Day 14-after a night listening to the rain hammering on the roof of the van we wake up to more rain. It is squally, blowy and very wet. I really do not want to cycle anywhere today. The day starts with a well surfaced stretch along the river – into a very wet headwind for 8 kms. I am exhausted. I get suckered into thinking things are going to get better by a stretch of decent paved roads and another length of well paved cycle path by the river. Once I get into the middle of nowhere, the surface turns to bog – not really surprising due to the deluge. I bet in the Summer it is hard packed, easy to ride on, path- but not now. I manage to warm myself a little ( the temperature did not rise above 11c max all day- by screaming obscenities and turning the air blue about both the weather and the track surface. It did me no good. I still had to trudge and half ride, half push, the bike for another 10kms along that path. I remain freezing and wet all day, consider every 50 yards or so throwing in the towel and contemplating that if it was going to be this hard for 8 weeks, I could have suffered no worse but rowed the Atlantic and had that on my cv!
I pushed on regardless and reached Solt. That meant I was well ahead on the day and my scheduled 130 kms ride was now down to 90! Back to the campsite and I stay under the hot shower for ages just trying to get some warmth into me. Passepartout helped by going for a beer in the camp cafe.
Day 15- how different! We wake and there is no rain hammering on the roof. Not only that but the sun shines. We have a shorter day so we start a bit later. I am getting the hang of this game now- I follow the roads to avoid flooded non tarmaced paths and when the surface turns dodgy I turn back. That saved loads of time albeit I did get caught a couple of times. I tried to follow Google maps into Budapest, should be simple – no- it tried to take me down a path through a field. I looked down it, saw the terrible surface and a deer running along it. Not for use in a quagmire so I stuck to the road. Even that plan ran out in the end when I realised I was on a road banned to cycles ( I caught on when a fist waving man drove alongside me with his window down jabbering aggressively in foreign). Somehow I get into the centre of the city by a bridge that was the end of the days route. Then, as it started raining again, I discover that I have to cycle another 9 kms to get to Passepartout who has taken the van straight to a city campsite. Great!
The campsite is a little oasis in the city and is full of camper vans- so this is where they have all been hiding. Showers are hot and this time the shower room is warm and heated too – things are on the up. There is a small downside that is that it is alongside a railway line and under the flight path of the city airport- I kid you not, it is true. But that won’t worry us. The bad bit is that the only food outlet in walking distance is a MacDonalds. Another burgher and fries ☹️. There are other facilities close by though.
Not only am I now Man at Lidls, I am also assistant dhobi wallah!
First real commercial activity on the EV6 I have seen.
Lennytranseurope 
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