Cycling Budapest to Baja, Hungary: Grassy Trails through the Land of Paprika
15 - 19 September 2019
Budapest to Szalkszentmárton (15 September 2019, 77.7 km, 48.3 mi)
Our ride out of Budapest went much more smoothly than expected, and was much easier than our arrival. The traffic was very light because it was Sunday morning. And this time we had the good sense to stay on back-streets, which were almost empty of cars. We made it to the Danube and back onto EuroVelo 6 in almost no time.
Around 15 km outside the city, the route for EuroVelo 6 crosses a branch of the Danube River on a bridge. But when we reached the bridge, it was totally blocked off by a big, metal gate. And the bridge itself was impassable due to construction. At first we were stumped as to what we should do. Then we realized that another cyclist had kindly put up a sign showing a recommended, alternate route. In an amusing footnote, the author pointed out that he had posted the sign because the agency in charge of the construction didn’t do so.
We were particularly lucky that the alternate route took us in the same direction we needed to go, anyway. If we had been traveling the opposite direction, getting across the river would have involved a lot of backtracking. For us, it was just a matter of finding our way to the next bridge.
As we were getting ready to follow the detour, two guys in a van pulled up next to us. They started speaking in Hungarian, making big hand gestures. They had figured out that we were trying to get across the bridge, and now they were trying to explain something about the detour to us. But they couldn’t speak any English, and we didn’t know enough Hungarian to understand them.
After a few minutes of this, they decided we weren’t fully getting it. So as we rode off on our bikes they followed us with their van, making sure we took the correct turns, and that we got off the road at the correct spot. That ended up being a huge help, because the turn off the road was onto a small, discrete (hidden?), dirt path that we probably would have missed otherwise. It was so narrow and overgrown that it looked like it was typically used by people walking, not cycling. But in this case, it was the only way for us to get across the river. When we were safely on the right trail, everyone smiled and waved, “Búcsú! Bye-bye!” Mission accomplished. It was really very nice of them to patiently wait for us on our bikes, and send us off in the correct direction.
For most of the ride today, we traveled along a lesser arm of the Danube, where it splits around the massive Csepel-sziget Island. And for most of that time, the river bank was lined with homes or weekend cottages whose property extended out onto personal docks along the water’s edge. We saw a lot more people fishing along this stretch of the river, either from small boats or from shore.
The Danube south of Budapest is lined with little docks associated with the homes and cottages that form a solid line along the river bank. Ráckeve, Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Finding lunch was a bit of a challenge. When we reached the town of Dömsöd, the bike route didn’t go through the commercial part of town, so the options were limited. The only restaurant along the trail had just one item for sale: fish soup. It’s a traditional dish, which was appealing, but it didn’t sound like a good idea for a mid-day meal on a long bike ride. Maybe later.
We left the trail to hunt around for food, without success. We finally asked someone where we could find an open grocery, and it turned out that there was one just a short distance off the trail. Hooray! We headed to the store, and bought enough stuff for a nice picnic lunch.
Then we had to find a place to eat our lunch. Hungary is turning out to be a desert for picnic benches, and all the land along the water was occupied by houses. We biked for another 4 km before we found a quiet, shaded side road where we could set up our chairs and eat in privacy. It turned out to be a lovely spot, and we both felt better after the late meal.
There aren’t a lot of options for campgrounds or lodging on this part of the route, either. So once we passed the last, formal campground in Dömsöd, we were kind of on our own. There was a potential “camp site” shown in one of our apps (Komoot). But when we got there, we understood why it didn’t appear in any other information sources: the site was right in the middle of an active gravel mining operation. Not a good choice for a campsite at all. We ended up finding a grassy spot along the levee not too far from the gravel mine, next to a grove of poplar trees, where we could wild camp. It was very peaceful.
A grassy spot along the levee was just what we needed for a comfy and peaceful wild camp. Szalkszentmárton, Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
We snuggled into our sleeping bags with the sound of a tawny owl calling just after sunset.
Szalkszentmárton to Dunapataj (16 September 2019, 71.0 km, 44.1 mi)
We awoke around 5:15am to the sound of big trucks revving their engines over at the gravel mine. They were loading up trucks full of gravel well before the sun came up. By the time we were ready to pack up the tent, it was still sopping wet from a heavy dew. Sigh. But we were ready to try something new. We had acquired a mesh bag, and PedalingGuy used it to lash the tent’s fly to the top of his back rack. That would allow the wet gear to get some air, and hopefully dry off a bit. It was time to test that idea, and see how well it worked.
We biked a little over 10 km on a grassy levee before reaching a town where we could get breakfast (Dunavecse).
