From Donaueschingen to Budapest

After climbing the Grand Ballon we quickly cross the border and find ourselves in Germany. Here we are greeted by a thing almost totally absent in France: bicycle lanes. We are quite surprised by such chivalary towards cyclists and are looking forward to cycling in Germany. How wrong we are. The German bicycle lanes are an absolute horror. First they are usually made out of 'tire destroying' sharp stones and always seem to force the innocent bicyclist to cross busy roads at near lethal points (right after a sharp turn). After a while of dealing with the German bicycle lanes we decide it's much safer to ride on the road. We laugh about this bizarre situation and swear to each other that we will never be foolish enough to risk our lives on a German bicycle lane again, no matter how unfriendly the German cardrivers are. Be assured, they were very good at being unfriendly to us.

With much frustration we make it to the bicycle path that will lead us from the source of the Donau in Donaueschingen to Budapest. The scenery along the Donau is absolutely brilliant but unfortunately we are engulfed by mass cycle tourism along the Donau. After a few nights on overcrowded campsites with original 'Schlager Music till very late' we feel like we are having the vacation that we never wanted to have.

These are not the best of times for us. We start to take out our frustrations on each other. A perfect opportunity for this is the daily ritual of setting up the tent. We argue extensively about the placement of pegs and our conflicting methods of tent pitching. So, lesson 6: putting up the tent is a major source of irritation after a long day of cycling, therefore give serious consideration to buying the absolute easiest tent to put up; anything else will mess up your life.

Luckily our fortunes start to change after we pass Vienna. The mass tourism abruptly stops and it feels like we're pretty much alone in the world. Before we know it we are cycling through Slovakia. The region we cycle through is rural and seems very poor until, all of a sudden, we are riding along a stretch of road used by Slovakian girls dressed in bikinis practicing their rollerblading skills. They laugh at us, and we at them. We're still not sure if we got caught up in a movie scene.

Later that day we cross the border again into Hungary. The border crossing at Komarom is manned by some very unfriendly guards who seem to have forgotten that communism is no more in Hungary. Luckily the border crossing is the only bad thing we encounter in this country. Very soon we are becoming very enthusiastic about Hungary. The people are extremely friendly to us. The cycling is brilliant (good roads, no bicycle lanes, non-aggressive cars). Budapest is fantastic. We take a quick poll between ourselves and put Hungary on the number one spot of our favorite country list. That should say it all.