this that I developed a mechanical problem in my gear-shifting mechanism that left me with only 2 gears on the back. After a delay of a day trying to get it fixed, we soldiered on because the part had to be ordered and would not arrive for yet another day. At least the lower gears were usable and we figured we could make it to Munich on those gears. Once in Munich, where we planned to spend a few days we would arrange to have the bike fixed.

Although the number of castles is not as great on this section of the trip, occasionally one shows up. Here Jos enjoys lunch beside an unnamed (to us) castle or schloss.

A line of middle-aged German cyclists crossing the Danube River. Groups of retired cyclists are common along the relatively flat stretches of the Rhine and Danube Rivers.

SCHEDULE: On arrival in Munich we were one day behind our schedule. We will stay one less day here before heading back to the Danube.

During the next few days we will visit some of the castles of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the memorial at the Dachau concentration camp. Those visits promise some extremes of emotion that I will describe in the next update in about 10 days (the end of June).

AMSTERDAM TO FREIBURG (GERMANY) - THE RHINE RIVER VALLEY

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LOCATION: This report comes from Worms, Germany, on the Rhine River. After a week of travel throughout Holland and visiting Jos' familz and friends, we have headed south on the Rhine. We are about mid-way between the Rhine delta and Switzerland.

Holland Park Hostel, London. This was the first of several hostels, all of which had good points that outnumbered the bad points. At this hostel, the outside was better than the cramped 12-bed dorm. However, other aspects of the hostel were great, expecially the meals.

A picnic lunch in Vondel ("needle") Park in Amsterdam.


WEATHER: The weather has been quite nice except for one horendous daz when it rained hard from 11 am until we stopped cycling at 5. Fortunately we had good rain gear and our stuff was packed in lots of plastic. Still, the weather sucked!

Jos leading his friends Frits and Iene through a 90 minute rehearsal of Verdi's Requiem.

FLAT TIRES: Over 1,500 kilometres and still no flat tires!


DISTANCES: We travel at between 15 and 20 kph and ride for about 4-5 hours each day, not including breaks for lunch, sightseeing, photos, etc. Overall, a day on the road lasts fromn about 9 in the morning until 3-5 in the afternoon.

Travel is always a cultural experience. Here, three fellows waiting for their buddy who has gone inside in the Red Light disctrict of Amsterdam.

Another picnic lunch on the road to Venlo, The Netherlands, south of the Rhine. En route to visit Jos' sister Marianne.

Jos at the Hulshof family farm near Lievelde, The Netherlands.

Jos' sister Marianne laughing as Jos tells her about his interview with a national television program on his arrival in Amsterdam AND as he road his bicycle into the city.

Holland in the spring when it is dry, warm and sunny showed Holland at ist finest. We had a perfect day in Amsterdam, visiting museums, parks and wandering around the canals. It was beautiful. The next day, Jos' friend Frits took us on a bicycle tour through some of the less famous parts of the city and then to the Beemster, north of Amsterdam, famous for its cheeses. Then it was off to Frits' home and a surprise reunion for Jos with some university friends he had not seen for 40 years.

The skateboarder in front of Cologne´s ancient cathedral was an intersting junxtaposition.

When I saw this snail on the trail from Cologne to Koblenz, Germany, I thought of Javan and his interest in snails. When you are far away from home it is funny what reminds you of friends and family.

TERRAIN: With the exception of trips up the steep hills bordering the river, the Rhine route is flat as a pancake and frequented by cyclists of all ages on day-outings and longer tours.

One of the many castles that line the Rhine between Koblenz and Mainz.

It was a veryy tough slog up from the river level to this point at Lorelley, a famous cliff on the Rhine, but hopefully the photo shows that the effort was worth it.

It was another very difficult clime to this castle at Bad Bacharach where we stayed. This was a youth hostel and like many such hostels in Germany, they are located in old, beautiful buildings.

We have been very impressed with Germany. The people are very helpful, in fact gong out of their way to guide us in the right direction. Many times when we are obviously confused (most of the time?) people will take the initiative and ask if they can help. Also, this county's recovery from two devasting wars is miraculous. Regularly we come across photos comparing immediate post-war ruins with beautiful reconstructions.