Szentgottard, Hungary to Koszeg, Hungary (Sept. 8, 2022)

September 8, 2022

Today Murphy’s Law struck with a vengeance.

We slept well in our little flat, and we were packed and at the local cafe for breakfast at 8:15. We asked if the cafe could fix a sandwich for our lunch because there wasn’t much predicted for fare on the route. Our waiter had trouble with the concept: all the sandwiches on the menu were hot and the idea of just giving it to us cold, or leaving off the usual fried egg, seemed to be troubling. He was willing, just not comfortable with the idea. But we got there in the end, packed up some basic ham and cheese and bread and called it good.

Our cafe where we enjoyed a post ride snack the day before as well as breakfast the next day.

We got on the road about 9:30 excited for our long day through a new country. Getting out of Szentgottard was fine - there was even some cycleway— but just outside of town we struck a really bad, extended up-and-down unpaved section. This was expected because I had noticed it on Komoot and I had even gone back to relook at the Eurovelo route to make sure I had mapped it correctly. Yep - that is what Eurovelo had in mind and indeed the route had clear Eurovelo 9 markings. Adding insult to injury, it had recently rained so it was wet, not entirely muddy, but there was added slipperiness. I stopped to push my bike on some of this steep, brutal ground when I noticed that my bike computer reported I only had 2 bars (out of 5 ) left on my battery! Now that is a catastrophe in the making.

When Dave charged the batteries last night, for some reason my battery never got charged. It might have been that when we turned the lights off to go to dinner it shut off the power to the outlet my charger was attached to. We just don’t know, but we were on kilometer 3 of 75 k on a hilly day so this was a pretty bad situation. There was no cell coverage for us to evaluate recharging opportunities so we just agreed we would get over the awful single track section and then work the problem. It gave us a chance to ponder possibilities.

Dave’s gallant idea was to switch bikes; he is so much stronger and can ride largely without battery assistance and he proposed that he would ride my bike until we could find a place to partially recharge my battery. We stopped where we thought the path ended (it was a short patch of pavement) and he began adjusting his bike to allow me to ride on it. Now I will confess there was a bit of weepy whininess on my part at this point. I struggled early on with the new heavy ebike. I have adjusted to MY bike and like it a lot. Dave’s bike, on the other hand, is too big for me and it has a top tube (rather than the “ladies” step through). On his bike I can just barely stand over the tube and I was afraid If I had a execute a quick dismount I would suffer a crotch injury. Plus, his panniers are a lot heavier and larger and his pedal clips were too tight - you name it, I hated it…. (I was in my own little bubble of woe — turned out Dave having to ride my bike sucked for him too). I finally managed to mount up and we struggled up another mile of unpaved path. No, we hadn’t finished with the goat track.

We arrived on the top of the hill in a forest and to our amazement, we came across this monster of a church. Even by Central European standards it was in the middle of nowhere. The church was deserted but open so Dave went inside and started hunting for an electrical outlet. After about 10 minutes he triumphantly came out stating he had found one, and we excitedly got out the charger and battery and hauled them inside. We felt some urgency because we guessed if someone showed up we would get kicked out, notwithstanding our sincere intention to leave a handsome donation in the offering plate. But alas, the outlet didn’t work. We found another one, and no luck there either. Obviously, they shut off the electricity when the church isn't in use.

Nice church, but alas, no e-juice for Jill's battery.

In the meantime I had began scoping out potential towns where we could find a cafe and recharge. (Remember earlier when I said there wasn’t much on this route in the way of cafes? My second review of Google maps didn’t show much of an improvement).

In the meantime we learned about the church from some placards outside — even in an emergency Jill still digs her history. The church, St. Emmerich, is at the border between Hungary and Austria. It was partially burned by the Germans at the end of WW2. (Hungary fought with Germany but at the end of the war it tried to change sides so Germany started destroying everything, knowing the Russians were coming). Because it was on the Cold War border the church property was mined and barbwired and the church was abandoned, as were two other nearby churches similarly situated. There were photos of the sad decay of the church until the 1990s. After independence from the Soviet Union, there was a a big effort to restore the church. It was a feel-good story and now the church is beautiful, even if it doesn’t keep its electricity on. We rode out of there, having said a prayer that we would find a working outlet somewhere.

The church is literally situated on the border.

We were now in Austria so road conditions were better and Dave rode without power for about 15 k. It was slow going because at every building we stopped to search for an outlet. I had identified Heiligenbrunn as a potential cafe location. This is a tiny wine village with no real cafe but there were a few super-informal wine gardens with outdoor picnic tables.

