Saturday 6 August 2016

Sat06Aug16: Keszthely, Hungary – Camp Terme, Slovenia (117.9km, 3,048.7km YTD)



Good sleep last night, floor-length door wide open to the lake, distant bursts of lightning in the distant sky, swirling wind patterns buffeted our door, but lots of cool fresh air.  Tron has a lovely snore pattern, almost melodic, but insists that I didn`t really make much of a sound last night – liar!  (but a real nice guy).
Woke up about 5:35am, but dozed until Tron`s alarm went off at 6am.  Last night`s storm ripped my swim suit off the bedroom railing, but in the morning I went down to the deck again and found that somebody had picked it up and put in on a small table.  And nearly dry, too!  Great!
Bags down to the lobby by 6:45am, rider meeting suggests that our route is only 107km – 20km shorter than the original itinerary – so we`re so sad that there`s not a dry eye in the house.  Boo-hoo.  Nice buffet breakfast, had a table out on the deck with Ed & Eric & John (USA) knocking back enough calories to put us out on the road in style.  Very nice `cream of wheat` porridge but terrible interpretation of potato pancakes.
Away around 8am with Dan & Shirley Frye (USA) chasing Gergo & the flagging van down the streets of Keszthely until they pull ahead in the countryside.  Lots of rolling hills and small villages along Highway 75, a couple of operating pump jacks suggests that there`s a bit of oil in the ground underneath this terrain. 


Apparently my bicycle has an instinct that draws it towards Croatia.  Being in Croatia is not necessarily a bad thing because Croatia is in the European Economic Community, but the problem is that it`s not on our projected route.  While doing a lovely downhill glide, weaving S-turns through a large town at 49km, I miss a right-hand turn with the road towards Besco.  Garmin suggests that my current highway was heading towards an international border (viz. Croatia) so I turn around and pedal uphill into the wind to rejoin the TDA flagged route.  Found the flagged turn, but just a few kilometres further on I`m overtaken by a van hauling a trailer, who then slams on his brakes and makes a right-hand turn, I swerve left to avoid him and then check my instructions again – wasn`t that where I was supposed to make a right-hand turn?  Why does Garmin say that my current road is heading towards Croatia?  However, as I turn around and am heading back up the road to check things out, Peter & Killian McCartney come screaming down the hill past me, ask me if I’ve got a problem, so I just tag along and follow them southwest.  A few kilometres later all three of us realise that we’re off the grid, and Peter suggests we cut cross-country to join up with Road #7405.  Okay, because he’s the Garmin expert.
Our first road northwest is well travelled, with nice men in green vests leading us towards a demonstration of heavy agricultural equipment – tractors and the like - and a large parking lot for the viewers.  Nice idea, but not our priority right now.   So, we turn around, wave to the nice men in the green vests, and head up a smaller paved road, that turns to a smaller paved road, that leads to a gravel road, that turns into a dirt road alongside a reservoir, that turns into a mud road that was apparently used by some of the tractors going to the “ag show”.  The three of us dismount and push our bikes uphill through the slop, then along a valley trail, then up through a farm yard (nobody lives there anymore but the plums are ripe and taste great), then onto a gravel track with no inhabitants but the four-wheeled vehicles parked alongside are registered in the current year, so Yahoo! we’ve obviously found civilisation again!
Down and through the forests of western Hungary, we merge with a paved road that resembles details on the 65.3km instruction on our TDA itinerary, so I’m only 9km off the recommended schedule.  Since we’ve missed the TDA lunch van, this calls for a short stop at Porszombat for Cokes, chips, and ice cream – quality sources of sugar for cyclists - with a barmaid that obviously got left behind when her generation left this town and headed for the Big Smoke. 
We located that first orange TDA flagging tape at the 73.5km left-hand turn (82.5km on my Garmin) and it does provide a certain amount of relief, but I wonder why my bicycle kept wanting me to take me to Croatia.  Sure, it was only about 20km away, but… focus bike … focus ...
Slovenia is another international border crossing and another bureaucratic infliction of red tape what with the Customs Inspectors, the Immigration Authorities, show your passports, obtain another foreign currency, etc.  Oops!  Forgot.  We're still in the EEC.  Well, there is a sign that says "Slovejia".  And a photo opportunity with Peter and Killian.  None of the other usual concerns apply, because this is the EEC, after all.  Minus Britain, of course, whose exit date is yet to be determined.
"Camp Terme" is a resort complex that was built over a pool of black & warm mineral water bubbling to the surface at a temperature of just over 40C.  Chalets, hotels, RV sites, campgrounds, and thousands of people enjoying the big warm wet.  A couple of dozen cyclists won’t even be noticed.  I head up to the supermarket and liberate some alcoholic libations; a can of beer for Wayne("Because you're you"), a can of beer for Killian (Peter doesn't drink, so it's a cheap round), and two for me.


Rider's meeting at 5:55pm, supper at 6pm, dessert because we missed Mark's birthday in Budapest on our 'rest day'.  How come he's still the youngest if he's only turning 52?  Geez, we're a bunch of geezers.  Finally time for the photos & blog before bedtime.

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