September 5, 2015

I've received several questions about the impact of the migrant crisis on my journey.

The short answer is that there hasn't been any impact. I did decide to avoid the Keleti train station in Budapest. That seemed to be the heart of the crisis when I was leaving the city. The BikeLine guide starts the trail to the Black Sea from that train station, but it's easy to avoid it.

I don't really expect any problems, since I'm headed in the opposite direction from the migrants, and also seem to be further west right now. I am curious what I will see at the border with Croatia, whether it be the new Hungarian fence, extra border controls, or a crowd of people trying to come this way. Whatever happens, I'll let you know.

Update, September 10

I've been through two border crossings, from Hungary into Croatia, and Croatia into Serbia. I did not see any signs of increased border controls or of any of the migrant population. Of course, it seems like the issues are at the border from Serbia to Hungary, and I've taken a different route.

Update, September 12

As I've described in my page for today, there is a large encampment of migrants near the Belgrade bus depot. I found it quite disturbing to see, with the families just waiting, and men laying about apparently with nothing to do. The Serbian government isn't doing anything that would acknowledge the people and give them refugee status, and isn't helping to move them on in their journey. I'm going to try to catch a bus out of the city, and I don't expect any problem, but am a little nervous about wheeling my loaded bike through the depot.

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