Day 22 - Balatonfüzfo to Kalte Kuchl

Wednesday 18th July 2018

I wake up at 4:30am as the day grows light. It is bizarre that Hungary is on CET, the same as Calais so many miles to the west. Romania is CET+1 which seems far more sensible.
So anyway I am awake so I decide to get on with writing this blog. My sole companion is a very tame duck who waddles around looking for scraps dropped by the campers. He’s out of luck around us two.

Early morning companion


By 8am we are ready to go. There is no shop or cafe at this tiny campsite so we will have to find sustenance on the road.
Peter arrives to wish us farewell just as we are leaving. He is on his way to work. We say our goodbyes and promise to meet up again in England some time soon.

A vicious wind is howling over the Hungarian plains giving a very strong and disconcerting side wind. We lean right into it but are buffeted upright and worse by every heavy truck that comes passing in the other direction. It’s very tiring and soon my shoulders and neck are aching with the effort of keeping the bike in a straight line.

On the endless Hungarian steppes


There is no respite from the wind. It has nothing to obstruct it’s passage all the way from the Baltic Sea and beyond and has scant regard for two British bikers trying to get off the horrible Hungarian roads and back to the heaven in asphalt called Austria.

When we reach the border we stop to spend the last of our florints on fuel and vignettes for the Austrian autobahn. For a bike they cost €6 for a 10-day permit. We are close to Vienna and our route takes us quickly south down the autobahn. We turn off for Kalte Kuchl and ride 40km into the glorious Austrian hills on asphalt smooth as silk.

Asphalt smooth as silk


It is a great contrast to the dreadful roads we have been riding in Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Hungary. My riding style changes completely too. On the bad roads of the Balkans you have to keep your eyes on the next 10 metres of the road all the time, with only occasional glances up to see where the road is going.

It’s an unnatural way to ride. Normally you are looking 100 metres ahead and the bike just follows your eyeline. But on the bad roads this style can be fatal. Some of the potholes and broken asphalt can seriously damage tyres, suspension and wheel rims if you fail to spot them. So you ride along weaving from left to right and left again trying to miss the worst of them, not always successfully. It is very tiring.

 But now we can swoop and swing around the curves with complete trust in the surface under the rubber and are able to look around and enjoy the breathtaking scenery. 

Arriving at Kalte Kuchl



We arrive at the Kalte Kuchl Alpen Gasthof in the late afternoon sunshine. Our old friend Klaus is there to greet us, remembering us from the day-long ride out he guided us on four years ago. All is the same as before and we enjoy a relaxing evening with a couple of Weizen Biers and a bowl of goulashsuppe.

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