Eastern Rhodopes 2

The stone mushrooms. That describes them perfectly. They are maybe 3 metres high. The stems are relatively soft stone and the top bits a harder rock. A result of differential erosion and amusing.

After seeing these we returned to      recharged our bike batteries and continued. To start with agricultural land in a valley, but it could not and did not last. Up and up again and at one point we had a long view to the North across central Bulgaria. Down then up including a marvellous bit of brand new road where the map said low grade road. Got to the site of an old Thracian stone circle. Actually this was a good mile up a footpath and we wouldn't have found it but for directions by a shepherdess. It was an emotive place.

To the vulture centre by the river Arda for overnight. Learned a bit about vultures and their importance . Saw a Griffin vulture on a high cliff with the help of the warden and his high magnification telescope.

Next day, down the Arda gorge until we had to climb out of it. Up, Northwards to cross another ridge. At the top, Thracian niches carved on a cliff; we looked for them to no avail.

Then on to Merek village with the by-now glorious descent on the way
Here is a well preserved Thracian "beehive" tomb, a underground passage to a well formed round chamber. The artifacts found there are in various museums but the place was well worth seeing.

Then to the edge of Svelengrad for overnight before across to Greece next day

Eastern Rhodopes 1

After Smoljan, we went North of the EV13 route, firstly to Ardino. There were two reasons for this. We wanted to save distance, and there were several POI's on our adapted route.

The Eastern Rhodopes are different. They are still mountainous and from the cyclist's perspective there are still plenty of long hills up (and long descents). The vistas are more sweeping, with less steep ravines - not to say these are absent. There seems to be more in the way of fields and growing of crops.

When we arrived in Ardino, there was time to go to see the Devil's Bridge. There are many Devil's Bridges across Europe - we know the one in Wales. This is Bulgaria's. It is in a ravine, over the upper reaches of the Arda river and is a superb piece of medieval engineering, and beautiful.

After Ardino, we cycled to near Perperikon, and went to see it next day.

Perperikon is quite extraordinary. It is a hillside city carved over many centuries from the rock. In pre-Roman times it was a large Thracian settlement, and included a temple of Dionysius, complete with an oracle. The Romans took this on board and extended and fortified the place. In the middle ages it was an important religious centre. Then it was lost, and serious excavation has only recently uncovered the extent of it.

Next day, we visited the stone mushrooms and stayed the night in a vulture centre.

Central Rhodopes

After Devin, much less high pastureland. The road wound its way up another narrow gorge, with more ascent than the descent in the one we had come down yesterday. It emerged in the village of Siroka Laka, where tourism with accompanying retail outlets was much on evidence.

We stopped for lunch and looked around and I left my mobile somewhere - this fact yo be discovered miles later, far too far on to do anything about it. We continued on, a long way up, to the edge of a ski area, then down into Smoljan. We had accommodation in a place a bit before the town.

Next day, into Smoljan town. We saw the new and impressive cathedral, and cycled on. It was downhill all the way and I got quite cold, so we made a cafe stop just to warm up. Some heavy climbing came later, of course.

We now went off route (off EV13) to the north of that route, to Ardino. This and where we went next is in the Eastern Rhodopes, so details to come.

The Western Rhodope mountains

I had not heard of the Rhodope mountains before coming on this trip. They are stunningly beautiful, quite remote, the home of  lactophilus bulgaricus, the birthplace of Orpheus, and high though not of Alpine height. They border Greece and were in the land of Thrace. Of course I had heard of skiing in Bulgaria. Now we have seen some of the ski mountains, although now with no snow.

After leaving Macedonia, we stayed in an establishment with an Olympic swimming pool. It was also an ordinary hotel and like them all here very good value for money. It is not high up.

So, to get high up. We ascended the Popski pass, more that 1000 metres of climbing, the road often above deep ravines and the views amazing. Near the top, our batteries ran out and we relied on our muscles only. We now really knew the value of electric power! Our bikes do not have a "granny gear" and are heavy. We had to push for most of 2/3 km. At the top a cafe, soup, salad and recharge.

Downhill was spectacular, to Goce Delcev. We had found another place to stay, a bit further, Ogyanovo where there are hot springs. Most hot spring activity had been siphoned off into hotels, but there was a large public hot tub, about 40 C, which was great.

