June 6, 2013
Kalocsa to Baja, 50 km, total 1450 km
20C patches of blue sky and sun

Kaizer Hotel, Double ensuite, 9500 HUF ($42) breakfast included



We're half way to the Black Sea!

Hooked Up with the Donau

In Kalocsa, we were about 7 km off the main cycle route. The little towns near the river often are not big enough to warrant hotels and we did NOT bring camping gear. Now we had to return near the river.
   
Dave led us out of town towards Meszesidunapart for 5.7 km before we hooked up with the official route on top of dyke. It was compacted dirt trail and well signposted.

The weather was perfect.


 
Signs of Rising Water
 
Soon we noticed the first undeniable signs of the rising water in the Donau, the strip of land between us and the Donau was submerged, trees and, later in the day, forests partially submerged, the water licking the dyke. After 9.5 on dyke, at Fajsz, the trail turned to loose sand and we couldn't continue on the dyke. With no visible end to the sandy zone, we dropped off the dyke.

We followed Dave, who has a good sense of compass direction, through the charming town of Fajsz where we noticed an odd thing. The homes had rain gutters around the roof from which a long pipe, as long as 3 meters, protruded to guide the rainwater in to the ditch. I just had to take several pictures of this, we had never seen this anywhere else.


  
Blazing Trail on Farm Roads - Fun

Soon we found ourselves following Dave on dirt tracks through the corn, clover, wheat, fennel and sunflower fields for 9 kilometers. Sadly, the sunflowers are a month or so away from blooming. Occasionally we encountered muddy stretches and we were relieved when we got to frontage trail that led us back to the by now nicely paved Velo 6 (Donau Radweg) on the dyke.


 
 
 
We stopped to eat our picnic lunch in a field with sheep, goats and two ornery donkeys who loved us (or our lunch) a little too much. A huge swarm of bees flew overhead and, luckily, they were not after us or our lunch.


Sandbagging
 
The further south we rode the more flood damage we observed. Here, the strip between us and the Donau was wider still and was home to several communities. We watched people move furniture into trucks to be taken to higher ground. Many first floors on homes were flooded. Others had water lapping at their doorstep. On the left side of the dyke, away from the river, life seemed to go on as usual. Hay was being cut and people worked on plots of land.

In Baja, our destination for the day, the banks of the small arm of the Donau, by town center, were being reinforced with plastic sheeting and sand bags.

The Donauradweg signs led us through a number of tricky turns leaving us in the town's central plaza. Baja is a friendly old town with a beautiful large town square which sports impressive government buildings, hotels and sidewalk cafes.


 
"I am Kaiser"

Had a bit of trouble finding the "Fötér Hotel" we had reserved. We split up to look and I found the sign leading me through an arch to a courtyard behind the main square. Before the others caught up, I was approached by a man who said, “I am Kaizer” He offered us 20% discount and pointed me to the reception room. I thought he was from our hotel. When Dave arrived he began to go to the wrong reception. Then we realized “Kaiser” was the owner of the adjacent Kaiser Hotel and he was trying to poach our business away from the neighboring "Fötér Hotel". Dave went to take a look at a Kaiser room. It was lovely plus included breakfast 9500 HUF (€32/$42). Next, he went to the place he had reserved (no money down and no cancellation fee) and explained the situation. There too he was readily offered a small discount but the rooms were not as nice. The girl was gracious about us wanting to choose Kaizer Hotel above her place and said it was okay to go to Kaizer Hotel if we liked it better. And we liked it enough to stay for two days.

For dinner, we had gyros and salads at a small restaurant on the plaza next door from our hotel. Junko and Hiro had decent pizza there. One of the other customers had translated the Hungarian menu for us and helped us order. The waitress was patient and eager to please too. It was nice to be at a place that seemed glad to earn our business.


 
June 7, 2013 – Rest Day in Baja
19c overcast/ partial sun  

Morning in Baja

The breakfast included in our room rate is at another Kaizer property, Kaizer Panzio. The “5-minute walk” took us 20 minutes, We had gone the long way. Kaizer buffet was a great spread of breads cold-cuts, cheese, eggs, yogurt, and muesli. They had a commercial coffee machine which dispensed six different choices, on demand, from espresso to latte... It was especially appreciated because we had time to linger over many cups.

We all had things we wanted to do but mainly agreed to make this a relaxing day.
 
 
We bought some cherries hopped on the little tourist choo choo bus which took us through the back streets past the synagogue, which is a library now and a place where performances are held, down by the river, and back to the center. It rained off and on.


 
Location Specific News on the Rising Donau

The rains and big floods on the news are far north of us. But that water has to go somewhere. And much of it is coming our way. On pictures of this area, we noticed that there are strips of sandy beaches along the banks of the main channel of the Donau and the boat harbor in a side channel leading to Baja center. The beaches are already submerged under the rising Donau.

When we got back by our hotel, we spotted 2 heavily loaded cycling tourists, an elder couple. We went up to them to have a chat. They are French and are also cycling to the Black Sea. They had been cycling with another couple who ended their trip for fears of the floods.

This couple had just spoken to the staff at the Baja Tourist Info office who gave them the latest flood news. Ferry service crossing the Donau will discontinue today because of the rising water level. One can cross the Donau on a ferry 15 km before Mohács (20 km from Baja) at 3, 4 and 5 pm on the hour.  The Donau here is expected to reach its highest level, 9 plus meters, on Monday (in 3 days). It is now 8 meters while normal levels here are 6 meters.

It may be a week or more before it recedes enough for ferries to resume. The French couple is rushing off to the ferry, to get to Mohács, from where they will catch a train to higher ground in Pesc and wait it out. It seemed like an extreme solution but not as rash as their companions who flew home.

We went to tourist info to hear for ourselves and look at our options. Indeed, our plan had been to cross on the ferry over to Mohács. But like all our plans, it wasn't carved in stone. We could always ride over the big bridge, here in Baja, to cross the river. Or head due south and stay on this side to Serbian border. Or, we could ride more inland along the busy highway 51. Or make our own route along country roads through small villages near the Donau as long as possible. Because we wouldn't be able to get to the hotel town of Mohács, the competent woman at tourist info provided phone numbers of three places to stay just this side of the Serbian border. Our new new plan became to ride the Donauradweg until there was a place to cut over to Dávod-Püspökpuszta and stay there for the night.

It is the highest water levels ever recorded in Hungary but the dykes were doing their job and keeping the water in the channel. We all agreed there was no urgency and we could play it by ear as we go.

The sun came out at around 2pm when we walked to the river where people were enjoying themselves on the terraces and walking or biking on the path along the river.

Life is good!

 
Junko and Hiro Write;
 
To Baja at Baja
ここ3日ずっと同じ景色。ただただ続く大平原見渡す限りの広大な畑 。
町にはいるとサクランボの赤い実がたわわになった街路樹。ここは山形？
そういえば去年の今頃はサクランボ狩りしたっけなんて思い出しながら走る。
チェコからやって来た洪水がとうとうここまで及んで来た。
ドナウ沿岸では土嚢を積んでいる。あちこち増水している。
浸水している家もちらほらある。同じく黒海をめざしているフランス人カップルと
会った。彼らはお年のように見受けられるがいたって元気。
ドナウ川増水のため、きょうの五時で渡し船はなくなる事をインフォーメーション
で聞きつけ、それに間に合う様に急いで去って行った。私達はと言えばのんき。
対岸のモハーチにいくのは諦めもう一晩ここに泊まりこのままセルビア入りすることにした。 

 ________________________________

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 :)