9 Orange juice - Cycling - Bike shop

Monday, 13.8.2018

Route: Danube Cycle Path 4 (Szegszard - Mohacs)

Distance travelled: 80 km

Highlight of the day: friendly man in Mohacs, chilling by the Danube, the room

Unfortunately, we didn't get up as early today as yesterday because breakfast didn't start until 7:30. It wasn't in the hotel, but it was included and consisted of rolls with jam and a 2-liter jug of orange juice. Unfortunately, we drank it all. We set off at quarter to 9, first the 13 km back to the alternative route. The path took us through the forest, even though it was a dam path again. Thanks to the early hour, the trees provided shade and protection from the heat. But somehow it just wasn't going well. And the orange juice was weighing heavily in my stomach. So we were making progress relatively slowly. But at least we could have a closer look at the forest (there were always ponds and streams behind or in it) and the wild meadows on the right with all sorts of flowers. Some beekeeper had about 40 beehives on the edge of the forest.

Finally, we crossed the railway tracks and cycled along a main road to Baja, where we reached the city center passing by the harbor. It was quite nice and we had our lunch break with dry rolls on a bench above a branch of the Danube in the middle of Baja. We left Baja after an hour's break with a round of quiz duel on the large market / parking lot in the center. Then we continued on hardly used roads and cycle paths, despite the extreme headwind. It exhausted us enormously. At some point, we took a break by the roadside with a view of the Danube. It was beautiful.

Finally, we continued, as always on this day, with a CD by Martina Schwarzmann. The plan was to go to the outdoor pool in Ujmohacs. When we arrived there, we found out that there was none, but realized that this was a Danube beach. So we sat down in the sand, ate, drank and chilled. It didn't take long and I fell asleep. Julius woke me up at around 4 and we took the ferry across the Danube. Then we were already in Mohacs. The really nice old town started directly on the Danube, where we strolled through with our bikes. We had seen on the map that there should be a bike shop here. We saw a shop that looked pretty good, and while I looked up the opening hours, an older gentleman approached Julius, asked if he could help and recommended an Italian restaurant - all in German. Then we went into the shop, it was still open. The saleswoman couldn't speak any foreign language, but through very funny sign language, we made her understand that we were looking for cycling shorts with padding on the bottom. Unfortunately, she didn't have any.

We then looked for our hotel, it was not far from the old town and very nice. On the way, we passed a bicycle workshop, to which we returned to buy chain oil and to look for cycling shorts. There was one, but it didn't fit Julius. The shop was awesome: really small, the sales room was full of everything you need for a bicycle, behind it was a mini workshop and on the walls hung pictures and newspaper clippings and certificates of some bike races. In the bookcase with bicycle books was even one of Jan Ullrich's Tour de France victory in 1997. And the salesperson spoke perfect German. Then we bought some snacks for the next few days. Back at the hotel, we washed our bikes a bit on the lawn and oiled the very squeaky chains. Then we took a shower before we finally walked back into the city, past a Greek Orthodox Serbian church and a town hall with a distinct Turkish influence. We visited the restaurant that the man had recommended to us. One of the two waitresses spoke good German, the other didn't speak any at all. She explained that they don't learn German in school here - apparently not English either. The food was okay. Then we went back to the room and after a bit of German TV, we went to bed.