The next day more climbing and fantastic scenery, to Dospat. A mixture of pine forests and meadows. Cows just wander anywhere and it is all rather bucolic. And beautiful.

The next day was another high up. At the end, downhill spectacularly and into the spa town, Devin. We stayed in a more expensive place, for use of a hot swimming pool.  It was only just warm, but there was a sauna. Then found we had left our guide to EV13 where we had had lunch. Not too far back and nice to ride my bike with full electric power and no luggage!

More high Rhodope scenery the next day, to Smoljan.

Macedonia

From Rila we cycled West, then South, then West again, into Macedonia, to the town of Delchevo. The last bit of this journey was over range of hills that involved climbing several hundred metres to a border crossing up on high then a long descent into Delchevo.

EV13 then goes pretty well due South and this took two days. To start with, out of Delchevo, it was easy going. But the countryside became very remote and the road, which was a good one, became steep uphill. Then down to Berovo, even though Berovo is nearly 1000 metres up. Anyway we enjoyed our stay there and had very good wine with a very good supper.

The next day was well in the mountains with 3 mountain passes to cross. After the last the descent to a broad and prosperous-looking valley was a long one.

We stayed in an appartment above a private house. The owner gave us coffee and we chatted a while. Among what he said, Macedonians are looking forward to EU accession, noting that neighbouring Bulgaria was now richer that Macedonia, and before they joined, they were poorer.

Next day was along the valley and back into Bulgaria with the Rhodope mountains ahead.

Rila

Rila Monastery is important in Bulgarian history and culture. It Haas a high UNESCO rating and that sort of thing and nowadays is some sort of a tourist trap. We were quite happy to be trapped.

It started with a monk and Saint called Ioan or Ivan or John Rilski, in the ninth century. He started as a monk in a monastery in the neighbouring town of Bobosevo, then went to live as hermit in a cave way up the valley. But followers emerged and together they founded a monastery near the cave. As the movement grew they moved to the present site. Pilgrims came over the years and gave gifts. They included the king who made the whole valley a royal reserve for the monastery.

It burned down in the early 19th century and the present buildings resulted.

What is a "tourist trap"? There were plenty of people there when we went. There must have been plenty when it was a centre of pilgrimage. Is the difference that the pilgrims were religiously motivated? We arrived at the end of the morning mass (which had started at 08.00; we arrived a bit before 11.00; it was Sunday) and there were many in the church at mass. We went to the evening service and there was a good attendance.

We were moved by the evening service. In the Orthodox way it was entirely sung and chanted. It had a numinous quality that enveloped us.

Apart from going to church, we went to the small but excellent museum, for which we had a guide who spoke English, and other exhibitions. We spent time looking at the frescoes that entirely cover the church. And we went to the restaurant.

The monastery is high up, along a long and climbing road. We stayed in a hotel complex about 7 km down, so cycled up in the morning. The downhill ride after the evening service was peaceful and wonderful.

Into the Balkan mountains

After our visit to Magura, we cycled, downhill all the way, to Dimovo and a train to Vratsa. Then a day off cycling, with our friend Petar who among other things chose a fabulous red wine on the second evening with him.

Which does not say anything about mountains. Vratsa is at the base of part of the Balkan mountain chain, and we had to be within the chain. I won't say on top of the mountains as that implies mountaineering, whereas we just ride bikes. But we had to get ourselves plus bikes up there. We now began to grasp the meaning of the word "uphill" in Bulgaria. The road up was a main road and not too steep, up a river valley. We stayed on a pension not yet fully "up" and the next day arrived in Dragoman, pretty much on top as towns go. Next day, a fabulous down - one of the joys of cycling  is such a descent - followed soon after by a grinding up - one of the reasons ebikes are essential for our age group.

We travelled through Dragoman, Tran and Kyusyendil, eventually getting to Rila Monastery. The was much going up, and much going down. The descent into Kyusyendil I will always remember. The mountain scenery is magnificent. The ride down the gorge of the river Strumika was wonderful.

Rila Monastery in the next posting.

Getting loaded ebikes on an old-type Bulgarian train

...or a Hungarian one for that matter.

