Monday Aug 25: 65Km

Leaving Budapest was not as fun as our ride into the grand city.  We are headed east to Romania and are truly off the beaten path. Bike routes are non-existent so we are piecing together B roads and dirt tracks.  We started by riding south of the city by following hwy 5.  Although this is not a major hwy it was far busier than we liked.  We were able to get on to B roads after about 15 km or so.  We left Budapest and the busy city behind and meandered through small towns and villages on a quite, mostly flat road much to our delight.  We are pretty sure some of the small towns have never seen the likes of loaded bikes rolling down their dusty streets.

So, the daily dilemma arrived at 5pm when we arrived at Ujalengyel – and there was supposed to be a camp ground near by.  We couldn’t find it – so we asked a guy (Martin) who was pulling out of a house on a bicycle.  “Camping?  Yes, Finnish camping at the other end of town. Wait here- let me ask my brother to be sure. He lives here, I don’t.”

“Yep, it’s still there.  I’ll take you”.  So we rode through town and out a kilometer or two to the other side and were greeted by three German Shepherds (one with three legs who keeps up just fine and has befriended Jay) and one Golden Retriever – and one beautiful camping place  Akac-Tayna.  Really, that does not do it justice, it is so much more-  and the Finnish, they love their saunas 🙂

If you are ever in Budapest and want a very cool relaxing weekend riding horses, jumping from cold pool to sauna and back and singing karaoke (they have the largest collection of karaoke CDs I have ever seen.  And a whole room devoted just to karaoke with a large projector)  –  This is the place for you!