"Hungary?" "Yes, I am... Oh HungAry, yes I'm heading there."

It rained last night.  I didn’t notice but the evidence is there to be seen.  A soggy saddle and saturated canvas speak for themselves.  A glance up and I can see the clouds are hovering with a wet promise (not a good thing).  

No one want a soggy saddle.

I packed up quickly and set off with the hatches battened down against the expected downpour.  I didn’t have to wait long, with the rain now coming at me and the temperature dropping I was reminded of the UK.  As bad as riding in the rain might sound I really don’t mind it.  The temperature was just right and my kit is at least equal to the task of keeping me dry.

Because of the delay at the Transfagarasan I wanted to get on and try to reach Slovikia today. 

My campsite turned out to be only a handful of KMs from the border and I found myself in Hungary around mid-morning, after dispatching an idiot in a VW who thought it might be fun to play with the foreign bike.

Hungary turned out to be flat and wet with nothing interesting to see from the M3 motorway.  I thought this would be a good chance to get on then decided that I cant realy say that I’ve been to Hungary if I haven’t seen any of it bar motorway.

I pulled over in a petrol station (free wifi) and looked for a hotel in Budapest on lastminute.com.  I opted for the “surprise” option and headed into town.

The hotel turned out to be lovely, no awesome view this time, but central enough and comfortable.  After the rain last night I had some a wet tent and laundry to dry so I hung the tents outer on the bike and took the inner to my room where I set it up to dry in the bathroom.  The laundry was hung up on the balcony where my boots are airing.  I must be every hoteliers dream guest; reduced price room and half of yesterday’s campsite all over the bathroom floor.

I’m planning on heading out for supper tonight and I might take in some of the sights before I leave for pastures new tomorrow.

Oh, I have seen a Hungarian smooth haired vizsla.  I’ll keep my eyes open for a wire haired tomorrow.    

Your lucky not to have smell-o-blog.

That'll be a tent then.

Random stories:

The case of an interesting pie.

A few days ago I was in a supermarket when I saw an interesting pie.  Needing something for lunch I picked the best looking one, a few other essentials and checked out.  Later that day I was hungry and stopped for lunch.  I got the ingredients from the pannier and laid them out for for the forthcoming feast.

Deciding to start with the pie I picked it up and bit into it with gusto.  I was surprised.

Instead of the meaty goodness I expected I found an initial crunch then a gooey centre with little cubes that caused a small taste explosion in my mouth.  I wondered for a second what I had just bitten into then it clicked.  I had picked up an apple pie.  Not a bad start to lunch.  In fact there’s a story of a man in Cardiganshire who died while eating his main course and so after his death the family would eat pudding first, just in case.  I’m not a Cardie, but its not a bad idea.    

A crunchy insect.

Have you ever been riding along (or stuck your head out of a car window at 80mph) and been hit in the face by a large bug that splats its self all over your top lip and into your mouth?  I have.  This particular bug turned out to take quite a lot of chewing to get rid of.