We travelled from Dimovo (near Magura) to Vratsa by train. Dimovo station has low platforms and the train consisted of carriages where one mounts steep steps to get on.

Ebikes are quite heavy, weight being more because of the motor and battery. One can take the battery off, but we didn't.

When the train came on, a quick scan on case there was a door marked for bikes. This time there wasn't so we chose a door near us. Quickly take all the bike bags off and sling then into the carriage; the floor level is about chest high. Then one of us gets on and the other (just about) lifts the bike and shoves the front wheel onto the carriage floor and the other pulls it in. Repeat for the other bike. One now wants to collapse exhausted but it is now necessary to arrange the luggage and the bikes so as not to prevent people walking up and down the central corridor.

The instructions are to do this at either end of the train but one does not know in advance if the end will be first class.

People getting on at following stations seem to gravitate to the door with the bikes behind it.

Well, one arrives and takes the bags and the bikes off the train.

Magura Caves

At this stage, the fact that we have not (yet) found out how to add photos to a blog using the Android app, is a bigger nuisance. The caves, which are immense, contain some fascinating neolithic wall paintings. Duly photographed but there we are.

We left Vidin in good time and got out on put chosen minor road with only a couple of mistakes. This let us put via the village of Bukovets where we paused for some fruit juice seated next to an old Soviet field gun. Then the road climbed continuously before settling down to being straight, apparently endless and against the wind. Still, it was sunny and the views were superb.

A small diversion on to the subject of Bulgarian minor road surfaces. At their best they are superb, but they can also be riddled with potholes and general irregularities. Cycling the latter entails almost continuous attention to where one is going on the next few metres or ..... Bang.

We eventually got Rakovitsa village, with a fine descent to cross a river and s fine ascent the other side. Various twists and turns and we got to the caves. Viewing party in half an hour......

From the Iron Gates to Vidin and the Danube

In the "road peace" mentioned before, we started by passing the Roman Diana fortress. The Romans had a presence here; the Danube had been the boundary of the Empire but from here they invaded Northern Thrace the other side. The fortress is very large and only partly excavated. It had a varied history of violence and rebuilding and we were lucky to encounter a resident archeologist who told us quite a lot.

Then to Kladovo where we stayed the night. We were in good time, so went to see the ruined Turkish fortress. But there was very little one could actually get to.

The next day set off on EV13, which went past what is left on this bank of Trajan's bridge. One pier: a similar one the other side, but nothing else. Then it was cycling on, much of the journey being by the Danube, held back here by the second dam. Quite windy against and we are noting how fast a wind against uses up the bikes' electricity, which can be a matter for concern 

Ee were going to Negotin. For the last ca25 km EV13 diverted off the main road took to minor road close to the Danube, about as far as the second dam. The road surface was highly variable, but we got through and saw some lovely river views.

Overnight in Negotin in a faded hotel and a very good meal elsewhere. The next day to Vidin in Bulgaria. This not very far and we got there in time to see the medieval castle and the ruins of the beautiful synagogue and then a good supper by the Danube. Lest you think this trip is a gastronomic exercise, well it isn't.

The Danube gorge and the Iron Gates

The Danube is a big river. Where we came to it, it had more than 1000km to its delta by the Black Sea to run and had come at least that much from Baden-Wittemberg. And it is already wide.

We met it the upper end of the stretch where it runs between the end of the Carpathian mountains and of the Balkan mountains.

EV13 runs along the Northern bank in Romania and EV6, the Donau Radweg, along the Southern one in Serbia. We were on EV13 and stuck to it. The whole section is about 130km (80 miles) long and it is backed up behind a hydroelectric dam, so forms a very long lake. Before the dam was constructed, about 70 years ago, there were strong rapids.

To start with the road surface was poor. After merging with another road it got better. At the start of this section there was quite a bit of land by the river; later, it got much more narrow and formed a gorge, leading to the Iron Gates. This day we covered the more open part. On the next day, we were in the narrower section all day. I am not sure where the Iron Gates are exactly, but there were quite narrow bits and the flow would have been fast before the dam was built. The hills and cliffs on the side were impressive.

On the third day we joined a main road with heavy traffic, many trucks, which in the narrower gorge and not- very- wide road was quite scary. This took us to the dam itself where we crossed into Serbia and road peace.

