June 3, 2013
Budapest to 5 km west of Ráckeve (off route) 53km, 1301km total
13C windy, cloudy, no rain

Leanyvar Panzion (on HW 51)
  double 7000HUF / €23,50 / $31.00
  breakfast 700 HUF / €2.30 / $3.10 pp

 
News of the Floods

The sun was shining into our room when we awoke. The weather forecast had been for rain by 8 am. We were cautiously relieved; we didn't want to hex it.

We read in the news about the heavy rain Central Europe has been hit with. The Donau and other rivers are threatening to overflow their banks in places.

Hectic City Ride to the Bike Route
 
Next we loaded the bikes one by one in the lift, then the luggage and as planned by 9 we set off. It was pretty windy and by now cloudy.

We came out of Sip Street, which has no traffic, and turned right on the 6-lane thoroughfare, Rákóczi út. Dave rode over to the left lane with the heavy traffic and the drivers made room for him to get to the left lane from where he could make his left turn. The rest stayed to the right for the city block to the Astoria intersection. The rest of us used the crosswalk to get across to the left. Kiskorut street has a painted bike lane all the way to the Green Bridge but there were so many parked cars and trucks and buses pulling to and away from the curb, it was still harrowing to ride. We made a left again just before the bridge and quickly discovered the bike/pedestrian only path on the left side of the river. That first 1.6 km in the city was exciting, not in a good way.  

 
 
 
...Can You Pronounce Szigetszentmiklós?

Soon we found ourselves on nicely paved bike-path next to Donau's left split, heading out of town. We passed some beautiful modern office buildings with hint of classical architecture. A wide canal began and the route continued left of that. Soon we were riding between unkempt properties filled with tall weeds and wildflowers. From here on, the yellow Velo 6 signposts were regular, clear, and much appreciated.
 
We passed towns whose names I couldn't begin to pronounce, like Pesterzsebet and Szigetszentmiklós. Just before the later, we rode over a large bridge to the right side of the Donau. We passed some beautiful homes on this stretch.

Now and then the radweg was nothing more than dirt track between sunflower and wheat fields. The wind played tricks with us, one minute it gently pushed us along and the next we had it coming from the left, then the right.

None of the villages had "Panzion" signs up, not that we were looking at this point. We had done close to 30 km when we stopped for lunch at cozy little restaurant & Panzion.  The hot cocoa, cappuccino and bean soup warmed us up.

 
 
Back on the trail again and only another 20 km to go till Ráckeve

We got passed by two guys from Belgium who were on their way to Turkey. They were burning rubber. For a while, Hiro, who was in the lead today, tried to keep up with them. Luckily they turned off somewhere where we continued straight.

At 3 pm we rolled into Ráckeve. We stopped at tourist info to check out hotel or panzion. Besides the Schloss Hotel and the Spa Hotel across the river, there was only one panzion on this side of the Donau. It had only one room available and we needed two. She told us no other places were available.


We asked her to call the only other panzion for us. She tried but could not reach them. So we followed her directions across the bridge. We pulled up to the panzion right on a sport-field. Sadly it too was, full. Now what? The next town with accommodations was 17 km away. Luckily one guy spoke a few words of German so I asked him if he knew of another place. He kindly called the only other place for us which turned out to be 5 km inland and off our route and on a busy highway. He drew a little map to help get us there.

We had the wind in our back and the ride was winding us through fields of wheat, corn and sunflowers. The panzion was an rustic wooden building. The furniture was dated (1970's) but the place itself looked not that old. Downstairs was a cozy restaurant/bar.


 
But the Bathroom, Oh My God!
 
The rooms at Leanyvar Panzion were spacious and clean. But the bathrooms, oh my god! They had stinky sewer smell coming from the drain and no shower enclosure, not even a curtain. Fortunately, there were two doors between us and the bathroom and we could isolate the source of the smell if we closed the door quickly.

Junko and Hiro's room had the same problem and they said that they realize that from now on the standard of accommodations will go down, and added resolutely "It can't be helped."

We couldn't argue about the price € 23 for double.

We showered and met downstairs for dinner. Junko and Hiro had delicious mushroom and bean soup and Caesar salad with turkey strips and pickled salad. Dave had turkey with pineapple and rice and I was craving chicken livers with onion and mashed potatoes. I was disappointed when they turned out to be breaded and deep-fried. Even the onion had been tossed in the deep-fryer.

Oh well, can’t win them all.

 
Junko and Hiro Write;
 
To Rackeve from Budapest
とうとうブダペストを去る日がやって来た。いつまでも遊んではいられない。
私達には黒海という目標がある。
自転車道は快適。ブダペストの郊外のドナウ川沿いの住宅街をどんどん進んでいく。
森の中を走ったり川べりを走ったり公園の中だったり、ぶどう畑の横だったり。
教会が見え次の街にはいる。時には高速自動車道も走る。
街中のペンションは満室だったので、広大な畑の中を走る高速道路脇のペンションに
泊まった。通じる言葉はハンガリー語と片言のドイツ語。食事のオーダーに手間取った。
この辺りは学校では外国語は英語でなくてドイツ語を教えているようだ。

_________________________________

References: 

....1) The Danube Cycle Way; Donaueschingen to Budapest by John Higginson
... 2) Bikeline Maps & Guides; Donau-Radweg 4, (5 books in the series)

Our plan in a nutshell; 2900 total kilometers at 50 km per day - 2 days riding for 1 day off for a total of 58 riding days & 90 total days - April to July, 2013 :)