Destination: Györ, Hungary (Pop. 130,000)
Daily Cycle Distance: 84.4 km. (52.4 mi.)
A little thunderstorm came through late in the evening in Tarján
and the next day started with a heavy overcast and the threat of rain. The
morning was cool, almost cold. A very strong contrast to the heat of the
day before. We got a very early start at 7:30 for the long ride to
Györ. I made a quick trip to the 'ABC' store for water and snacks. The first
9km was almost all uphill but it would be our only major climb for the day.
The first significant town that we rolled in to was Tata. At the tourist
Info office, we found that Tata has a bicycle repair shop. I wanted to stop
here to replace my 'kaputt' Luftepump. We met a very nice cycle mechanic
but he was unable to provide a pump that could fit. The shop was on
the main road along the lake SE of town. It turned out that the shop
was an authorized Schwinn dealer and sold Schwinn bikes made in Hungary. The
shop mechanic was very proud that he had an American made bike. With
not much luck on getting a new pump in Tata and a lot of miles to cover to
get to Györ, we pushed on.
On our way to Györ, we passed through several rural villages with not
much to offer except the odor of hog manure. All throughout the trip,
almost all the fields were fertilized with hog manure. In some areas
the smell was a constant. In spite of this, I never saw a pig farm
during the whole trip. Nearer Györ, we were able to pick up a bike
path and follow it into the city centrum. it was at the beginning
of this path that I managed to acquire my second layer of 'road rash'. In
the Centrum just off the 'Old Town' and near the theatre, we found a place
for lunch at a Panzió/Etterem called 'Teatrum'. Not
trusting our luck that this might be the best place to stay, we checked
out the local tourist info office for advice. It appeared to be one of
the better spots in town. It had one drawback however. There was no obvious
place to secure our bikes for the night. While eating lunch, with our bikes
parked in view of the outside dining, 'street urchins' descended and within
seconds were all over the bikes. The restaurant manager had a sharper eye
than me and had run them off before I could get out of my chair. When
we asked about a room with a secure place for the bikes we were shown an
upstairs enclosed patio that had an employees bike parked there. There
would only be one problem. I had to get an 86" LWB recumbent up a
flight of stairs and negotiate and landing. Somehow, I managed to
do this.
In Györ, we continued our search for a replacement pump and now a bicycle
bell, since I have become covetous of Bob’s ability to clear the bike lanes
with his. Another trip to the tourist info office and directions to the
only(?) bicycle shop in Györ.
Nearly hidden in the basement of a quite rundown apartment building in
a residential section of town we found the place. 'Kerékpár Szerviz' is
(I think) Bicycle Service in Hungarian. The shopkeeper was very friendly,
and very accommodating. Although we had no language in common, (he spoke
only Hungarian and no German or English) he produced a pump of Hungarian
manufacture and managed to find the correct 'presta' valve stem adapter
to fit on the pump hose. He even came up with a bicycle bell (of
sorts) Not very pretty, but functional. Now if I can only find room on
my handlebar to attach it.
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