Szeged to the Danube

We left Szeged after a needed two days there.  It was not far to the Serbian border then South over (by now) the usual flat country. In Kanjiza, we saw a sign to a fish restaurant; it was lunch time, so off we went for an excellent lunch. We were next to the river Tisza  which flows down from Szeged and the Carpathians originally.  This was a hotel complex and an open field to the riverside, and it was warm and nice, and you really ought to go there next time you are in that part of Serbia.
Then on, and after a long day to Kikinda. This town had a lovely feel, lots of cafes, a museum with a mammoth and the place we stayed in was fine. The next day to Zitiste, a smaller place. We made a navigation mistake on this bit saved 10km.
All this had been over pretty flat countryside on beautiful sunny weather with only a light breeze. The next day was different. The wind was strongly from the South-East and we had a big distance in just that direction, to Vrsac. We needed two cafe stops - well, we do these anyway - to recharge the bikes' batteries. They are normally good for more than 100km, but we learned that a strong wind against has huge effect on range.
After Vrsac it was more hilly. Just as windy but less distance. We stayed the next night on the home of a cactus enthusiast right on the Romanian border, which we crossed the next day, with 20km to the Danube.

Szeged

We spent two days in Szeged. During that time I (Tom) managed to get fairly ill. I got better before we needed to leave.

We rented a pleasant appartment about 20 minutes walk from the centre. My illness was not that bad and we did get in to see things and just wander around. Szeged is an old university town. It has a nice relaxed feel. Excellent weather helped.

If I had to choose one thing to see it would be the new synagogue, which is a truly remarkable building. There are also interested art nouveau buildings around some of which are brilliant.

A bit of Serbia, then to Szeged in Hungary

We entered Serbia when we crossed the Danube. It was not far to Bezdan where we stayed in the Anna, Cafe which was good. It was located in an old and formerly grand house.

The next day, it was not far to enter Hungary again. One had heard how Hungary has re-made the border fence against Serbia, and we had seen a section in the museum earlier. No immediate sign of a fence here, but a few kms into Hungary we saw a rather new or forbidding compound surrounded by a high security fence. It did not look military.

Our route took us through more rolling countryside to Madaras village where we had reserved accommodation.

This started some problems. We have used the website booking.com for getting places to stay and it has proved very good. It gives you a postal address and a map to find the place booked. This time the map showed the place next to a track in the middle of a forest. It did not exist but we took the best part of an hour to find this out! The postal address was fine and the place was excellent.

The next day we resumed our progress Eastwards. More trudging across endless flat countryside. About 1/2 way to Szeged we ended up on a big trunk road that had absolutely superb segregated cycle tracks. This did not last, but we did finally get there. We had booked an appartment for 3 nights, to have two full days there, which we appreciated greatly.

Across Croatia

We spent two days cycling across Northern Croatia, close to the Hungarian border. They were very hot days and most of the distance covered was over almost totally flat countryside. It was all on ordinary roads, and they all had an excellent surface. Even the main roads were not particularly busy, so cycling along was not difficult. But it could be boring, just trudging along through vast fields of corn or sunflowers or (occasionally) tobacco.

Each day had a particular feature that belied boredom. On the first day, we stopped at a bus shelter for a snack, when a woman invited us to look round a wildlife and conservation centre next door. It was about conservation areas by the river Drava, which is slow flowing and has a considerable flood plain. A sideline was that they look after wounded storks who had fallen out of their nests when too young to fly.

We stayed in an appartment on Domji Miholac after the first day. The next day, crossing the Drava was impressive. But the feature to remember was an exhibition in a little village church about the expulsion of German people after the 2nd world war. They just were kicked out with only a suitcase each.

Later that day we had to cross some hills before crossing the Danube. We started on the wrong road that took us to a hillside shrine. On the right road police waved us aside and a peloton of a bike race shot by in the opposite direction. The descent to the Danube was disappointingly cobbled; no going fast!

Crossing the Danube took us into Serbia. Passport checks and a HUGE river.

Duplication

I have done two accounts of "after Nagyvasony". I have not yet compared them. Seems rather silly when the entries are coming so late anyway!

