Finally, a 100+ kilometer day. It was a good day for it too — exceptionally flat and 90% on bike paths along the Danube. This meant we rarely had to think about cars nor worry about left or right turns, which made my job pretty easy. Getting through big cities is always a bit of a challenge around here, we’re in the road for a while, then on a sidewalk, sometimes we cross traffic to make a left-hand turn, other times we pretend to be pedestrians and use the crosswalks.
Outskirts of Bratislava
By a bit before noon, we had almost reached our halfway point and found a nice little restaurant next to some little log rental cabins — kind of like a KOA. The heatwave of the last couple of days had thankfully broken late yesterday, so we were definitely enjoying the cooler weather. And the skies were blue and the path was smooth. What’s not to like?
Smooth, quiet pavement
At our lunch stop I had an awesome bean soup with pork “knuckle”. It was awesome, at least what I managed to eat after everyone else had a “taste” (Kylie!)
My bean soup
After lunch, we continued along the river, although, the smooth asphalt became harder-to-negotiate gravel. One 100 meter section, freshly dug up then compacted dirt, proved particularly problematic. Kylie and I had just made it across and were watching Meg and Dex take their turn. They were doing great until the last fifteen feet — the front tire washed out to the left, Meg recovered, then washed out to right, overcorrected and... toppled… over … and into a ditch. Dex managed to leap clear as the bike rolled over and land in the ditch, but Meg’s foot wouldn’t come out and she landed on her head and shoulder. Kylie and I ran over to lift up the bike. Meg was dirty but thankfully was not hurt.
Doing it...
...almost there...
...into the ditch!
No worse for wear
At 4:45, with three miles to go, we suddenly ran into a chain-link fence across the bike path. A new bridge was being built and there was no way around. Or, at least no way unless we waded through bushes, crossed a ditch and then climbed a huge embankment to cross the partially finished ramp to the bridge. It’s hard to backtrack, but we had no choice. Back we went until we could cut over to a paved road and make our way into town and down some side streets to our hotel. Dex informed us that we had done a little over 550 miles since Berlin. We’re slow, but it adds up.
Looking for an alternate route
Kormarno
It's all Greek to me
The biggest beans I've ever seen!
Great photos and I'm glad no one was hurt on the darn gravel. There's only one thing I find hard to believe. That you had a good bean soup.
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