April 12th: Esztergom - Budapest, Hungary. Sunshine and friendly faces!

88km with 310 m of climbing

A fabulously warm, blue skied, filled day of cycling. Lots of smiles and waves, people asking questions, lots of human interaction and hundreds of cyclists out on the cycling paths enjoying the beautiful warm weather.

Julian and Grant crossed over the border again temporarily and had the now usual disinfectant bath for the rampant foot and mouth disease prevention between Slovakia and Hungary.

Thankfully today was warm and busy and the first stop involved a nourishing pita filled with meat and salad at a cycling café on the river bank. Julian was effusive about the music he was listening to, the stunningly beautiful scenery and the abundance of snacks, coffee and sweet treats and the major change in attitude from everyone they met.

Staying on the Slovakian side of the river was a great choice as the cycling paths were fantastic and they only crossed over again to enter into the city of Budapest that welcomed them with its beautiful scenic cityscapes. This took almost an hour- the time it too from the outskirts of the city to the old town where Grant and Julian are staying for two nights.

The architecture and the buzzing outdoor life in Budapest is a drawcard as is the sense of deep history and the meandering river and many bridges over the river.

88km were done in good time and the boys are feeling strong and getting ready for the hilly bits that are coming up soon. They rode through a town named God, which came with it’s fair share of chirps and jokes – thankfully it was one of the few town names that these two Crazybikeguys could pronounce, so that in itself cause a lot of excitement!

On arrival at the accommodation in the old town, after the 88km on the road, the fifth floor beckoned but the lift was antique and tiny, so Grant and Julian had to carry both bikes and panniers up to the fifth floor – so they’re not only working on leg muscles but doing a fair bit of weight training too!

Julian felt that after that amount of effort, a more sophisticated dinner was required and managed to look and find, in the up-and-coming Michelin section of the guide, a wonderful Italian restaurant nearby which was just what the doctor ordered – deliciously comforting Italian fare with an after dinner visit to the pub for and ale or two!