After the diversion; into Croatia

We left Nagyvasony after 5 days there. We retraced our way over the mountain to the lake, taking an alternative path at lake level towards the ferry. This started as a lovely lakeside path, but soon put us through our paces in coping with very steep climbs on narrow paths. It was as well we had left on good time; we made it to the ferry and the station at  Zamardi on time for our train to Nagykanisza.

Was this the last time we will have the ecstacy and the agony of getting fully laden ebikes on to a Hungarian train? Anyway, we did it and after arrival on Nagykanisza, carried on South on EV13.  Not far to Zakany and overnight in a panzio

The day had been extremely hot. Cycling from Nagykanisza had been later in the day through lovely rolling countryside. The next day was equally hot and the terrain became more and more flat. We finally arrived in the town of Barcs and soon after entered Croatia: passport checks in Hungary and Croatia reminded that the Schengen zone stops somewhere. Then over the Drava river, on about 8 km and to hotel in a lovely restored mansion.

Out of order

By now, some of the blog entries are not in the time order they ought to be. This is partly because I cannot keep up with brilliant minds in Google who designed blogger and the blogger app. On other words I cannot get it to do what I want.

The entry "A diversion" should be one place earlier. A previous version of this sits in drafts and refuses to budge.

The photos do not always come in in the right place, in terms of the text entries.

Still, I hope the broad sense of it all comes across.

A diversion

We diverted off the EV13 route for 5 days to visit our friend Anna and her family, in a village called Nagyvasony. To get there, we took a train to Zamardi on Lake Balaton, a ferry across the lake and a bike ride of a couple of hours beyond the lake.

It was good to see a bit of central Hungary. The scenery and countryside is peaceful and beautiful, with rolling hills and forests and woods. The village has a medieval castle which we visited.

There is also a medieval church, which was opened once a year, and we were at the opening. Most churches are much more recent, maybe 17th century or later. The reason this was the day it was opened, it was the national day for the foundation of Hungary. There was also a carriage-and-pair horse competition which we were late for, but saw the prize giving. How did they do these parades before the Raditski March?

We also went on a walk to a ruined monastery. We made a short trip to the regional capital, Verzprom. But actually the diversion was about chatting with Anna.

Lake Balaton seems to be a major holiday place at this time year. We saw it only from the ferry, the train (briefly) and cycling along the lakeside for a few km.

On and on. (By train to start with)

We left Nagyvasony 5 days later. It was back on our bikes and back to pedalling. Comforted a bit by the whirr of the electric motor - well, a quiet whirr.  An ebike won't go without some input from the rider, so you have to do some work to which the electric motor adds something more.

We rode back over the hill, only this time not so much climbing, and down to the lakeside. We went round the Tihany peninsula the other side from last time. This started on a good cycle path, then when one had gone far enough not to turn back, it turned into a less than ideal rough track with really steep bits. Kept going and eventually arrived at the ferry. Over the lake and up to the station in good time for the train back to Nagykanisha.

Then no more assisted travel, except for the ebike motor. Back on the EV13. It led us South through lonely rolling countryside to Zakany where we had accommodation booked

Kormend to Nagykanizsa

Trying to cover two days cycling.

Kormend is about 10km off route and the first thing was to get back on-route. This was level cycling, but once on the route again, it was another matter.

The uphill started in Heilingenbrunn, where we asked the way in a hotel and were both told the way and given coffee on the house. We went up and down on a string of very neat and tidy Austrian villages, with EV13 clearly signposted, until we ended up on a dirt road through a forest that took us to the church of St Emmerich in a clearing, exactly on the Austrian-Hungarian border, with evidence of when it had been closed. The church had been partly destroyed but later completely restored. The whole area was moving. Several groups, by bike or by car came by. In the last one we talked a bit and were told that earlier in the history of the closed border, the main church entrance being in Hungary and the sacristy on Austria, quite frequently people escaped to the West by going in the main entrance and leaving by the sacristy door. This stopped when an exclusion zone began on the Hungarian side.

After the church, EV13 took us on a remote forest trail for some distance, eventually to Szengotthard, where we paused for iced coffee.

Finally that day, on to Apatistvanfalva, where we stayed in an excellent hotel. We are going up-market this year with (so far) no camping but always overnight in a guest house, hotel, etc.

