Author Archives: Robkeene

We woke to ☀️☀️☀️ for the first time in 6 days; although it felt like more!

After a hearty breakfast produced by our lovely host, we retrieved our fully charged bikes from the garage and set off on a long downhill, exhilarating ride, back across the river and into Croatia once more.

It was great not to have bulky rain capes flapping around. We were then set on a climb to indirectly follow the motorway towards the coast.

The route we chose then took us away from the main road and through some pretty lanes, past an amazing number of sink holes, caused by water and very porous rocks below ground.

Our route took us back under the impressive motorway

There were some steep climbs and also some fun, fast descents. I managed to break the 40 kph speed limit in a couple of villages😁. 40 kph seems so fast on a bike, but so slow in a car. On one fabulous downhill stretch I made a new PB of 56 kph😁

The small road became very “off road” and took us over some muddy pipe laying works.

Our 14 th day looked promising, the sky looked brighter but it was very chilly. We planned for a good distance day through the mountains, as our forecast showed more wretched rain coming in mid afternoon.

We had a fairly uneventful 20 km dry trip to Samabor, then needed a rest for a coffee, just as it started to rain. It seemed the rain had arrived earlier than expected and the locals said it was due to pour all day; so much for my weather app!

We were planning to cross some 2000 ft mountains so decided to cancel our booked apartment , and find a local one to save riding in rubbish conditions.

The café owner recommended a place which was available that we could move in immediately. Perfect, as he had a garage shelter where I could work on my bike chain, which had been playing up.

We had a restful afternoon, after the chain was successfully repaired and adjusted. The rain started to reduce at 7 pm so we decided to go to the town’s oldest restaurant which, our host had suggested, but it was 2 kms away.

It was a great choice even though it drizzled on route.

We headed back along the narrow lanes, avoiding the mainroad. The route involved a ridiculously steep downhill bike ramp about 45 degrees, in order to avoid 10 steps.

It was a bit scary dropping into this ramp but I managed it OK. I think Sue wasn’t quite lined up, so when she completed the descent she was heading for a concrete wall, and ended up falling off and getting trapped under the bike.

I quickly returned and saw she was smiling, so couldn’t resist a photo🥴

She’d rubbed some skin of her elbow and had pain in her chest, but otherwise all seemed ok and we rode back.

The chest pain was worrying as we both thought she may have fractured a rib on the concrete wall. We both slept fine but slightly nervously as a rib injury would probably have scuppered our future plans.

Day 15 Samabor- Balkovici 85 km

I awoke nervously, waiting for Sue to get out of bed and half expecting her to be squealing with chest pain.

With great relief, I only heard the usual groans and moans regarding aching joints and stiff muscles. Even Sue herself was surprised that she wasn’t feeling too bad.

I think that her lovely left bosom, now a rather blue grey colour, had acted like an air bag and protected her ribs. 🤔

We set off at 9:30 into a steep sided valley with a gradual 2000 ft climb over 10 kms. As we climbed it became cooler and the inevitable drizzle started.

Expressing her feelings after climbing to 2000ft in drizzle!

We stopped for a satisfyingly long lunch next to cycle route and warmed up.

After lunch, our bike map app. advised us away from a busy road and onto gravel tracks. A slightly longer route but more enjoyable, I thought.

The track was fine to start with but then we were faced with a deep stream to cross, which was totally impassable😡. This then meant a frustrating back track. However, I did notice a track that made a shortcut to the main road.

The busy road was unpleasant with many trucks. We kept the speed up at 25 km/h and we were soon back on lanes and small roads into increasingly pretty countryside.

Most villages seem to have a Café/bar. Unlike UK pubs, where food or snacks are usually available, these all seem to be full of blokes who you can only just see, through the haze of their smoke.

The route then started to climb again. Our legs and batteries were getting low in energy so I hoped it wouldn’t last too long.

The information on Booking.com said that our accommodation had a riverside view, but it didn’t say it was a view from 500 ft!!
Our batteries were pretty much finished, as were our legs. We had to really work to climb to our destination!

After a very wet night, it was still raining in the morning but the forecast was to improve during the afternoon so we delayed our start until midday. Ivan, our understanding host allowed us an extra hour in his apartment.

I decided to plan a shorter day and explore some of the smaller bike trails in the hills, as we had had enough of following roads the previous day.

We had a great ride down along lanes into this valley.

As we went through the Croatian border we passed through 100 metres of no man’s land! On this ground was a duty free shop, in which Sue found her favourite perfume, for half price😁👍🏼. She’d nearly run out of her existing supply, so we purchased a bottle and I followed a happy wife into Slovenia.