A lot of the EuroVelo 6 route south of Budapest follows unpaved levees, completely covered with grass. You can’t ride very fast, kind of like biking on a lawn, but it’s quite pretty. Szalkszentmárton, Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
This time we were smarter, and looked up supermarkets in Google before heading into town. We found a Coop grocery store not far away, and headed there for breakfast. We’re no longer in the land of picnic tables and park benches, so we set up our camp chairs on the quiet side of the store, and ate there. We’ve been pleased to find that, unlike France and Germany, even small Hungarian villages are likely to have a grocery store, reasonably well stocked with food we like. It’s a relief to know we don’t have to worry about finding food along the route - at least not yet.
We didn’t eat a proper lunch, partly because it was a really hot day. It reached 30+ C (upper 80s F) under a baking sun, which was much hotter than it’s been for a while. We ended up taking two rest stops: one for ice cream and a drink, and a later one for ice cream and potato chips. Hmmm. Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to stay in the mid-20’s C (70s F), so that should be more comfortable.
Ice cream stop #2. We had a tough time keeping cool today. Ordas, Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
On our way out of Ordas, we passed this unique memorial, set in an old tree stump. It honors Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II, a Hungarian national hero, and his horse. He led an unsuccessful revolt to liberate Hungary from Austria in the early 1700s. Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Bags of paprika, drying in the afternoon sun. That sun was a little harsh for biking, but it was probably perfect for paprika. And we’re in the heart of paprika country now. Dunaszentbenedek, Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Fresh paprikas growing in a field. Paprika is the main spice in Hungarian cuisine, and an essential component of the national dish: goulash. Uzód, Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
After passing through the village of Foktö, we were back on a grassy levee. It had been a pretty long day, and we knew we were probably going to need to wild camp again. So we started looking for a place to spend the night. In the process we startled a big bird from the woods, that flew out over the fields of corn and sunflowers. It turned out to be a white-tailed eagle. Nice! They occur along the Danube as far up as Germany, but are not very common. We were delighted to finally see one.
Once again, the surrounding woods didn’t really prove suitable for camping: no flat areas and lots of underbrush. So, like yesterday, we set up our chairs in a grassy spot along the levee and had dinner while waiting for the sun to go down. We then pitched our tent on the open grass, between the levee and the woods. On the far side of the levee (the side away from the Danube River), a farmer was out harvesting sunflowers with his tractor. He kept at it until well after dark. Perhaps harvesting sunflowers is similar to many crops where long hours are required to get the crop in before the weather changes.
In case you were wondering… the tent fly didn’t dry out very well in the mesh bag. We still had to lay it out in the grass to dry before putting it on the tent. Basically, the fly is so big that when it’s folded up in the bag, most of it stays wet on the inside even if the outside layer is dry. Oh, well. At least the new setup gives PedalingGuy a way to carry the fly safely on the outside of his rack, so it doesn’t get other stuff wet inside his rack pack.
The farmer stopped his tractor around 11pm, and it became very quiet.
Dunapataj to Baja (17 September 2019, 42.5 km, 26.4 mi)
We awoke with the sun. The tent was pretty dry, but then - unexpectedly - a light rain started falling around 7:00am. We continued packing up, and managed to take the tent down during a break in the rain. But, of course, it wasn’t dry anymore. Bummer. As usual, we would have to dry it out in our hotel room when we got to Baja.
A few good birds were out and about this morning, in the fields and woods that border the levees. We saw our first Black Storks. Although they are supposedly more common in the Iberian Peninsula, we didn’t see any when we traveled through there early last spring - possibly because the birds had not yet migrated back from Africa that early in the year. The species is widespread, but it’s uncommon throughout its range. So seeing them was a real treat. We also enjoyed watching a Black Woodpecker and a Great Spotted Woodpecker chase each other around an old, dead tree snag.
At 10 km, we headed into the village of Fajsz to look for food. As we suspected, the small town had a Coop food store, and we were able to buy a fine, picnic breakfast. Like yesterday, we ate beside the grocery store, using our camp chairs.
Later, as we cycled along the levee, we saw a big, black, billowing cloud of smoke up ahead. Was something on fire? Well, sort of. A tiny, old tractor was out turning the soil in a recently cut field. And the tractor was belching out one of the thickest, blackest clouds of exhaust we have ever seen. It seemed improbable that such a little vehicle could generate such a nasty plume of smoke. Fortunately, it’s not like that kind of pollution was very common. But at the same time, it was indicative of the relatively low emphasis on air quality here. It was alarmingly common to be passed on the road by busses, trucks or cars whose emissions were dark and irritating to our throats and eyes.
