December 12, 2013
How brave I felt: I thought these were cruel and bloodthirsty men
I was disappointed to leave Slovakia because I had really been enjoying cycling there, but when I crossed back to Hungary I remembered that I also loved cycling in Hungary, so all was well. There was a small town across the border and the buildings and everything were quite in contrast to Slovakia and Hungary now seemed like a positively wealthy country.
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Almost immediately I turned away from this road onto a small road with almost no traffic that was leading to the National Park. The lack of traffic made me a little nervous. There were only a few hours of daylight left and going up into the mountains without knowing the conditions, or how long it would take to get through them, or the weather forecast, was a risky strategy. I knew that I could potentially get stuck up there, stranded by a heavy snowfall and blocked roads. But, on the other hand, I would always prefer to pit my wits against a survival situation on an ice encrusted mountain than against heavy traffic on a busy highway, and so up I went. No risk, no fun.
The road climbed through beautiful scenery and into the Aggteleki National Park. The mountains were not really all that high actually, they were almost more like hills. It is always an interesting question as to exactly at what point a hill becomes a mountain, and these were in my opinion, right on the cusp. I decided I should call them hilltains. Even so, there was snow at the side of the road through the forested hilltains, but the road itself was clear and safe. There is a large cave complex running through the hilltains, but unfortunately they were all closed to the public given the season and so I didn't get to see any of it. But I was happy with the scenery and I knew that I had certainly made the right choice as I descended safely into a valley before nightfall.
When nightfall came I had terrible pains finding anywhere to camp because it was all fields and no forest and I cycled on in the dark for a long time until I was almost back in Slovakia. Then I found a really great spot where an icy side road led to some trees and things. There was a little snow on the ground but it was an ideal spot, and I settled in for the night.
I hadn't long been in my tent when I heard a car crunching on the ice of the side road and parking up about twenty metres from my hiding place. I heard car doors open and close and men's voices through the darkness as I sat perfectly still in my tent, barely daring to breath. What could these men possibly be doing out here at night, a long way from any villages, near to the border, in the woods? I couldn't figure it, and the only logical explanation my terrified mind could come up with was that they were here to bury a body. What other explanation was there? I decided I better make absolutely sure they didn't know I was there. Then one of the men came traipsing into the trees and I felt a bright torchlight on my tent and a man speaking towards me in Hungarian. I guess my cover was blown.
"I haven't seen anything," I said, "you just carry on, no witnesses here."
He kept talking in Hungarian. I figured I better get up. I looked around for weapons, the only thing to hand being my extremely blunt pocket knife. The best thing would have been my heavy chain lock which I'm sure could knock a man out cold with one well-timed swing, but it wasn't of much use to me at the present time, being as it was locked to my bike and a tree.
I got up and saw an absolute bear of a man, big, fat and mean. I gave up on the pocket knife. He kept talking to me in Hungarian and called the other men. I said "English, English" and one of the other men came and he spoke two words in English:
"Hunting, danger, hunting."
OH!!!! I felt quite silly now! I was terrified that these were cruel and bloodthirsty men, come to the woods to do some senseless killing, and in fact they were just hunters. I explained why I was there and asked if they wanted me to leave, but nothing was understood. A phone was found and handed to me with a woman who spoke excellent English on the other end of the line. She explained the situation to me.
"They are hunting here. You can stay, but you should stay in the tent and not get up and wander around in the woods, or they will shoot you."
Sounds lovely, thanks. I made the mistake of telling the woman that I was cycling to Australia and she must have relayed this information to the men because once I was back in my tent and they were back at their car I heard tremendous howls of laughter. The men were in hysterics and kept repeating the words 'bicikli' and 'Ausztrália' which were perhaps not so difficult for me to translate as they may have imagined. Well, I was glad my ambitions in life were so amusing to these hunters for I would not wish to swap it for their ambitions in life for all the deer in the forest.
Perhaps they decided just to leave me in peace or perhaps they really did have a body to bury but they left soon after to find another place to do their dastardly acts. I felt a twinge of happiness that my prescence there that night may have saved some animal’s life. I was like the protector of the forest, keeper of the peace - how brave I felt lying there with my blunt pocket knife.
Today's ride: 66 km (41 miles)
Total: 10,803 km (6,709 miles)
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