I didn’t understand how a duty free shop could be allowed when both countries are in the EU🤔🤔?

We were both hungry so were soon off to find a restaurant. On our short walk to the restaurant, we passed these flowerpot characters!

Another cool grey day, so we dressed up well. In fact I had 5 layers along with my new gloves. It was spotting with rain when we left at 10:30 and before long it turned more serious and persistant.

The forecast had suggested a better day but the unusual weather system over us is not being very predictable.

We had a rather straight and boring leg for 15 km, before we arrived to some more interesting hilly scenery

Feeling much better, we were back on the road and pedalling into the mountains and towards a pass. We stopped half way at this huge quarry to watch a digger push material down the cliff.

The ride down was great fun. I was a little cautious due to the wet roads, but still had my adrenalin fill👍🏼😁

The road then levelled off and we had an uneventful ride, in heavier rain for another 10 km before reaching our destination; very wet , once again.

We were only 100 metres to the oldest pub in Zabok, where I enjoyed a couple of great local beers at Weatherspoon prices😁

It had a great pub atmosphere, only spoilt by the fact that every other person was smoking. It was a reminder how it used to be in pubs. We had to leave early, as our eyes were stinging so much! Probably a good thing!

Friday 13 th started off as you’d expect it to: raining and cold and with a puncture😡

We’d seen the weather forecast announcing a few wet, cool days, but didn’t expect it to be so dramatic. Only 48 hours previously we’d woken up to a day of blue skies and were cycling topless, (only me, in case you’re wondering!) and now we were searching for the heating controls in our 8 th floor apartment.

Fortunately our host felt sorry for us and kindly let us stay put until noon, when the heavy rain was due to turn to drizzle.

This gave me time to fix the puncture, only to find the valve was perished as it entered the tube, and the moment I had pumped it to full pressure, it ruptured completely😡

Time to find a bike shop and get another spare tube, as only one now remaining.

Our plan was for a short day, as we only started at 1pm. We decided to follow a man made lake to our next town.

It would have been a huge project as the river Drava flows through relatively flat land and in order to contain the water, a massive dyke had to be constructed all around it. It is a 12 km long reservoir!

A 12 km long gravel track at the foot of this dyke, along which a crystal clear river flowed, with lots of bird life: mostly Sand Martins of which there were hundreds

We left this cold lake and joined the busy road into Varazdin. We were tempted to find warmth in this bar. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the road and the name put us off somewhat.

We headed into town and found a bike shop where a very helpful, english speaking guy fixed Sue’s gear problem, sold us a spare tube and some gloves, as our hands were freezing!! Annoyingly I’d decided not to bring our gloves as I certainly didn’t expect 12 degree weather in September! According to the forecast we’ve another 2 days of cold wintery days before we see more normal temperatures return.

We enjoyed a good meal in a cosy restaurant, decorated with many football shirts and memorabilia. As the heroic Croatian football team manager is a regular.

We returned to our “Craft beer pub”, under our room, and decided to have a pint of Croatia’s finest. Unfortunately they were hosting an 18th birthday party, so it was a bit noisy and smokey. We enjoyed a chat with the a young english speaking barman and sought more information about the impressive reservoir we’d passed…He didn’t even know it was there!!!!

The party didn’t really get going, (Most of them were on their phones) so with smarting eyes and stinking clothes we finished our drinks and went to bed.

Unfortunately the weather forecast was correct and we woke to cloudy skies and light rain, with heavy rain predicted for the afternoon. An early start : 9:30; The best yet.

We loaded the bikes in the reception area, which was good of them .

It was spitting with rain most of the morning and unusually became cooler as the day progressed

This was our final part of Hungary.

Lots of great memories of friendly people, great weather and scenery.

I especially liked the good public transport system. Most villages seemed to have a single track railway and unmanned platform connecting it. The internet was great everywhere. Buses were also in abundance. The best thing was it was very affordable.

We didn’t see a soul through the border, then turned right and followed the Mur on gravel tracks for 15 kms through open countryside.

Can’t believe I was shirtless yesterday in 25 degrees, but today I had 3 layers on in 12 degrees!

The forecast had been correct.: 5 kms before reaching Cakovec the heavens opened and we were drenched. We’d arrived at our apartment at 3 pm and thankfully we were let in earlier than normal, to dry out and catch up with the blog!

Cold and wet under the market awnings in Cakovec.

