So, obviously, I decided to bike the EPW. Afraid of the rutted farm tracks and forest paths that I'd be traversing I cancelled my road bike rental reservation in Vienna, took the hydrofoil to Bratislava with half of my walking group and rented a mountain bike there the next day. Unfortunately this means I have to return to Bratislava after my portion of the EPW instead of continuing directly to the Danube Bike Path but that's okay, the fat knobby tires are proving invaluable.
The first day out of Bratislava was a lovely dedicated paved bike path all the way to the Hungarian border. It was a bit more effort pushing this heavy bike than I'm used to but the easy riding and great views of the countryside and bits of the Danube made it pleasant. It was frightfully sunny but I made my own breeze and the Walkers had a bit of relief from the intense heat by the path wandering in and out of the trees.
There's been a terrible heat wave this summer and there's no sign of it relenting soon. We've been getting up earlier and earlier so the Walkers can get more miles in while it's still cool. Luckily our accommodation hosts have been kind enough to provide breakfast at the ungodly hour of 5am so they're not walking on empty stomachs. Some days there's been a village or cafe halfway, some days there'll be nothing. Tomorrow for example, it's 26kms total, with no civilization for the first 20kms. And it's Sunday (shops closed), and today (Saturday) the shops close at noon. So there's definitely pre-planning required.
5am brekkie
I've alternated between riding with each Walker in turn, sharing conversation, as well as going on ahead and getting in some miles. I like to ride with the group when the route is on passable farm tracks or gravel roads. If not, I hit the asphalt. I put in a double day Day 3 as a previous Walker had left his iPhone charger behind so I rode ahead an additional 15kms to deliver it to the group ahead and back again. I didn't have a map, and was unsure my bike could manage the signed EPW off-road route so I just set off from the village in the direction I thought was correct and managed to go straight to the right town! I've now downloaded an app for my phone so I can preload a "road" route but I don't have data so once I set off, I'm on my own. More advance planning needed!
Our accommodations for the past few nights have fine. Very basic but this not a touristed area so we're lucky with a roof over our heads.
I shared a nice room
No comments:
Post a Comment