An absolutely glorious morning. To wake up with such a beautiful view over the river, amazing sunrise - I felt truly blessed. I spent a moment just taking it all in and loving being back in the tent.
My getting up process is now perfect and I was ready in under an hour. Certainly helps now that I have paired my items down to the bare minimum, and realise that my sleeping bag will never be coming back with me to England. Large amount of white stuffing appearing, but its still enough life in it for the rest of this trip.
However, getting back onto that road was never going to be easy. I figured that first thing in the morning, there may be less trucks roaring past but I was wrong. However I have learnt a neat trick, which is to ensure that I don't cycle in a straight line thereby ensuring that the upcoming trucks are forced to give me a wider berth and guess what, it works! Still pretty hairy, but I am getting used to it and I have survived thus far and I am sure I will be fine.
I had read that the route to the next town of Süttő was beautiful, but I fail to see how that could be possible. Apparently there was a dedicated cycle path, but it was nowhere to be found. Given the huge rainfall of the past week or so, the Danube was massively swollen and furiously fast flowing with half submerged trees all the way along, so perhaps the cycle track had also been submerged. Driving through the village of Süttő was odd as it was a small but hardly peaceful, with lots of small local shops vying incongruously with the thundering traffic which although not a constant, was still regular enough to set one's nerves on edge.
The next stop was the delightful city of Esztergom, where I stopped off for a passable coffee and breakfast of some flouncy confection that was utterly tasteless but pretty to look at. The café was full of locals who were all very friendly. The city was dominated by a hugely impressive Basilica, which it turns out is the largest church and indeed the tallest building in Hungary.
It was also known as Hungary's Rome due its role as the seat of the Catholic primate and centre of the church in the country. I considered walking up the very steep steps but it was a huge climb and there wasn't anywhere I could really leave the bike unattended. However I did womble around the tiny streets and absolutely loved the amazing vibe, enhanced by the beautiful weather.
I loved this city. Upon reflection, it would have been better to approach this from the Slovakian side and if I were to do this route again, this is what I would recommend.
After Esztergom, the day rocket-shipped to magnificence. The road surfaces were still kinda lumpy but at least not sand (which I had thankfully missed when leaving Gyor and taking the Slovakian side). Upon leaving the town, I went through some lovely, wooded areas with the Danube to my right.
Along the way route were loads of people playing sports and a random huge sand sculpture. I wondered who if was of someone in particular.
There were some expensive looking houses, including one impressive mansion that would have had stunning views over the 'Danube Bend' as it is referred to.
I took a ferry across to Szob on the north bank, again passable tracks in wooded areas with views of Visegrad castle high in the distance. Another ferry back south side to Visegrad and through the charming little town.
On the main road but no fierce lorries so manageable, and the weather helped a lot too. I was hungry but pushed onto Szentendre which was awesome.
They were filming a movie of some sort where a huge cheese had to be weighed. I had read this town was well known for its collection of craft workshops, studios and art galleries and it was magical. I stopped off in main square, had a chicken and rice dinner and a couple of pints.
I was quite tempted to stay, but I was so close to Budapest and had booked a hotel for a couple of days, so I pressed on.
The route via the river was full of life with crowds of people hanging around in great looking bars, although the surface wasn't great and I was concerned for my spokes, which were receiving quite a battering so I slipped away onto a main road again which brought me past Lake Omszki which was wakeboarding heaven. I would so love to have had a go myself.
The route then took me through some soviet style buildings which was grim, but eventually I came across a cool neighbourhood called Obuda which I subsequently found out was an original neighbourhood of Budapest. A very inviting main square a sculpture of people waiting for the rain to stop, and there was some festival taking place that evening.
Traffic started picking up and I loved coming across old style iron bridges with telephone wires everywhere. In the early evening light, it looked so inviting.
And then Boom, one of those moments that I will remember forever as the Parliament building came into view.
Thoroughly magical, it really did take my breath away. As I cycled ever closer, I was almost moved to tears with its breathtaking beauty. I had seen this image so many time and it was made doubly impressive because it just suddenly seemed to appear, as if I turned a corner.
I cycled through the lively animated streets until I found my hotel. A proper large room with a bathtub and everything. I knew I would stay for a couple of days and I was just so damned buzzing from the joy of it all. Michael had got here earlier in the day, so we arranged to meet and have a few beers. So good to see a familiar face again. However, he has had enough of the lumpy bumpy Hungarian roads and decided to take a train to Serbia and crack on from there. I suspect that we will meet again at some point, but for the moment, it was so good to meet up with a friendly face and catch up on our respective journey's thus far.
And there is it, once again. That feeling of sheer, unadulterated, total and complete happiness, amazing to be alive at this moment and in this place.
It really just doesn't get better than that.
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