An early start was called for, as we planned a long day. It didn’t actually happen, as we found a great bakery from which to buy some fresh naughty but niceys.

I then knocked the kitchen island, which I had assumed was secured to the floor, and spilt 2 pints of tea over the floor, as well as other items😡

In spite of my clumsiness, Sue then kindly decided to treat me to some more shirts; so we also went clothes shopping!

The bikes had a cosy night in the apartment, but I had to bump them down some external concrete steps, whilst they were unladen, then carry all the paniers and batteries to reload them.

Finally we headed off sometime after 10am into another glorious sunny day.

This rock fortress at Szigliget, was a tempting climb to me but after a little discussion, Sue put her foot down and said she wasn’t going to climb the 420 steps to get up there, as we needed our energy to pedal 90 kms. Probably a good call.

We therefore continued to follow the Balaton path until Sue felt hungry again!

She was then asked to look after this 2 kg little mutt, whilst its owners went out for a fag!

Kesztheley is a pretty town on the south west corner of the lake.

We struggled to find a restaurant that sold anything but pizza, but finally found a Hungarian one.

A long day but one of our best.

After a very wet miserable day, it was good to wake up to see sunshine again. After a fabulous breakfast in our thatched residence, we set off, away from the Tihany peninsula to follow the Balaton shoreline towards the south west.

It was a blustery day which made riding a bit challenging in places. Less people were on the route so we made good progress and stopped for a break after 20 km

We then headed north , away from the lake, and through almond & peach orchards. We also passed through plenty of vineyards, where the grapes were being harvested by hand.

Looking across the vineyards.

Pretty rolling countryside with odd pointy hills poking out from it. Volcanic I believe.

From here we stopped for lunch in a tiny village, where we enjoyed a simple tasty lunch, with a pint for me and a large rosé for Sue and a great coffee for only £15 for us both!

We arrived at Tapolca about 3:30pm and went straight to the caves, (before they closed) which are directly under the town. As it was late in the day we were almost the only ones there and enjoyed an underground paddle on a crystal clear river in total silence, but beautifully illuminated.

Our apartment was in the town, so we only had a short walk to a lakeside restaurant overlooking a beautiful clear lake, full of big colourful fish.

We’re enjoying Hungary, especially Tapolca!

As the forecast suggested 2 days more of 30 degree+ weather, we decided to enjoy this lovely lake and its surroundings with minimal cycling.

We planned to follow the north side of the lake heading south west.

The cycle track around the lake turned out to be very busy, as most Hungarians seem to have had the same idea as us. The temperature in this shallow water is still very warm, and there are plenty of grassy areas to lie on, with steps into the lake to avoid the rocks. When you’re in the water, it has a sandy bottom and only 4ft deep for at least 50 metres out.

After a swim stop, we set off to Figula vineyard in the hills overlooking Balaton. The previous night we’d enjoyed a really good bottle of their wine and so upon investigation we were excited to see that they did wine tasting AND accommodation. 🍷👍🏼

In the morning I decided to take Sue for a gentle sunny Sunday morning ride through the countryside away from civilisation en route to the beach.

To start with, the water was so calm it was really hard to see where the horizon was.

We’d booked accommodation on the peninsular of Tihany, famous for lavender, its old monastery and the vineyards.

We had dinner on top of the hill, so we were glad we had e-bikes!

Day 7

The forecast for Monday was very poor, so we decided to stay another night in our thatched lodgings and not try to cycle in heavy rain.

We had a fabulous breakfast made more fun when a cat chased a rat into the dining room!!

I was the only one to spot it and I notified the gorgeous red headed receptionist, as it had run under her desk! The funniest thing was that her male colleague was the most scared , and the red head took control and evicted the rodent!

As it was cloudy but not yet raining we went for a walk around a small lake, then cycled around to explore some more

We took a walk into the woods in search of some old apartments!

We just made it back to the room when the heavens opened, so now I’ve managed to catch up with the blog; 3 days in one!

A much cooler morning to wake up to, with a cloudy sky. The railway running next to our room became active very early so the noise had us up early.

There are so many modern railways in Hungary. Even single track lines are plentiful.

We decided to cycle around the 10 km long lake Velence, as there was a dedicated cycle track all around it. We needed some off road biking!

It was altogether a better day, with plenty of variety, more rolling countryside and mostly, provision for cyclists.

Even the large town of Székesfehérvár, had a good cycle route though it. We stopped for some snacks behind a brand new stadium and found some decking to relax upon.

More pleasant cycling after lunch towards Lake Balaton, and an awareness we were approaching a holiday destination.