Project diary

After a slow wake-up, which took us an entire morning we rode back to the bike path, on another hot day. After a quick break in Dunafalva, another splash followed, and then we proceeded to Mohács on the left bank of the Danube. We had been cycling on the banks of the Danube, and we knew we had to say goodbye to it on this day eventually. A fish soup from the Danube, then there was some discussion on the yard of the dormitory about the events of the past few weeks.

We had to face unpleasant surprises at the last stop of our comparative analysis. At the abridged sightseeing tour in 40 degrees in the city centre we could see war-like infrastructure, an insensible number of cars and extraordinarily bad air quality. It was really bad to explain to an international group how and why this city, which had ideal conditions, got to this point. Of course, beyond all these bad experiences we visited the most beautiful and interesting points in the city and we saw the new infrastuctural solutions which may project a nicer future.

After a chillout in the Danube bend we proceeded towards Vác, where we could start to feel the not too positive features of the Hungarian section. Here there were three falls, fortunately none of them were serious. After eating „lecsó” in Göd we went on highway nr. 2 and Váci út, which dispersed the last illusions of the company about the conditions of Hungarian cycling roads. Some cyclists welcomed the group at the Budapest sign, and we went on to Jászai Mari square where a nice activist offered Túró Rudi to us. After a short press conference we occupied our hostel.

In spite of the really long previous night everybody worked enthusiastically at the workshop in the morning, where Petra Szakonyi represented the city of Győr, and Júlia Keglovits represented the Famulus Hotel. After presenting their "company" and work for the first time we presented our photo-illustrated presentation, where we showed the experiences of our tour. Even we ourselves were astonished to see how much we have seen and what has happened to us.

In the morning the group had excellent backwind to cycle towards Hungary after the short section in Slovakia, on an ideal bike path along the Danube. On the way we stopped to have a bath, then we had a look at the concrete dams of the Cunovo reserve, where the group, in the meantime becoming expert in water management could see what human power is capable of.

We cycled out from Vienna through the Donauinsel, left behind the oil tanks of Vienna to enter the National Park of Donauauen, which had had a fabulous history. The weather was really nice for cycling, the routes a little less suitable because of the flood. We almost arrived on time to Orth, led by Roland, where the display centre of the National Park waited for us, represented by our guide, ranger Barbara, who was really entertaining. In the evening we had a real barbecue in nature, followed by a big sleep, welcomed by everyone.

Our official program for today started at 3 pm on the boat with a workshop on the basic theories of cycling facicties and the cooperation with the local government, presented by Alec Hager and Fidelio (IG Fahrrad). After the theoretical discussion we grabbed our bikes to be able to examine the developed local infrastructure in practice. Roland (IG Fahrrad) spiced up the 3-hour-long tour with cultural and historical stories. In the evening we had dinner at a university-community place where cooking was a real civil action with the participation of all volunteers.

After the fascinating night in Krems the company had a nice breakfast, then we summarised the professional experiences of the past few days. Fortunately today we had an easier itinerary, so we started off only in the afternoon. We saw a few more waterworks and the Danube riverbank has become our constant companion. We shifted our itinerary between the Northern and the Southern path, and we have approached the capital of Austria at last.

After breakfast we rolled down on the bank of the Danube, and we followed the South cycle path to Melk. We cycled another 60 kilometres. Although we started early, the company had to face a real heat at noon, and the progress was also hindered by several technical problems. Finally we tried the typical Austrian sausage called Bratwurst, the bikers' drink Radler and chilling out under the trees.