Towards the Black Sea
Avoiding thunderstorms: Dunaföldvár - Baja
28 May 2019
Good luck today: the storms threatened all afternoon and I had only a little shower of two minutes a little before the end of my journey!
Course a bit tiring anyway because a strong southerly wind was blowing at over twenty an hour with gusts to 50! And I just went south, so most of the time it was headwind.
At least it was on very beautiful tracks, far from cars. So if the wind provokes a gap, no danger: it’s still cooler.
In a village I was finally able to photograph a stork, mobilized (…)
Budapest - Dunafoldvar
27 May 2019
Departure from Budapest following a fairly simple path to find: change of bank at the green bridge (Liberty Bridge), change of bank two bridges further on, then follow the Danube... But after the second shoreline change in fact it was easy to make a mistake! Cul de sac, truck lanes... and finally I find the track but of uneven quality: paved, then tarred road...
I pass through the town of Cespel because I saw bicycle repairers there and I would like to grease my chain... I can’t find them. (…)
With Sunshine Budapest
23 May 2019
Komarno-Budapest stage today. Start in the grayness, then a little rain, but nothing bad. As the weather improves and I arrive in Budpaest with good weather!
I hadn’t looked closely at my route and I didn’t see that I had to use a ferry again. So I was waiting to cross a bridge and when I checked the crossing point had long since passed. But then why not continue since in principle the Eurovélo is on both sides of the Danube?
Yes, but quickly I arrive at a bridge that has disappeared and (…)
The uninterrupted rain: Bratislava - Komarno
22 May 2019
Depressed this morning by checking the weather: 100% chance of rain, all day long.
I leave Bratislava looking with my phone in my pocket: it is not sold as waterproof. So it’s a little more complicated to guide yourself.... And while I have to pass under a motorway interchange, the roads are blocked by works :( I place myself under the canopy of a gas station to look for my way and the person in charge of the station finally comes out and tells me where to go! Whew, I’m not sure I would (…)
Bratislava, Slovakia
20 May 2019
And a new capital: Bratislava, having left Vienna today.
This morning I left slowly while waiting for the rain to calm down a little... It half worked because she was a little less strong and soon after leaving Vienna she stopped.
It took me a little over an hour to leave Vienna. You have to stop at the traffic lights all the time, watch out for cars and pedestrians.
Once again very nice facilities for bicycles. If in Vienna many roads are damaged and ground signs half erased, this (…)
Vienna, the first capital on the route
18 May 2019
Arrived in Vienna. I started from Toulouse a little over three weeks ago and I cycled a little over 1500 km in 17 stages. So far the weather hasn’t been great, but it’s getting better: it’s the second day of good weather in a row!
A pleasant trip today with however a wind that strengthened around noon and became a little painful. Fortunately it was not always in front and I also clung to a few cyclists who passed me: a tall, strong mountain biker in whose wake I was well protected from the (…)
Beautiful day in Melk
17 May 2019
A beautiful day: the sun from morning to evening, and Roland came to meet me from the bottom of southern Austria where his father lives to spend the afternoon with me!
In the morning the lady of the hotel told me that I had to cross, so take the ferry, to go to Melk. I don’t really want to wait, I’ll keep on. For a few kilometres there is not really a bike path, but there are not many cars or trucks. I’m about to change banks at the first bridge but the "official" road is on my side and on (…)
The sunshine arrives: Untermühl - Grein
16 May 2019
So to leave you had to wait until the ferry started at 9am. I was his first and only customer. It is still cold and humid but quickly you can feel the sun that wants to pierce.
Looking at my map on the mobile I realize that there is again a passage of the Danube without bridge! I look better and indeed it is a ferryboat that is indicated. So I decide to take the bridge which is about ten kilometers before. I don’t regret it because this ferryboat was much less fun than the one I took in (…)
With the Ferry! Passau - Untermühl
15 May 2019
The weather forecast was for a 70% chance of rain, but I spent the morning about dry! Short journey once again, about sixty kilometers.
I take the bridge in Niederranna to be on the right side to see the Schlogen ring and not take a ferry. But from below you can’t completely see the 180° loop made by the Danube at this point. The pictures I saw were probably taken from the top of the hill. Too bad, but it’s already very pretty even if it’s not as spectacular.
I have to pass a couple of (…)
Short Stage: Deggendorf-Passau
14 May 2019
Today a short stage, a little less than 60km to go.
Yesterday and early this morning I had to fight with the reservations. What’s left in Linz is unaffordable and I didn’t yet have an answer for the room, not even well placed, of airbnb. So I do my route again and change the stages according to what I find for accommodation while staying on the Danube. So I won’t spend a whole day in Linz, but I’ll manage to have lunch there. The next steps in Austria: Untermühl, Grein, Melk, and Vienna (…)