The road to Hungary
We quickly cycle through various villages until we reach Piatra. We start to ride uphill – towards the Huta pass. The road surface is very good. The gentle, serpentine climb leads through beech woods, posing no difficulty. And going downhill afterwards feels great! I dare say it is the best downhill ride of this expedition. Our pleasant journey continues. Finally, after a month, I begin to feel comfortable while cycling. A thought crosses my mind that it would be nice to have at least one day with a total distance covered exceeding 100 km, and average speed of 20 km/h or more. The ride is fantastic – our average speed is 30 km/h. Moreover, I am already imagining the upcoming supper and accommodation in Satu Mare, hence the motivation to step on the pedals. Past Ciuperceni, Igor starts holding onto my wheel. We are already in Satu Mare, when I hear the head of the trip praising my toughness and stamina during the last kilometres. I am mentioning it since such comments have been very rare ;-)
In Satu Mare we find a room for RON 70, near a bathing beach. It is very peaceful and close to the town centre. In the bathroom, we can admire mysterious solutions of the building contractor: installing a radiator in the shower certainly serves some hidden purpose! I proudly write down today’s data from the cycle computer: we covered a distance of 114 km, at an average speed of 20 km/h :-)
After supper, we sadly find out that the hotel to which our guys from Poland sent the guidebook to Hungary is being renovated :-( As a matter of fact, the administration department is working, but they tell us to try tomorrow because the parcel has not arrived yet. Hotel manager asks us to leave our mobile phone number so that he can call us when the parcel is there. We wait until 3 pm, finishing lunch when the mobile rings. The parcel is here! Hurrah! In the package, apart from the guidebook, there are 2 Grzeski chocolate bars – to sweeten the hardships of the expedition, sent with greetings from Cyklotour dispatch centre :-)
We are truly touched. At about 4 pm we are leaving. After two hours, we are in Carei. Suddenly, Igor feels totally exhausted. "I have jelly legs" – he says. We stop at a motel – RON 100 for a double room with breakfast.
Seeing so many Hungarian signboards around, you can easily tell that Carei is situated near the border. We eat supper while listening to a conversation at the next table and Igor aptly describes this language as "the most Chinese of all European languages". In the morning, at the Hungarian border, we are greeted by smiles and questions about our cycling expedition.
In Satu Mare we find a room for RON 70, near a bathing beach. It is very peaceful and close to the town centre. In the bathroom, we can admire mysterious solutions of the building contractor: installing a radiator in the shower certainly serves some hidden purpose! I proudly write down today’s data from the cycle computer: we covered a distance of 114 km, at an average speed of 20 km/h :-)
After supper, we sadly find out that the hotel to which our guys from Poland sent the guidebook to Hungary is being renovated :-( As a matter of fact, the administration department is working, but they tell us to try tomorrow because the parcel has not arrived yet. Hotel manager asks us to leave our mobile phone number so that he can call us when the parcel is there. We wait until 3 pm, finishing lunch when the mobile rings. The parcel is here! Hurrah! In the package, apart from the guidebook, there are 2 Grzeski chocolate bars – to sweeten the hardships of the expedition, sent with greetings from Cyklotour dispatch centre :-)
We are truly touched. At about 4 pm we are leaving. After two hours, we are in Carei. Suddenly, Igor feels totally exhausted. "I have jelly legs" – he says. We stop at a motel – RON 100 for a double room with breakfast.
Seeing so many Hungarian signboards around, you can easily tell that Carei is situated near the border. We eat supper while listening to a conversation at the next table and Igor aptly describes this language as "the most Chinese of all European languages". In the morning, at the Hungarian border, we are greeted by smiles and questions about our cycling expedition.
