Riding along the Danube from Vienna to Budapest is one of those trips that cycle tour folks tend to assume they will do one day. Castles! A richly historic river! European snacks! Three countries! Castles again!
I didn’t plan to do this trip this summer — all my plans are aimed at a ride in Poland a few weeks from now. But my intention to treat one of the Ugandan women who’s been part of a project I’ve been involved in for 18 years was thwarted by the biased visa practices of the Austrian government. So I found myself with a ticket to Vienna and legs that always want to pedal, so I pulled a plan out of my back pocket.
I’m on a train right now, heading back from Budapest to Vienna, skin a little more tan, muscles a little taut, labia a little tender. Grateful. It was a really good, solo ride, and NGL as the kids say, I’m happy not to be wearing cleats for a 5th day in a row. (My toenails have still not recovered from my February trek in Patagonia!)
I chronicled the journey in my own blog. Links are below.
First, this was Plan C. I started on this trip with a fair bit of angst, partly because of the nonsense with britah’s visa and partly because my attempt to reassemble my bike was a massive fail.
Day 1, I rode from Vienna to Bratislava. Slovakia was a new country for me. I was there less than 14 hours so I’m not sure I got the full picture, but I did try a dish that I — and my cholesterol levels — won’t soon forget.
Day 2, Bratislava to Gyor in Hungary, was a bit of a slog, for no real reason except a sore back and the dawning reality of so many hours on a strange bike. Like staying with the friends of friends when you have to be polite over coffee. But Gyor was a really nice town with unsettling historic resonance for me.
On Day 3, I took a turn southwest instead of staying along the Danube, and found myself in a very pretty lakeside town with — you guessed it — a really nice castle. And an excellent meal with a live accordion accompaniment.
The final day, Tata to Budapest, was the source of some morning indecision, when I briefly regretted leaving the Danube-adjacent standard route, pondering multiple options over breakfast that all involved trains for some portion. Planning anxiety in action. But I stuck with the plan and was gifted perfect weather.
The hire bike, in the end, turned out to be perfectly okay, a bit trudgey and chain-droppy on the steep hills on the last day. And my soul? It pedalled through all the rhythms it needed this week.
What about you? Do you have a cycling trip you imagine you’ll do “one day” you might find yourself doing at the last minute?
Fieldpoppy is Cate C-D, who is still really mad at the racist practices of the Schengen visa bureaucrats.
Mango gelato with 25 km to go on my last day.
