2652km … Saint-Brevin-les-Pins to Budapest … Done!

Today the streets will be paved with gold and lined with cheering people. There will be marching bands, parades and a carnival atmosphere. We are going to make it! Our 41st day of riding will bring us to the end of a fantastic ride that has taken us from the Atlantic coast across France, skirted the northern and flattest part of Switzerland, then looped us up and around into Germany, across the flattest part of Austria, into the southern reaches of Slovakia and finally in to Budapest in Hungary.

On our last day we are covering old ground. We cycled from Esztergom to Budapest in 2015 and it was not a pleasant ride. I thought it was just because I was exhausted from our adventures through the Low Tatras where we cycled way too far in way too short a time, but no. The ride into Budapest is a shitty ride.

We start with what feels like an almost vertical drop from our lovely hotel from over 200m elevation down to river level. It’s a bit of a white-knuckler on a slippery, rutted gravel road so it is all focus until we reach the bottom.

Phew.

The bike path is very good in and around Zebegény. It is very popular in this area with rollerbladers of all skill levels; we have to keep an eye out and dodge the really bad ones!

Our greeting hit rate improves somewhat on this stretch of path. In Slovakia we had a hit rate of about 0% response to a “dobrý deň” called out to passing cyclists, but here we are drawing maybe a 40% response to a “jó napot”. Some people we pass though are just plain grumpy.

Once out of Zebegény the path rattles our bones all the way around the famed Danube Bend, often taking us out of sight of the river. It’s hard going. We both have to keep focus entirely on riding so it is pretty tiring. It’s a relief to finally reach Vác where we hunt for an ATM (Hungary does not use the Euro currency) and fill our time waiting for a ferry with drinks and ice cream. That’s all a replay of 2015, except neither of us are quite as tired as back then.

The ferry ride is short and we while away the time chatting to an older English couple who are some of the freaky few riding “manual” bikes. They’ve ridden from Passau and will finish in Budapest.

From the ferry there is a stretch across a river island to Tahitótfalu where we cross the other part of the river to the right back and start the last push south to Budapest. The route pretty much deserts us here, dumping us onto a horribly busy road for about 5-6km. The road is so awful that we take to the very dodgy footpath and wish for a peaceful river path.

Even when we do get back near the river the path is awful with several detours. It looks like there is improvement work happening on the path, but in the meantime as a cyclist you are pretty much on your own trying to find a way through.

And then it starts to rain.

We’ve been so lucky on this trip with rain. Apart from a few light sprinkles, Mother Nature has chosen night time for rain and storms. Could it be that our luck has run out and we will arrive in Budapest looking like drowned rats?

Good fortune shines upon us again. The rain is pretty light and we land upon a wonderful smooth paved path that takes us nearly all the way to the outskirts of Budapest. From there it is a set of twists and turns through suburban streets that feels like we are just riding in circles. This I remember only too well from 2015.

Then we round a corner and right ahead of us is the Budapest Parliament building.

We are here. We are done.

Stats for today:

• Distance: 66.5km
• Climb: 153m
• Average speed: 15.1km/h
• Average temperature: 25C
• Moving time: 4:23:55
• See our ride on Strava

The beer picture

At the end of a day’s ride, our tradition is to enjoy a beer, and to photograph it for posterity. Today’s beer picture was taken at Fisherman’s Bastion in Budapest. Our waiter was no photographer; this is what I could salvage.

Along the way today: