Earthquakes and Mini Mountains – Budapest to Nis

We spent six whole days in Budapest! It is a brilliant city full of colourful bars, cafes, museums, a huge castle and thermal baths to relax tired legs. We got some welcome visitors from home and were treated to a few nights in a luxury apartment in the fancy part of town. Thanks Mum! The city is famous for its alternative courtyard bars so there are hundreds of cool and cheap places to go… Katy and Bill came with us on a rare night out to see a band, Drag the River, and we all had our fair share of the local tipple VBK (translated as red wine and coke). The locals really do like their red wine here, we even found a red wine fountain buried in the network of underground caves that flood the city. If it wasn’t for the previous night I would have relished it…

I felt a little lonely the first day after all the hustle and bustle of home left, it’s pretty quiet on the bike and for those that know me well will see that it’s a challenge for me to go so long at a time with just my self as company! The average day for us consists of a huge amount of pedalling and an endless cycle of eating, clothes changing and comfort stops. I’ve learnt the tough way that if I’m desperate for a bathroom break I have to act all nonchalant, other wise I swear someone knows and makes sure there isn’t a bush in sight or scatters farmers everywhere. If I don’t need to go the dense forest mocks me as I cycle past. Grrr.

From Budapest we cycled back along the Danube river and had a bit of a rough ride down bumpy tracks with terrifying dogs angrily chasing and barking at us. I surprised my self (and no doubt Ryan!) with how loud I can scream when one leapt out of the trees and went for my leg, even if it was just a small one it was still horrific!

We cycled for hours down the same path starting to look for a place to camp, frustratingly we couldn’t find anywhere safe and as the sun started to set Ryan suggested we just roll out our beds on one of the fishing jettys which lined the bank. It looked very romantic, but I decided I just couldn’t trust myself not to roll off into the icy waters beneath so we kept going, plus the bank was of course lined with more menacing dogs (don’t let the picture deceive you into thinking it was tranquil!). Eventually we found an old fisherman’s lodge and after some odd sign language and extra loud talking in our native tongues we were offered a bed for a few pounds each. We were then generously given a bizarre fish head stew for dinner, which we ate politely whilst restraining our gag reflexes, and continued our game of charades as we all attempted to communicate with each other.

A few days later we spent a night in Baja with another host, Ben, who is planning a big cycling trip next year. Ryan and he both rowed so there was a bit of chat I zoned out on while I ate the delicious home made pizza:-) I can’t express how incredible it is when we arrive at a house and get warmth, comfort, friends, a bathroom and all out of pure kindness. The next day we continued through our first proper border crossing and into Serbia. Excited to show our passports for the first time since Dover we pedalled out into our 9th country and I’m sure it got instantly hotter! Since arriving in Serbia over a week ago we are yet to see a cloud – even the tent is warm, dry and toasty at the moment.

Novi Sad was the first main city we came to in Serbia and we stayed with a family who lived at the top of a savage hill just outside the city (which we both had to walk up). Shockingly the family have no drinking water as the supply to their house was cut off from a bomb over a decade ago and it still hasn’t been repaired. We have also seen buildings that are still lying desolate with holes blown out of them – a sad reminder of how recently Serbia was at war. The country is noticeably poorer in areas and we have found it difficult to find safe and discreet places to wild camp so have been “splashing” out on accomodation more often. The people here are so welcoming and as friendly as ever, it’s such fun when we meet someone who can speak a little English. Yesterday a guy gave us a giant pot of honey and went rushing off to get his son to meet us and take photos once he read our “magic letter”, translated into Serbian, explaining our trip.

We arrived in Belgrade after a long slog down main roads with some suicidal drivers overtaking around hairpin bends and over blind summits. Exhausted, we cycled straight past the place we arranged to meet my friend Dom at and got lost in the city for a few hours in the dark. Grumpy Bex would be an understatement for my mood, however a local cheered us up by offering to help and walking us to the right place. He then gave us 500 Dinar (approx 5 pounds) to buy some food, I guess we looked worse than we thought!! When we finally met Dom he took us for a KFC which we gobbled down tastily before Ryan went to get a lasagne for pudding.

Dom has an apartment in a communist style block of flats which are in the new part of Belgrade. We were all woken in the night by an earthquake which was frightening, the next morning we sadly discovered a couple of people were killed and the quake measured 5.3 on the Richter scale.

 The next day was a rest day but after all the sightseeing my legs were just as tired as they are after 100km on the bike. After another fairwell and a cheesy grin from Dom we hit the road once more. The cycle out of Belgrade was absolutlely glorious, I’m tempted to say my favourite so far. The weather was (and still is) perfect and the landscape mountainous and interesting. The big downside however is the increasing amount of roadkill, the further east we go the more cats and dogs we see sprawled out in front of us – which horrifyingly I can’t help but look directly at as we dodge past. Also, my Sherpa is broken – I have had to start carrying more kit and he is getting evermore cheeky. I’m sure if I had gone for one of the Mount Everest ones I would have dinner and camp waiting for me when I arrived at our destination each day!

We are in Nis now, and in two days we will be arriving in Sofia. It’s weird how far we seem to be getting on our map!

Oh and one more thing, my knees have miraculously recovered (wahooo!) and I’m in danger of getting fit. The hills don’t seem so bad these days and I even take the lead and let Ryan rest behind my big arse from time to time.