Day 37 we will not talk about too much, still tired from the epic day before we couldn’t figure out how to get out of Szekesfehervar.Well I figured out one route but when we tried to cycle it, it was impossible There had been another 3cms of rain overnight so the muddy paths were now totally impassable. We went back into town, there were 4 cycle paths, K1 to K4 but no end destination for any of them. After 2 hours and no further I decided we’d take a train out. It was all so easy apart from lifting our bikes up 1 metre onto their own personal carriage (although half the station came to help) and we were off to Lake Balaton all for the price of 9 euros !

The train was one of those really old rattly ones, lulling me off to sleep but I stayed awake enough to see the small lake I knew we had to cycle round with gravelly paths totally submerged so maybe the train was the right choice. It was a very quick exit off the train but before hubby could pull the 2 doors of the bike carriage shut the train went off, with a wide open door, oops .We hoped the lovely ticket collector didn’t fall out. We cycled to the town of Balaton Kenese and relaxed walking down to the marina and looking around the small town, first Hungarian reformation church from the 1500s here in Balaton Kenese.

Still sporting a few injuries from our epic day, hubby had chafing issues and the loading of his recovering ankle through the mud had stirred it up again, and for me the loading on my hip through the mud had started that twinging aswell.It was a beautiful ride and day so long as we omit to mention the strong headwind that funnelled across the lake but we won’t whinge about that. Lake Balaton is so scenic, well marked cycle paths most of them coping with the mud and debris washed onto them with all the rain.Unbelievable that the lake totally freezes over in the winter. Very few tourists around and certainly only 1 or 2 cyclists with touring panniers. The northern side of Lake Balaton is hillier than the southern side but it does have plenty of coffee shops and hotels, compared to the south. I was so busy looking at the stunningly blue lake that I ran over a snake, who wasn’t too happy but luckily missed hubby. Sorry snake..

I somehow misread where our hotel was in Tahiny so we cycled with all our luggage on our bikes right up to the ancient monastery 3kms uphill! Hubby wasnot impressed with me, so he let me climb up all the steps to the abbey and take some photographs. First records of the Hungarian language were written down here with founding of the abbey in the 10th century. A great lunch at a restaurant nearby with a waiter telling us about his relatives on the Gold Coast I think he was hoping we would know them…we did show him on a map that we were the opposite side of Australia.

Another one of those really good value hotels tonight with a spa, sauna and pool; too cold for the pool but sauna and whirlpool spa were great.A few days cycling along the lake hopefully weather picks up before we reach the end of the lake where we will stay in a spa town to swim in the thermal lake !!

C