Happy Birthday, little sister!
All night there were people out and about all around my little lake. My neighbours, who’d pitched tents as well, were already gone at half past 5 when I got up. Had a quick swim and breakfast, and left at half past 6.
The quiet roads followed the river Ipoly that also marks the border with Hungary. When I came to the place where I wanted to cross I saw that the bridge was destroyed. It has probably been that way for quite a number of years, that is, since the Cold War or longer. However, on my map there was a track that would somehow connect the two road ends. On the other side stood a man who looked almost as puzzeled as me. My guess is that locals had built a temporary bridge that was washed away by some recent flood. Got to update OpenStreeMap. I thought about wading through but the waters were too deep so regretably I didn’t even try.
Crossed the river (and border) near Balassagyarmat instead. This time it looked more like a proper border, even though the border station was of course abandoned. Decided to trade traffic-free backroads for a shorter distance and continued on M22 towards Vác where I wanted to cross the Danube river by ferry.
Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, M22 turned into M2, and cycling is not allowed on single-digit designated roads. So once more I retreated to the quiet Hungarian back roads that are so great for cycling. M2 goes more or less straight to Vác with long slow climbs and heavy traffic; my little road, on the other hand, was flat and saw very few cars. I ended up in some small village at the Danube. From here it was a pleasant ride along the river to Vác. After crossing the main stream by ferry and a smaller branch by bridge I soon arrived at my brother’s weekend retreat.
Temperatures had peaked at 37°C again (in the sun).
Distance: 111km
