Bratislava to Gyor

Today was a very hot and almost completely flat ride in three different countries -  Slovakia, Austria and Hungary.

Leaving Bratislava on bike paths, there was an added bonus of a lift to negotiate.

This blog has been filled with castle photos so I feel it is time for some other Communist bloc style architecture, still fabulous blue sky but not quite as pretty.

The first border was from Slovakia into Austria with two bike paths running parallel along the border.

After a quick stop to top up the water bottles yet again, we cycled into Hungary, the last country on this trip. The border was definitely more conspicuous but obviously now completely open.

Lunch was near the end of the ride and various parts of my body were taking it in turn to protest, so a cooling river dip was extremely welcome.

It was an early finish so plenty of time to explore Gyor in 33c - 1st priority was a cold beer followed by an ice cream obviously. It’s a very pretty, well restored old town with very few tourists and a lovely place to walk around.

We met in a bar for the 18.30 pre-dinner briefing and Jim told us about the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, starting as a student protest and turning into a horrific conflict. The Pan-European picnic on the Austrian-Hungarian border in 1989 is considered to be one of the first stages in the fall of the Berlin Wall and one of my favourite moving stories from this trip.