As foreseen, I’m not good to keep this blog up to date since I don’t have often access to the web on my trip, then I have to get sorted with my emails, to put something on my “main” french blog, and then, if I’m not too lazy and still have some spare time, I can manage to write here…
This is the case right now in Budapest! Indeed I’m here for a few days, staying at a very friendly bike kitchen’s activists place, who kindly let me the use of her laptop. so here we go for a wee sum up of what we’ve been up to since last post from Passau, Germany.
I mainly cycled along the Danube, wich is not he éost exciting cycling ever, but still pleasant. Very easy, well sign posted in the german speaking countries, with quite a few different sorts of landscape, anda LOT of other people on their bikes.
the first “step” that caught me for over a week was next to Linz, western Austria, where was held the first ever CYCLOCAMP. It was an amazing meeting self organised by the bike kitchen people from Linz, Vienna and Graz (check out http://bikekitchen.net and http://cyclocamp.org )
Amazing time and experience, with very lovely and interesting people. Not so many of them (we were around a hundred), it wasn’t about the quantity, but it was all about the quality !
They inveited us in Vienna, to visit this nice city, as well as to sped some time in their bike kitchen. To get there, we cycled 11 of us together during a few days. Their were Spanish, Italian, German and French people along with. It was a very funny ride all together, with funny and friendly people, lovely time, with a good weather, eventually after 2 weeks of “UK alike” weather 🙂
We felt so good in Vienna, that we stayed way longer than was the frst initial plan… about 3 weeks! In the meantime, for some several and strange reasons, I decided myself to go quickly there and back home, hitchhiking in 2 and half days what I cycled in about a month… A trip within the trip. There I have had great hitch hiking experiences, lots of fun and interesting persons met on my way, I can’t really detail, but its was just great. dame for the way back to Vienna. we stayed there an other few days, before eventually managing to set off towards Bratislava. But only by small steps. the first day we completed only 20km, stopping at an amazing lake, populated by happy hippies, within a natural reserve, very nice area that should be kept secret. another 2 days down there… so pleasant!
From there we cycled in a big national ark were we tried to sleep, and one hour after pitching the tent, the forest keeper came along and asked us to move away, to a tent place “10km” away… we never found it and after 1h30 cycle by night, we pitched the tent next to a fied. second mistake, the farmer woke us up at 6 in the morning and kindly told us to fuck off within 5 min otherwise he would call the police… Austria was great, exept this time of leaving it…
This allowed us to arrive very early in Bratislava, having a breakfast in a park, and then visiting this small capital, as good tourists…
from there we kept on along the Danube, in boiling hot conditions, struggling to find way to bath, but we managed to find a nice and clean lake not too far. later on we slept direcltly on the digue without the tent this time, what wasn’t a good idea because of mosquitos… the 2 next days we kept on the Slovakian side of the Danube, on a digue with lots of gravels, so we rode even slowlier, and have had and other “mosquito” spot, and a last much better spot a bit further for the last night in Slovakia. We crossed over to Hungaria at Esztergom bridge, which is a very nice city, somehow touristy but still very nice.
From there the cycle route (eurovelo 6) was again here (we sort of lost it in Slovakia) and it was again easy cycling. This allowed us to arrive rather quicly in Budapest, just on time on a monday at 6 for the opening of the local bike kitchen, which is located is the attic of a huge bar, community friendly, nice bar. we left down our bike heavy loaded, with flag, and at night, a Vienna friend from the cargo bike collective (very nice thing) recognizes our bicycles and strated looking for us. He found us and invited us the day after to a sightseeing tour with a Budapest friend, of course on bikes! just great! Morever, he and his girlfriend are involved in a camp heldp in Romania en of September: reclaim the fields (http://reclaimthefields.org) we’re gonna go there!
Since then we also enjoy Budapest, we met again our french friends on a tandem, Adeline&Gab (blog vents d’ouest), we spent some time with our very friendly host (yesterday was a party at the green party) and we will try some baths…
travelling is great !