nbjtours

Day 9

Dunajska Streda, Slovakia

78 miles 577 ft climbed

Today was a big day in more ways than one. After enjoying Vienna in the company of our wives it was back on our bikes after two days resting our tired limbs and sore bottoms. In addition we were about to leave Austria to start our journey into what was behind the Iron Curtain prior to 1990. Lastly and significantly it was our compadre Nick’s birthday today.

Birthday boy with his cakes

With us all fully refreshed apart from Nick who had walked around 35 km in the last two days and the forecast due to be hot we decided on an early start once again.

The mornings leg started out along the Danube levee before a detour round this huge oil depot before moving slightly away from the Danube and then we ran along a old railway line which was straight and true for at least fifteen miles. As ever Chris & I let Nick lead the majority of the pretty mind numbing and scene-less route, although I did feel sorry for him and took the last five miles

Completing this part of the route we moved away from the Danube towards Schloss Hof where we met up with Nigel & Monica for our coffee stop already in the shade as the temperature had begun to climb. As we cycled between large fields we came across a huge field of onions left out to dry so I popped down and scrumped one for dinner!

Leaving coffee we quickly passed Schloss Hof itself and almost ran over the marmots that were squeaking noisily near its entrance gates. We were now close the the border and were able to cross a river over the cycling friendship bridge as we left the castle’s estate. Poor Nigel and Monica had a long trip round over the Danube to get into Slovakia.

Moving into Slovakia there was a slight deterioration in the quality of the cycling infrastructure but realistically this amounted to slightly uneven tarmac. It is still far superior to that in the U.K.

Slovakia, is incredibly the country with the highest car production per capita with plants already building Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Citroen, Land Rover and Kia with a new Volvo facility due to come online soon.

We then started to enter Bratislava itself, initially on the bank of the Danube before we then rode through the pretty pedestrianised centre of the city.

After having had a whizz round the city centre we then left to rejoin the river levee. At this point the river must have been a mile wide and really did not look like a river.

This leg was our most interesting of the day and Nigel had arranged a lunch stop just off the levee having put up the awning to give us some shade. We saw very few other cyclists all day and even Nigel wasn’t able to persuade a couple to stop and join us.

After this stop we ran along the river for around fifteen miles before leaving the river at Horny Bar and then running on small roads across the flat plain. As the heat was climbing further we stopped in the shade before the last push to the campsite. What was noticeable was that it appeared that all houses had just had fibre fitted but that the roads were just filled with gravel. This left a gravelly bump every 20 metres as we rode through each town. The choice being fibre or smooth roads!

The day being a little shorter we managed a finish at 3 pm. Followed by a glass of Zlaty Bazant and a quick cool down swim in the lake.

Monica had set out to explore Slovakian shops and branch out further than Lidl’s to ensure that Nick had quality cakes, delving into her German to secure the nicest ones at a patisserie.

There was no perceptible climbing today and I am glad that we have not slavishly kept to the Danube cycleway. I believe it would have been an even harder challenge without the variety that we enjoy. Interestingly as usual every Austrian cycle path we have ridden always has a kilometre of gravel despite the rest being beautiful smooth tarmac so we wonder if there is some rule to say this. ( There must be as Austria has rules for everything!)

Nick demanded a one pot curry with Monica’s beetroot & apple salad as his treat tonight so that’s what he got, before his super cakes. It is due to remain very hot tomorrow so it’s an early start again, with most of the day in Slovakia before crossing the Danube into Hungary.