Although Greg has been to most of
the places we are going to cover this time, Wendy hasn’t done this section of
the Danube, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, or Northern Germany. Neither of us have
been to Czechia, which of course includes Prague. We start in Hungary, dip our
toes into Slovakia briefly, then onto Austria, Czechia, Germany and finish in
Netherlands.
After many self-supported tours where
we packed our bikes in boxes and took them with us, we’ve decided to buy a
couple of e-bikes upon arrival in Budapest, use them on the tour and then sell
them before we fly out of Amsterdam. Although we have a couple of e-bikes which
would be great for this trip, the logistics of getting them to Europe, with
batteries, just became too complicated. Until we can send our batteries
overseas easily, our options are limited. We could have taken our bikes and
bought batteries in Budapest; however, the bikes are heavier than non-e-bikes,
even without the batteries in, making it more difficult to box up and
man-handle. This tour is the first self-supported tour we will do with e-bikes,
and we are hoping that it will make the many hills, headwinds and the long days
in the saddle that we’ll encounter, a little easier to deal with. We certainly
know from riding at home on e-bikes that it is so much more relaxing
(especially when you have a dickie heart) and we are looking forward to giving
them a go in Europe.
The route we have planned is a
real mixed bag of big cities, World Heritage sites, slow moving rivers, ancient
countryside, farmlands, cute villages and small country towns. We’ve had to
book some accommodation in advance because of the school holidays, but we want
to keep that to a minimum so that we can change our plans if we want/need to. Other
cyclists you meet on the way are a good source of information about what’s up ahead
and often make great suggestions.
Please wish us safe cycling, follow
our travels if you wish, and live it, vicariously.
