Nearing evening and stopped at a local pub for water... and stayed the rest of the night! Tabs spotted the pool table and
friendly locals were very hospitable.. broken English much amusement!Over the hill and into Bratislava the next day. Nice small, manageable city... had just replied to a 'warm showers' contact offering us a place to stay when she appeared right in front of us, attracted by my lovely kiwi accent - same as hers!! What are the chances! So back to Biffs place in the centre with great castle views. Out to taste Slovak food (garlic soup in its own bread bowl!) and see the place by night... also met the Marxist-Leninist-Anarchist. Interesting chap. Next day use of her apartment to sort our lives out a bit and then moved on down to the kayak club right on the river as she was off on her own raft to paddle on down to Budapest. Amazing shady quiet spot still in the heart of town. Saturday now and we were reunited with our missing spoke - Saskia! After recuperating in Prague her and her scabby foot she was with us once more. Hurrah! Big catch up and after dinner walked up for views from the castle, drinks in the main square and a bit of a late night meeting more locals.
Next day was recovery day and on Monday we were off - follow the Danube to Budapest how hard can that be? Well, not that easy it turns out, as we found an off shot instead of the real and got rather lost.. help was at hand with a fantastic bike shop appearing like an oasis in the desert (more on the heat later).. the owner even phoned his English speaking friend to get us back on track! Found the Danube again and jumped straight in in ecstasy... it was to be the start of an intense heatwave for the rest of the ride.
Cycled till it got dark and pitched our tents on the bank of the river - up very early sweating in the sun already very hot..
it was painful! Rode a little way to find shade, and to our joy and excitement, a rope swing into the river!! Porridge and
10,000 swings later we braved the sun again. Cycled a lot more that we wanted to in the middle of the day with no shade and
extreme heat as wanted to reach the next town for food supplies. It really tested the spirits but we made it!! Swimming, food,
and then a perfect campsite a little further on. Trees for shade, right by the river and privately tucked away. Didn't want to
leave!
Thursday now and we tried to be a bit more sensible
- rode a bit in the morning, stopping for a swim on the way, then a big
break for lunch and to wait for the sun to cool down. Good opportunity for bike fixing etc. Only a few km's after setting out
again and Saskia's bike locked up.. on inspection found the derailer at a 180 degree turn and caught up in the spokes, and a
broken axle. Ouch. On the footpath outside some nice woman's house for a while doing emergency damage control - turned it into
single speed and managed to ride it into Sturovo, the border town with Hungry. This unfortunate event did mean we got to
experience the weird and rather bizarre Slovak campsite/bar/disco/holiday fun park combo. Everything was saved however when
we found a pizzeria ( = vegan food) and beer to relax and unwind.. did try to appreciate the disco on the way back, but just
not our cup of tea.