Tour de Austria-Hungary

Day 00 (2016-07-24)

sleeping: field near Taktakenéz (many mosquitos)
daily stats: 105.78 km, 5:19:35, max 44.75 km/h, avg 19.86 km/h
visiting Tokaj (goulash with tarhonya, prominent hill with vineyards, Tisza+Bodrog confluence)
many villages host nests for storks
accident: Ivo hit Michal’s rear wheel while drafting and fell off the bike, no serious injury luckily

morning: wakeup: 7:00, departure: 9:00
sleeping: 21:30, vineyard near Egerszalok
daily stats: 113.47 km, 6:44:34, max 46.56 km/h, avg 16.83 km/h
Miskolc
- observed a whirlwind on Miskolc suburbs
- quite a developed (indicated by renovated facades of panel houses) and large city (crowded streets)
passing the Bukki national park
- long gradual climb (~10 km, 3%)
- after a rain, 100% moisture, perspiration didn’t work
downhill ride ending in Eger
- the castle was closing when we arrived
- groomed and crowded park with a fountain
the day we learnt about Hungarian public hydrants
- very welcomed refreshment
- we originally thought it’s a pump, we were surprised by the stream intensity

morning: wakeup: 7:00, ready to go: 8:00 (a farmer in tractor was waiting for us to get out of the vineyard he was spraying), departure: 9:00
sleeping: 19:00 arrival in Gödöllő, 21:00 arrival in Budapest by train, sleeping in a hostel
daily stats: 107.41 km, 6:21:45, 50.75 km/h, avg 16.88 km/h
riding the (former) pusztas (agricultural: sunflowers, corn)
- very flat terrain, straight road (like 5 kilometers without a turn), burning under the sun
- melon-loaded lorry
in the evening we rode through a downpour (however we managed to dry ourselves before arriving in Gödöllő)
accident: Marek punctured his tube (actually pinched on a pothole)

morning: wakeup: 8:00
sleeping: staying one more night at the hostel
daily stats: 0 km, 0:00:00, max NaN km/h, avg NaN km/h
due to rainy weather we decided to stay in the city one more day (unplanned)
sightseeing in Buda and Pest
- synagogue, basilica of St. Stephan
- Danube – quite wide and flowing fast, greenish color
- Buda castle, outlook on the center (e.g. the parliament)
in the evening looking for a typical Hungarian food
- criteria: local cuisine, no tablecloth, no blinking neon signs, low price
- result: Turkish fast food (Istanbul Török Étterem)

morning: check out at 10:30, 11:28 train to Györ, departure at 15:00
sleeping: 21:30, vineyard few kilometers from the Neusiedlersee
daily stats: 73.95 km, 3:59:44, max 28.46 km/h, avg 18.51 km/h
very flat terrain along the Mosoni-Duna river (see the maximum speed)
bourgeois dinner (goulash) in a pub near Austrian borders
the border pass was guarded by Austrian police
- we noticed significantly better road surface after entering Austria
spectacular synchronized red blinking lights on array of wind turbines

morning: wake up at 7:20, no breakfast, departure at 8:45 (eating by Polendorf grocery store)
sleeping: 20:30, playground in Kirchau
daily stats: 84.49 km, 5:22:48, max 64.65 km/h, avg 15.70 km/h
11:00 arrival to Polendorf port, 11:30 departure on a ship to Rust
after navigating through the Neusiedlersee entering first hills
16:00–17:00 “lunch” break in Mattersburg
first climb to monumental Forchenstein castle, the village was spread above the castle though
- spotting probably the first refugee family
we dodged rain, seeing only wet asphalt

morning: wake up at 7:00, departure at 9:45 (cooking oatmeal)
sleeping: unplanned interrupt 19:50 in Terz village due to thunderstorm, occupying a niche of a barn-like building
daily stats: 74.52 km, 5:21:52, max 63.47 km/h, avg 13.89 km/h
going the Mariazell Wanderweg (via Gscheidl pass) – it’s a hiking path, not for bicycles
- almost every tree in the forest bears a sign of pilgrims (that we didn’t see though)
bathing in the Salza river
hitting a heavy rain with thunderstorm
- lesson learnt:
  - poncho raincoat is useless for protecting sleeves
  - cycling shoes soak so much water – consider shoe cover
  - taillight isn’t waterproof – breaking the on/off button
  - SA bags aren’t fully waterproff neither

morning: wake up at 7:20, departure at 10:30 (drying our stuff on asphalt), departure from Mariazell at 13:00
sleeping: 20:20, meadow/field near Altenmarkt above Enns river
daily stats: 104.68 km, 5:24:49, max 55.91 km/h, avg 19.34 km/h
impressive visit of Mariazell basilica (there was a church service at that moment)
brunch in Mariazell Billa; the town is well equipped for tourists (e.g. Slav youth)
picturesque Salza river valley
- clean quickly flowing river with high mountains above and quality road along
- this is why you go to the Alps
- popular also among canoeist (et al)
we hit another heavy rain, fortunately we were almost dry when reaching the overnight place
later continuing along the Enns river
- many water power plants

morning: wake up ??, departure at 10:20
sleeping: 21:00, camp by the Pleshingersee (27 €, 4 persons, 2 tents)
daily stats: 112.86 km, 5:57:10, max 56.93 km/h, avg 18.96 km/h
riding along the Enns river, actually quite hilly (valley wider and hills lower)
Steyr – lunch in a restaurant, nice historical center
continuing on a flat cycling path to Danube confluence
sprinting in heavy headwind through industrial suburbs of Linz only to realize there are no hostels in Linz and returning along the river back to a camp