Next day took us into Slovenia, soon after starting off. It also took us steeply down hill, which was nice. Ebikes are making uphill much easier to cope with, but nothing beats a good downhill!

It was only a day in Slovenia. It included a visit to an old mill, and lunch in a churchyard in remarkable heat, opposite a bee tenement - a stack of hives - across a small stream. Then we arrived in Lendava and into a total middle looking for a bike shop and also somewhere to stay, in both cases with no success. We continued on the route, finding nowhere: even a campsite was defunct. It got dark and we trudged on and came to a roadside hotel a bit before Nagykanisza, where we could stay and did. Good supper

Photos Sopron to Koszeg

On the Hungarian / Austrian border 

On the Hungarian side was a monument to the 1956 uprising and on the Austrian side an art installation of the separation. The sun was extremely bright so photos of the art were difficult.

To Kormend

After Koszeg we felt we were getting into it. We were also aware of forecast rain. Rain was needed, if only to relieve the heat but cycling is nice without it. Anyway it was not raining yet and we set off.

The road was not excessively up and down, and after a while quite straight and level. And still no rain. We then got into some climbing into the village of Felsocsater (I bet I have spelled that wrong) where a border museum had been advertised. The museum was actually further on and up a big hill. The advantages of our ebikes were really coming out. We have seen a lot of border museums by now. This one had its own interest and gave more info about landmines. It seems there had been a definite death rate among border guards when they had to remove these. Also when a flood had washed away some mines, they were found later by children who touched them and were killed. This led to UN pressure on Russia and commands to remove certain mines. There was also an example of the modern fence against Serbia and Croatia, which we may see later. It is forbidding.

Then on. It came on to rain but we cycled on, passing between Hungary and  Austria several times. We went to Kormend in Hungary for b&b. It was off-route but cheaper than places in Austria. At least the rain had stopped long before we got there

Sopron to Koszeg

So, we left Sopron in good time, though I cannot recall when. We cycled through some suburbs on the South side of town, and joined a main, but quiet road to Harka a village and on to Nekenmarkt in Austria. No sign of a border when we crossed it. Through endless vineyards and we missed a left turn to follow EV13 to Deutschkreutz. But we recovered from this quickly. In Deutschkreutz there was an ebike charging point that was locked but we did not need it anyway.

On due South, quite level at first then through some forest, back over the frontier with a guard who waved us through, and we arrived at some border artwork, rather corroded, near Lutzmanburg. Noticed here several thousand crossed to Austria in ,1956 before the border was more completely sealed.

We then found a big-big climbing affair and a clubhouse where kids and older kids were kitted out with safety gear before going on high. We had our lunch here and could buy some alcohol-free beer: most welcome as it was getting hot. Then on and we found EV13 extremely well signed along some excellent cycle paths, leading into a village called Klostermarienburg. Here excellent progress rather fell to pieces. It took a short while to realise the trail went extra-steeply out of the village. We took this using our electric power on "high".  This road ended up in rough tracks in some woods. Back to the top of the village where our track went off to the left. We took it. To start with steep but OK. But soon got to a place where they seemed to have needed to get rid a loaf of railway ballast. Had to walk over this then could ride down to the village of Olmod.

From here, there was a decent road towards Koszeg. But this ended in ornamental gates with a railway-ballast path climbing steeply on the right. Nothing for it but to push up, for at least a km. But at the top it became a good dirt road going down into Koszeg.

Found our pension. Into town which was most impressive with old churches and a castle and old streets, even a procession carrying a statue of the Virgin into yet another church. We ate in a restaurant, a reasonable meal

Sopron: a memorial to sadness

Just outside our apartment was this reminder of a divided Europe. 1946 brought peace to many, but for some it meant leaving the homeland that they had known for generations, leaving family and friends. Before long a wall would also divide these communities.

Sopron: photos of the old town

Photos of Sopron

View from our window

A lazy Sunday

The building where we stayed 

Adding photos

This is an attempt to add photos taken on the iPad. For some reason it will no longer let me do it which is irritating.  Any ideas let me know!