One little tractor can make a very big, black cloud. EuroVelo 6, Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Pretty soon we entered the Donau-Drava National Park. Most of the park is on the far side of the Danube River, but there is a thin sliver on the eastern bank, encompassing the floodplain between the levee and the river. We took a slight detour to the Dunapart ferry crossing, 10 km north of Baja, hoping to catch a ride across to the national park’s visitor center. But although we could see a ferry dock on both sides of the river, there was no ferry. There’s a strong probability that they stop running the ferry after the summer vacation season. So we weren’t able to get over to the visitors center. That was too bad, because it looked like an interesting building.
A sign for the National Park told us that in addition to White-tailed Eagles and Black Storks (both of which we’d seen), the park hosts European Wildcats. Cool. We definitely wanted to see one if we could, so we started keeping an eye out for them. The problem is, they look an awful lot like domestic cats. In fact, the closely-related African Wildcat is the direct ancestor of domestic cats.
So... we saw a cat hunting in a meadow that looked very much like the images of European Wildcats available online. But it also looked a lot like a domestic cat. Key characteristics we noticed were coat coloration, long, bushy tail with rounded tip and dark rings, long, white whiskers, and pale, yellow-green eyes. The cat was expertly catching meadow voles. While we watched from a distance, the cat caught and ate one, then caught another one which it took away down a path. Was it a Wildcat? Hard to say. We suspect that a lot of the cats running loose in the area are hybrids between the wild and domestic cats.
Just how wild is that cat? It’s got the right coloration for a Wildcat, but it just doesn’t look that different from a domestic cat. Donau-Drava National Park, Érsekcsánad, Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
We arrived in Baja (pronounced BAH-ya) pretty early in the afternoon, and were able to check into the hotel without any problems. The room was small, but the bed was comfy, and the window faced an interior courtyard. Checking in was more entertaining than usual because the proprietor didn’t speak any English. Her second language was German, which didn’t help us too much. So we all used Google translate to communicate and everything worked out fine.
We ate a hearty dinner of chicken soup at the hotel, which the proprietor cooked up for the guests using a traditional recipe. She kept the food coming until we were completely stuffed. And she even let us use the hotel’s laundry machine, free of charge. That was a wonderful gift, since we had gotten pretty grubby over the past three days.
Catholic Church in Baja, Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Baja Rest Days (18-19 September 2019)
We had originally planned to bike along the next stretch of the EuroVelo 6 route by staying on the Serbian side of the river. But our Danube cycling guidebook recommended going through Croatia first, and crossing over into Serbia later. When we realized that the route through Croatia was mostly on paved roads, and the route through Serbia had a lot of rough dirt, gravel and sand, we decided to change our plans. We have been biking on an awful lot of rough dirt paths lately, and the opportunity to see another part of Croatia (we biked in Croatia along the coast years ago) and ride some pavement for a change was appealing.
But that presented a bit of a problem. We use a mapped, digital, GPX route, pre-loaded in our smart phones for all of our navigating. Although making minor adjustments in the route isn’t a big deal, a change this big required a major re-mapping of the route. We decided to stay an extra day in Baja to work on those changes, and make navigating easier.
We got the route re-mapping done in the morning, but then we hit another snag. In the afternoon, I came down with a nasty fever - probably a bit of food poisoning. My temperature climbed up to 100 F, and I felt terrible for the rest of the day. All I wanted to do was lay in bed and rest.
We liked our hotel, but the room we had was quite small and not very comfortable for one sick and one healthy person to share. After checking into other possible accommodations around town - and not finding any better options - PedalingGuy spoke with the proprietor of our hotel. She upgraded our room to a small suite, and we booked another night. She even helped PedalingGuy carry a table up into the room so he could have some desk space (we had previously been going down to the hotel’s dining area to use the tables/internet there). The new room was much more comfortable, and that helped us both relax more during our extra day in Baja.
Room to relax. After I got sick, PedalingGuy negotiated a room upgrade so we could be more comfortable. Baja, Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Fortunately, my fever ended during the second night. But I still didn’t have much of an appetite in the morning, so it was a good thing we would have another day to rest.
In other health news, PedalingGuy started having problems with one of his fingers. The pinky finger on his left hand has developed a condition called “trigger finger” - an inflammation that, while not painful, makes it hard for him to fully extend the finger. Gripping the bike’s handlebars probably caused the initial inflammation, so our continued riding isn’t helping it any. He went out today to buy a night-splint for the finger. Reading about it on the internet, it’s not clear whether or not the splint will help, but it’s worth a try.
