April 16th: Balatonfurenden - Zalakaros, Hungary ~ Sunshine, snakes and spritz!

A whopping 107km with 546m of climbing.

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When my son starts sending me videos of snakes and fairly close up photos of reptiles crossing the tracks they are riding on, I do tend to have a sense of humour failure!

Today, I am getting notes on THE species of snakes they have seen or have come across. I don’t mind creepy crawlies, bugs, worms, lizards, hamsters or mice but snakes are not my favourite and I can see there is some kind of interest here which has always made me nervous….

Whatsapp on the Crazyblog whatsapp group-

“Fun fact of the week:

The snakes we saw yesterday were called Dice snakes, named after the dice shaped black pattern on its belly. (why were you close enough to observe its belly, Julian??)

It is a relatively harmless snake that doesn’t produce venom but does have anti-predator defense mechanisms such as playing dead or secreting a bad smell. They live near rivers and swamps, feed on amphibians and small fish (good to know).

They are considered critically endangered in the Czech Republic after the introduction of the American Mink rodent which has practically wiped out the population. (clearly not!)”

So back to the actual cycling day….

Blue cloudless skies and a crisp beautiful morning was the scene that the Crazybikeguys woke up to knowing that a long day on the saddle lay ahead.

Spring is abuzz in this part of the world and aside from the snakes, there are so many birds and bugs and dandelion fuzz floating in the air. Grant managed to swallow an extra dose of protein today when a grasshopper flew into his mouth, he swallowed it before he could help it!

At the 45km mark, after cycling on the side of the beautiful Lake Balaton, it was time for a rest and refuel, knowing that may kilometeres awaited them. Both Julian and Grant both commented on the many interactions they have had with people stopping them to ask where they’re from and where they’re going.

So many friendly enthusiastic waves and people hooting and driving jovially alongside them encouraging them on their way, which has been such a welcome change- loving the fact that they are from South Africa. With 1000km still to go on this little adventure, all the enthusiasm is greatly appreciated!

The sun shone so brightly today and it warmed up so beautifully that it was the first day where the boys could wear their fabulously bright and creative Logwood themed cycling shirts and even managed to add a bit of colour to their exposed limbs once they had ditched their thermal wear.

The rain yesterday has brought some additional mechanical fine tuning that will have to be done to Julian’s bike that is now making some very interesting noises on the road, I think this will have to be a job for the extra day in Zagreb that is planned for the weekend.

I felt that the Crazybikeguys needed a treat and chose an evening stop that involved a thermal spa in the hotel which after over 100km on their bikes they welcomed with much appreciation- being upgraded to a bigger room was also a bonus as the bikes needed to be accommodated too.

The day ended with Grant, after having fielded a fair amount of social media comments ( and a grasshopper ingestion) about becoming a beer drinker of late, decided to order an Aperol Spritz – bearing in mind that English isn’t really the spoken lingo, he got a rather uncreative version of the Aperol Spritz we know and love. Apple juice + soda water. Apple spritz! We thought it was hilarious, he was less than amused!

Hopefully tomorrow is a calmer day – we’re hoping the sunny weather hold and Julian’s bike stops complaining!

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