April 17th: Zalakaros, Hungary - Cakovec, Croatia ~ Tulips and cherry blossoms

79 km with 405 m of Climbing

Total = 1511km done!!

---

The weather forecast predicted heavy rainfall for today, and Julian and Grant were woken up by a huge racket made by boisterous local pigeons at their windows at 4am amidst grey and gloomy skies.

They packed up their gear and got ready for the watery onslaught and left after breakfast.

The ride was just so beautiful as the roadsides were bordered by cherry trees in full bloom and lots of colourful sidewalk tulips. The majority of the climb was at the beginning of the ride in the first 25 km, making it difficult to get their legs to “wake up” so early in the day!

The cycling path wound through yellow blooming fields of canola- a beautiful feature of this time of the year. The rainy drizzle was on and off all day but the majority of the rain awaited them at their destination, which they were so grateful for as the heavens opened when they were safely parked and off the road.

Leaving Hungary involved going through the now familiar sanitization stations where guys in Hazmat suits were spraying chemicals onto trucks and vehicles as they entered Croatia from Hungary, as a preventative measure for the spread of hand Foot and Mouth disease.

Grant and Julian have now worked out that the distance and altitude feature of the cycling app used for planning each day is not very accurate which has become a source of some frustration especially where climbing is concerned, as planning for nutritional and energy purposes is essential. I think Julian will be put in charge of finding a more accurate form of route planning for the next part of the ride as they hit some serious climbing days.

Some of the ride today was on the road side with very respectful drivers slowing down and driving far away from the bikers and most signaling a quick hello, hooting , waving and acknowledging the boys as they rode along. Both noticed that Thursday was lawn mowing day – as everyone seemed to be out gardening and neatening the sidewalks!

Lots of tulips and impatients and begonias and manicured gardens made the ride so colourful and lovely!

Cakovec turned out to be a delightful place to stop for the night with lovely accommodation- a decent mattress on the bed and the best part of the day was the incredible Bistro dinner that the Crazybikeguys had that they couldn’t stop raving about!

It was lovely to sit last night and have a video call with Julian- we spoke about snakes and Alfa Romeos for ages, apparently Croatia is Alfa Romeo country – I’m really missing our car time chats where I’m kept up to date on school dramas, car stats and of course, the latest tech developments! It’s been such an interesting trip so far with so much to talk about!

Tomorrow is a short ride in preparation for the following day’s trek into Zagreb for the weekend.

---

At its heart, The Two Crazy Bike Guys journey isn’t just about the challenge — it’s about raising awareness and vital funds for Logwood Village, a home for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Every donation, no matter how small, helps us get closer to making a real difference.

Donate today – together, we can change lives: MILES OF MEANING,MEMORABLE IMPACT

How you can help!

• Share, Share, Share! Please share the link to our WhatsApp channel and website far and wide. The more visibility we get, the more donations will start rolling in!

• Follow: Make sure to follow our WhatsApp channel to stay updated and help us build momentum.

• Donate, if you can: Every donation, no matter how small, will make a real difference for the residents of Logwood.

  
  

• Repost: We’d love it if you could repost our LinkedIn updates to your network. The more we spread the word, the bigger the impact we can make!