Sopron

The rule is that we spend the first day not cycling anywhere. We rented an appartment in Sopron old town. The only bit of tourism intended was to see the old synagogue, which turned out to closed. A nice atmosphere and really peaceful; it is so good to be away from traffic and not under a flight path. Tomorrow we start. The weather is wonderful.

Getting going again

I think the various posts in the last few days have become chaotic. This is partly because working on it all now has to be on a mobile since trying to do it on my laptop produces instructions in Hungarian and I find these hard to follow, partly because there is large amount of techie stuff surrounding "blogger" that is doubtless meant to be totally intuitive, and anyone over, say, 60 knows what that means.

Anyway, I will now try to resume on the subject of our cycle journey.

The last sectors

We must finish this thing! Various reasons, it cannot go on for ever, it has come to dominate, but most of all no-one has said the European health card will still be available after March next year to UK citizens and one rather suspects not?

ll, we have started - or re-started.  It is Tuesday 14 August and we have cycled for two days from Sopron. The  first was very hot, against a hot wind and the second was in the rain, at least for the second part.
Left Sopron with some regrets; it is a lovely place, but the essence of long tours by bike is one leaves places, lovely or ugly, behind. Uphill then downhill out of the town, past many hectares of vineyards, and into open countryside in the sunshine. Now we appreciated our electric bikes; it was quite hilly, but we took this in our stride in a way that Tom, anyway, could not have done. A twisty route at first to Deutschkreutz, which is where the trains from Vienna via Sopron end up. We took over an hour to get there.....  But comparing with train timings is it not what it is about. The EV13 route has beeen re-worked at this stage, as far as I can see to keep it closer to the Austria-Hungary border. After Nikitsch, in Austria, we crossed to Hungary again and came to a small commemorative display aboUt the closed border. Then an extradinary recreation place with lotus of high-up climbing rigs up high poles. There was a sort of clubhouse where they sold us a couple of nonalcoholic beers and we had our pack up (lunch). Nonalcoholic beer round here is infinitely better than what you can get in England, where they seem to think it is for sissies, and of course not compatible with brexit.
The route now went along excellent cycle paths on a river valley, ending up in a village where a sharp left took us to a really tough path which was gravelly, like a railway track without the rails and sleepers but with the stones.  So rather a lot of tiring pushing. Finally, at the top of a hill, it became a decent levelled dirt track and one could appreciate th lovely wooded Hill scenery, descending into Koszeg, where we had booked into a guest house.
Koszeg turned out to be an impressive old place with a good atmosphere. Our guide book says it has suffered from economic decline and is trying to build up its tourist activities.

THe next day rain was forecast for 11.00. We had gone some way by 11.00, and light drizzle began exactly on time. It was. later it became continuous. Out of Koszeg, the route red quite hilly. It was cooler and cycling more pleasant. In a while we were going along a level and well-surfaced road gently downhill, which could have been described as bliss.  Then up hill to Feltosocsatar where there was a diversion to a border museum, up another steeper hill. THe museum was a private one, graphic about the minefields that had been there and about people killed in them. There is also an example of th modern fence, put up in 2015, against Serbia and Croatia, which brought home aspects of the current refugee situation. As we left ththe museum, the real rain got going; not heavy but continuous. During a break in the rain we stopped on a bench in a churchyard for lunch. The route went in and out of Austria and Hungary. IN an Austrian phase we stopped for coffee and totally cream-based cakes.  Soon after, we diverted from EV13 to go to our next lodging in Kormend in Hungary; EV13 at this stage is in Austria where places to stay are very much more expensive! And here we are.
Next entry will have some pictures.

Tomorrow we start

We have spent much of today trying to get the blog to work. Maybe my iPad is just too old. Then I had the bright idea of trying my phone. This message is to see if it works. The main problem will be photos, which are on my iPad. This might mean photos are published separately, or perhaps someone out there can solve our problems.

Tomorrow is a short day of 45km hopefully.

2018 Year 5

We are now in Sopron, Hungary, where we finished last year's ride. It took us 2 days, 11 trains and one boat to get here because you can't take bikes on high speed trains.  Today is a hot Sunday.  With nothing much happening, it is a suitable day for recovering from the journey. A memorial opposite where we are staying reminds us of the sadness and cost of people divided.