There was a good choice on the menu if you like eggs for breakfast. I do, because I had had quite a few glasses of beer, few too many the evening before; they say such a breakfast is good for a hangover; and so, a big plate of eggs and bacon soon absolved the zombie morning after feeling and meant Is steady and could concentrate, setting me up for the day as I ate the basket-full of warm homemade bread put on the table, making egg and bacon sandwiches.

The manager told me the time has been put back an hour last night. I see a quarter to eleven on the clock behind the reception desk on leaving; that clock mustn't have been put-back yet; it's 09.46 on my watch as I remembered; it means it'll be dark at five this afternoon which doesn't leave much time.

The road south numbered 66 ran parallel with the motorway. There's hazy sunshine to begin with and the mountains now are thankfully behind me.

Heart

1

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply

By one o'clock it had turned-out another clear sunny October day. From the map I saw that it's about one-hundred and seventy kilometres from my starting point this morning to Budapest; so, I wanted to ride far enough today, that I could reach the Hungarian capital tomorrow with time to spare before nightfall.

There's a Lidl supermarket open in the town of Kuprica and so I lunch in the town's square; then, it is a short time riding onwards until three o'clock at which point the road had woodland either side for quite a distance and no houses anywhere. There's still about twenty-eight kilometres to the Hungarian border, leaving around a hundred and ten kilometres remaining to ride tomorrow, but its time to stop as it'll be getting dark in an hour and a half and there perhaps won't be as good free camping possibilities further on.

I push the bike up a forest-track through the crisp crunch of fallen leaves. There aren't many level places as its a steep slope so when I'm far enough away from the road, I take quite a while looking for the best spot. I settle on a place to the side of the track between two trees.

Shortly after dark, I'm lying in the tent reading by the light of my head-torch. I suddenly hear what I think are voices and instantly switch the head-torch off as, I hear a rustling approach of something coming up the track. It sounds like there's three or four of them; then they come running and pass by the tent. At this stage, judging by the lightness and agility of the footfall I doubt they're human, and feel relief, but I remain absolutely still, not making a sound and listening. They've stopped, then they move off to the side in amongst the trees, not far from the head of the tent. Seconds later, in a flash I get out of the sleeping-bag, unzip the tent and step out of the tent, standing staring in the direction I last heard the sound. There's a sudden gallop and I see movement through the trees.