Day 25: Tri-Borderpoint....
Sunday July 21 - Day 25 - 65miles - Total 983miles
We woke up next to the soccer pitch very early in the morning, since the sun hit the tent directly from 4:30am onwards and made it feel like we were in a rotisserie oven as we spun in our sleeping bags! Not a pleasant way to wake up! Neither of us slept particularly well during the night either as the irrigation system kept waking us up as it over sprayed the field and hit the corrugated metal roof with a bang.
We scrambled out of our sleeping bags and out of the boiling tent into the shade! We made coffee and oatmeal for breakfast on the camping stove just as the groundskeeper showed up. Initially, he kept himself to himself but after some flattery about the flatness of his pitch and the cut of his grass he warmed up to us....which had the desired effect as he let us use the clubhouse facilities to wash up and clean up....score!
We packed everything up and headed out of Deutsch Jahrndorf towards the Hungarian border. The road surface started to deteriorate and then vanished into dirt as we hit the border. I doubt that there was even a border station here before the open border in 2007. We hung a quick left along a farm track so we were traveling along the actual borderline between Austria and Hungary - this is where a serious electrified fence would have existed until 1989. After a few hundred meters, Slovakia joined us and we were at the tri-border point. The place still had a slightly menacing air about it. You could see the tracks that each country would have used to patrol their side of the border. There was a three sided border marker surrounded by other smaller sculptures including an old part of the barbed wire fencing with ribbons wrapped around it. All of this surrounded by corn, wheat and sunflower fields. It was obvious that these three countries wanted to make this place a memorial, but they did not seem to want to remember it. This place represents a hard time in all of their histories. It was worth the tough ride getting there and away from there.
We said good bye to Austria for the final time (of 5) and continued on the Slovakian side of their border line with Hungary. The Slovak patrol road was paved; the Hungarian one was not! We reached a farm bridge over the motorway and we were above what was the main border crossing point between Slovakia and Hungary. The border is open now and the old border stations are just used to exchange currency and to buy "matrica/vignette" which are toll passes you need to buy to use that country's motorway system. We fell foul of that system in the Czech Republic a couple of year's ago.
But we actually saw where we bought our Hungarian toll pass during the Mongol rally two years ago from a bridge over the motorway (after the issue in the Czech Republic).
We continued on our borderline track and reached the pre-motorway road (Rte 150). This border station was completely abandoned and overgrown. It was really creepy seeing such a symbol of a government's power completely derelict and deserted. Continuing on the borderline for another half mile or so we said goodbye to Hungary for a couple of days and went left into Slovakia and the village of Cunovo. We tried to find a little shop without success but we did manage to find our way back to the Danube bike path, although it did involved a little bush whacking and lifting the bikes over a guardrail. We were rewarded for our efforts though, as the path ran on top of one of the flood control levees and there was a cafe/bar/ice cream shop just a couple of hundred metres away! There were lots of other cyclists and rollerbladers congregating here, even at about 9.30am. And a lot of them were drinking beer......I like a good beer after cycling, but definitely not before and definitely not at 9.30 in the morning! We indulged in an ice cream each and headed out over a hydroelectric dam to a levee built in the 1950s. This construction apparently caused massive ecological damage to the local area and destroyed an entire ecosystem. The Danube has effectively been channelled in this area for about 30 miles or so.
We cycled down the levee top path for the 20miles down to the next dam. It was hot work as there was no shade, but luckily we did have a bit of a tail wind and the path surface was generally good, so we made good time. There were a lot of cyclists resting up at this next dam and we had lunch here under the shade of some trees.
After crossing the dam we were now on the other side of the Danube and we cycled down the asphalt path past the village of Sap into the village of Medvedov. We stopped at a local cafe here for an afternoon caffeine/sugar break. The levee top path still continues on from here, but it is gravel/dirt and we decided to take the road instead - even though it went slightly inland. Our other option was to cross to the Hungarian side and continue on the signposted route. However this route takes you away from the river and up a few hills in Hungary, which we didn't fancy. So we stuck to the Slovak side and we cycled through Cicov to Velke Kosihy.
We tried to take levee path again, but it was still unpaved and the gravel too deep in places, which made it slow going. We gave up after a couple of miles and used some farm roads to get back to the main road. The first road was asphalt, but then the next was a rutted tractor track for a mile or so..... it got pretty interesting! We finally made it back to asphalt and to the main road...which had a decent shoulder! Go Slovakia! Right away we saw a Slovakian speed trap and drivers pulled over by the orange wand wielding officer....memories of the Mongol Rally.....We thought they were going to pull us over for some alleged infraction or other and Bruce was already scheming up lines to get out of it in his head.......
We reached Komarno late in the afternoon and passed a Tesco on the way into town. We stopped there for refreshments and snacks...interesting side note - all other supermarket chains we have used on this trip charge a Euro deposit for use of their trolley/shopping cart. Tesco trusts you and just lets you use a trolley....although all the locals look very confused and try and work out where to put the Euro coin....very amusing.
We found the old town of Komarno and a lovely pension called Olymp....beautiful old building and prices now much cheaper! A lovely en suite room with balcony was now 40Euro rather than the 60-80Euro we had been paying earlier in the trip. After showering and cleaning up we had a lovely dinner in the main square, which consisted of some of the local specialties. It all tasted great with some of the local beer as well. As we were having dessert (hey, it was our longest ride so far at 65 miles!) the local homeless guy showed up....on his wheeled dogsled pulled by five big alsation/collie mutts.....pretty impressive!