We stopped at the first one but it had no outlet nor any employee to ask (Their wine is self service, various bottles are open and arrayed outside, and payment is on the honor system.) We rode on and found another place where there was one other couple enjoying a glass of the local wine. The woman spoke a little English. She explained the situation to the owner (who spoke NO English) and he agreed to let us recharge our battery inside. We were saved - or so we thought. Dave plugged my battery in and we ordered mineral water, soda and a glass of wine (Dave felt we had better spend some money) and settled down for what we thought would be an hour and then be on our way.

Soooo, after only 20 minutes the owner tells us he is going home for lunch and plans to lock up. We can stay but only outside, which doesn’t really help us as there were no outlets. We paid the owner (he appreciated our extra payment) and he trundled home on his tractor while we packed up with our battery having only gained one additional measely bar of juice.

Not a lot of marketing money went into this tasting venue.

Sadly, we felt that Dave needed to continue to ride my bike and conserve as much battery as he could stand, so we spent the rest of the day riding in and out of Hungary and Austria. This situation stunk for both of us; I have already recounted my challenges with his bike but likewise, my bike was not a great fit for him either, not to mention how much extra work it was to ride without juice for the hill climbs. He managed graciously - I have a great husband!

About 50 k into the ride we decided a rest stop at the previously scoped-out Iron Curtain Museum in the metropolis of Felsocsatar was merited. It LOOKED like it was right on the route and we saw the sign for it and turned off, only to discover it was still 1k down the road and up a big hill. I was thinking we should bag the stop (Hey, we still had to climb to our next destination with limited battery life!) but you know me and history - a dog with a bone. Dave gallantly said screw it - we are seeing this Museum. So we limped up the hill.

It was a private museum created by a former Hungarian border guard in 1965 to 1968. He collected a bunch of memorabilia related to the guard fences as well as stories that happened there and he created this outdoor museum. It was a somewhat amateurish effort but we actually learned a lot of Hungarian history. A lot of people died trying to cross the border or from stepping on landmines. We had a nice visit with the owner thanks to a woman there who interpreted for us.

This is the essence: Hungary had glory days between the tenth century and the end of WW1. During that time, its empire extended all the way to west to include much of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia and Slovenia. Its peak was around 1868 with the Austrian-Hungarian compromise after which Hungary flourished. (I’m skipping a few dynasties but you get the idea). At the the end of WW1 it was on the losing side, so it lost 72 percent of its land, and 3.5 million ethnic Hungarians were left in Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia. Hungary gained some of this land back with WW2 and its pact with Nazi Germany (for which it’s now somewhat apologetic) but wound up bring occupied by the Soviets. This loss of land, life, and prestige has left Hungary cranky to this day and longing for a realignment to its more elevated world position. In the various Hungarian places we have visited you see a lot of photos and discussions about the glory days.

Aftet our visit we had a cashew snack break and then settled down for the final 20k push into Koszeg. About 6 k from town Dave felt it was safe to switch bikes so we rode into Koszeg on our own bikes. Traffic was bad, mostly because Hungarians drive fast. He rode almost the whole day on my bike using one one bar of juice. Pretty manly. Just to add insult to injury, at the end of 79 k, we hit some uphill cobbles for the last 500 meters into Koszeg.

We were booked at the Benedict hotel, which felt like a big old school #(picture Hogwarts) and which we learned was formerly a Benedictine Monastery. It has been beautifully restored and was lovely, if understated. I booked a suite, not because we needed to swim around in 1200 square feet, but because that was the only way I could get a tub. And boy was it worth it on that day. Funnily enough, Dave goes to hop in the tub for a well-deserved soak and there is no soap or shampoo. (It was in a dispenser on the wall in the shower). He goes downstairs and asks the front desk lady if we can get some soap and shampoo and she was absolutely mystified as to why he couldn’t just hop out of the tub, grab soap from the shower dispenser and soap up from there, and return to the tub. (Remember that thing in Hungary about hospitality?) We made due with our emergency supplies.

Great tub. Now if only they had some soap.

Notwithstanding the lack of soap it was an awesome soak for both of us and well worth the extra 50 bucks we paid. We made up for the tub expense by having a 17 euro meal at the restaurant next door. The service was hilariously slow even though there was only one other couple in there but Dave loved the smoked pork knuckle. (Have I mentioned I plan to go vegan for the rest of the year?) Afterwards we strolled through Koszeg; it’s a medieval town that has some potential to be a real tourist attraction. There are some good cafes, bars, and ice cream places and even a really nice hotel (if they can figure out requirements for an awesome soaking tub.)

Fyi, Ice cream in Hungarian is “jegkrem”; we had some.

Today's ride: 79 km (49 miles)
Total: 1,100 km (683 miles)

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