Day 2 on the road to Gyor, Hungary

When I looked out the window this morning, the rain had gone as promised!  Great!  I got some order into all my gear before going down for the breakfast offered.  It was a really good spread with choices of cereals, yoghurts (I had a sour cherry flavoured one), followed by a slice of freshly baked brown bread with cheese, tomato and cucumber, which is a typical offering and I added a scoop of scrambled eggs...  but I couldn't go past a large crepe with blueberry jam to go with a large mug of coffee...  Now that should see me when on my way.
eventually I got all my stuff into the correct bags and loaded onto Hennie and we bade Hotel Viktor a fond farewell and headed back to the bridge to rejoin the bike path.  What I really love about these European cities is their size.  Within minutes I was leaving the streets behind and pedalling along in the sunshine on the flood levee of the Danube.  At this point, the river is blocked by a barrier of forest - which is rather nice, but its also nice to see a rushing river. I was thinking it might be blue today, with the sunshine and blue skies... But the path was smooth and rather straight and I was tempted to cross over a small canal and cycle alongside that, just to at least see some water.  I was rewarded by beautiful Mute Swans, gliding so smoothly along.  There were also mallard ducks and a cranky little coot that as usual, was whingeing about something!  I had got a bit of a scare earlier, when I was checking my phone and suddenly there was this buzzing sound, I thought I was being buzzed by a drone, but no!  It was just a low flying swan, the wind fair buzzing through its wings!
Hungary was just around a corner and I rode through a small village and went past a sign with the EU flag...  wait a minute!  Was that the border? so I turned around and rode back for a photo... and said farewell to the tiny corner of Slovakia that I had visited.
So the main scenery for today, was the open farmlands, which reminded me of cycling through Estonia and the main thing that was missing was Matias, riding bravely ahead and protecting me from a dastardly head wind that continued to get stronger as the day went by.  I was on my own!  I always say I prefer rainy days than a head wind and that still stands true!  But ever onwards being sheltered occasionally by drying crops of corn and banks of forests and on occasions, a hedge or too!  Ever corner was happily turned, if it meant that the wind would lose its kick.
There's a couple of things that I find are really different on this trip.  The Christian shrines are a fairly regular feature in the small towns and it common to come across Jesus once again, hanging sadly on a cross.  But the Harvest Festival displays of pumpkins, corn and grains seem much more appropriate for this time of the year, and each one is different but just a beautiful as the one before.
As usual, the kms clicked past and I did enjoy seeing the farmlands, surprised by a flowering crop of canola.  And as usual, there were more kms to clock over before I was riding into Gyor.  The old city centre was pretty crowded with Sunday visitors, eating ice-creams and allowing their kids to zoom crazily about on scooters, seeming out of control.  It had a feeling of a very small Gamla Stan in Stockholm, without the crowds.
I was really happy to have arrived - these old bones were just longing for a Japanese Onsen to soak in, but knowing a hot shower will have to surfice.  I had paid for dinner and breakfast here at Hotel Kalvira, so after making myself presentable, I ended another rather long day with a great meal of grilled crumbed cheese and salad, as well as a beer from the room's fridge, a small glass of a very nice white wine...  so bed beckons now!
so another 80km approx, spun out under Hennie's wheels.  Tomorrow will definitely be a shorter day!
here's some of the things I saw today!