The World is Ours!
Sunday July 21 - Day 25 - 65miles - Total 983miles
We woke up next to the soccer pitch very early in the morning, since the sun hit the tent directly from 4:30am onwards and made it feel like we were in a rotisserie oven as we spun in our sleeping bags! Not a pleasant way to wake up! Neither of us slept particularly well during the night either as the irrigation system kept waking us up as it over sprayed the field and hit the corrugated metal roof with a bang.
We scrambled out of our sleeping bags and out of the boiling tent into the shade! We made coffee and oatmeal for breakfast on the camping stove just as the groundskeeper showed up. Initially, he kept himself to himself but after some flattery about the flatness of his pitch and the cut of his grass he warmed up to us....which had the desired effect as he let us use the clubhouse facilities to wash up and clean up....score!
We packed everything up and headed out of Deutsch Jahrndorf towards the Hungarian border. The road surface started to deteriorate and then vanished into dirt as we hit the border. I doubt that there was even a border station here before the open border in 2007. We hung a quick left along a farm track so we were traveling along the actual borderline between Austria and Hungary - this is where a serious electrified fence would have existed until 1989. After a few hundred meters, Slovakia joined us and we were at the tri-border point. The place still had a slightly menacing air about it. You could see the tracks that each country would have used to patrol their side of the border. There was a three sided border marker surrounded by other smaller sculptures including an old part of the barbed wire fencing with ribbons wrapped around it. All of this surrounded by corn, wheat and sunflower fields. It was obvious that these three countries wanted to make this place a memorial, but they did not seem to want to remember it. This place represents a hard time in all of their histories. It was worth the tough ride getting there and away from there.
We said good bye to Austria for the final time (of 5) and continued on the Slovakian side of their border line with Hungary. The Slovak patrol road was paved; the Hungarian one was not! We reached a farm bridge over the motorway and we were above what was the main border crossing point between Slovakia and Hungary. The border is open now and the old border stations are just used to exchange currency and to buy "matrica/vignette" which are toll passes you need to buy to use that country's motorway system. We fell foul of that system in the Czech Republic a couple of year's ago.
But we actually saw where we bought our Hungarian toll pass during the Mongol rally two years ago from a bridge over the motorway (after the issue in the Czech Republic).
We continued on our borderline track and reached the pre-motorway road (Rte 150). This border station was completely abandoned and overgrown. It was really creepy seeing such a symbol of a government's power completely derelict and deserted. Continuing on the borderline for another half mile or so we said goodbye to Hungary for a couple of days and went left into Slovakia and the village of Cunovo. We tried to find a little shop without success but we did manage to find our way back to the Danube bike path, although it did involved a little bush whacking and lifting the bikes over a guardrail. We were rewarded for our efforts though, as the path ran on top of one of the flood control levees and there was a cafe/bar/ice cream shop just a couple of hundred metres away! There were lots of other cyclists and rollerbladers congregating here, even at about 9.30am. And a lot of them were drinking beer......I like a good beer after cycling, but definitely not before and definitely not at 9.30 in the morning! We indulged in an ice cream each and headed out over a hydroelectric dam to a levee built in the 1950s. This construction apparently caused massive ecological damage to the local area and destroyed an entire ecosystem. The Danube has effectively been channelled in this area for about 30 miles or so.
We cycled down the levee top path for the 20miles down to the next dam. It was hot work as there was no shade, but luckily we did have a bit of a tail wind and the path surface was generally good, so we made good time. There were a lot of cyclists resting up at this next dam and we had lunch here under the shade of some trees.
After crossing the dam we were now on the other side of the Danube and we cycled down the asphalt path past the village of Sap into the village of Medvedov. We stopped at a local cafe here for an afternoon caffeine/sugar break. The levee top path still continues on from here, but it is gravel/dirt and we decided to take the road instead - even though it went slightly inland. Our other option was to cross to the Hungarian side and continue on the signposted route. However this route takes you away from the river and up a few hills in Hungary, which we didn't fancy. So we stuck to the Slovak side and we cycled through Cicov to Velke Kosihy.
We tried to take levee path again, but it was still unpaved and the gravel too deep in places, which made it slow going. We gave up after a couple of miles and used some farm roads to get back to the main road. The first road was asphalt, but then the next was a rutted tractor track for a mile or so..... it got pretty interesting! We finally made it back to asphalt and to the main road...which had a decent shoulder! Go Slovakia! Right away we saw a Slovakian speed trap and drivers pulled over by the orange wand wielding officer....memories of the Mongol Rally.....We thought they were going to pull us over for some alleged infraction or other and Bruce was already scheming up lines to get out of it in his head.......
We reached Komarno late in the afternoon and passed a Tesco on the way into town. We stopped there for refreshments and snacks...interesting side note - all other supermarket chains we have used on this trip charge a Euro deposit for use of their trolley/shopping cart. Tesco trusts you and just lets you use a trolley....although all the locals look very confused and try and work out where to put the Euro coin....very amusing.
We found the old town of Komarno and a lovely pension called Olymp....beautiful old building and prices now much cheaper! A lovely en suite room with balcony was now 40Euro rather than the 60-80Euro we had been paying earlier in the trip. After showering and cleaning up we had a lovely dinner in the main square, which consisted of some of the local specialties. It all tasted great with some of the local beer as well. As we were having dessert (hey, it was our longest ride so far at 65 miles!) the local homeless guy showed up....on his wheeled dogsled pulled by five big alsation/collie mutts.....pretty impressive!
The World is Ours!