Eurovelo 6: the start of the final leg. Day 1 Leg 3 September 3 2024 Pecel- Alsobucka 43 km

A year ago in early September we set off from Nantes on the Eurovélo route No 6 across Europe, following the Loire river eastwards.

We flew last Monday to Budapest via Geneva to collect our bikes from Gabor, who’d kindly kept them in his garage through the summer months.

On Tuesday morning we lugged our heavy bike bags to the station and boarded our train to Pecel.

Fortunately Gabor was waiting for us at the station and we were soon at his home using his garage to change tyres and chains, ready for the final leg.

At 13:00 we were off, into the heat of the day. 34 degrees again.

It wasn’t a ride that we were looking forward to, as it was not a marked trail, but 25kms through lots of suburbs of Budapest with masses of big road and rail crossings.

It proved to be as bad as we thought, and worse with the heat.

A nice 3 km through some woods raised our spirits, although the mosquitos liked that environment as well!

As we started to leave the suburbs we were looking forward to joining the EV 6 route and a proper cycle path That was when when I had my first puncture🤬

I suppose with hedges being cut, we’re into thorny season, so to be expected; but not on our first day!

Lucking we were going through a shady wood, so it wasn’t so hot, but nevertheless, having to remove all the bags and replace the tube whilst being eaten by mossies wasn’t what we needed.

Finally we joined the cycle route along a tributary of the Danube, and we were much happier! Only 15 km to our destination on the trail.

Unfortunately I’d booked a motel on the other side of the river, which meant crossing a river with heavy traffic.

Sue was not happy but managed it without too much drama, until we came to a busy road crossing. I heard some loud expletives and looked back to see she’d thrown her bike into the verge.😡

We were only 400 metres from our motel and she’d had a puncture.

I pumped it up and we managed to made the last little bit with no problem.

After a shower we felt better, and found a really good restaurant for some welcome drink and I enjoyed a tasty catfish pasta and cheese dish, whilst Sue found a succulent steak, washed down with a cold rosé, started to make her calm down somewhat!