Day 8: From Gyor to Nagymaros
Managed to get an early start today, since my hosts had to leave around eight, and I preferred to be on the outside of the closed door (though they said I was free to choose...). After getting some munchies/bars/fruit for the day I was on the Eurovelo - again, which I promptly lost after leaving the inner city, but it goes along the car route 81 towards Tata. Actually, soon after getting out of the city, it goes on the road, and since it leads by the industrial district, there are tenwheeler trucks and lorries, and few signs.
Some kilometers before reaching Babolna, the Eurovelo takes a left to Nagyszentjanos, on a bad road, and in the village takes a right just before the railway crossing to a dirt road, seemingly only traveled (and travelable by) agricultural and offroad vehicles. I made the mistake of turning back and following the paved road, hoping to take the next right to Acs/Komarom, but there I was greeted with a traffic sign forbidding cyclists from the road - there and back an 8 km detour. So the dirt road. Incredibly slow and frustrating, but only lasts a few km and then a paved (though old and abandoned, and thus potholed) road emerges towards Acs. In the village center in the T-crossing take the left (there is an eurovelo sign, but not easy to find, and after the rails go to the right - just follow the signs for Komarom for the cars. Beware: high traffic road!
From here the signs are rare, but positioned at strategic locations, for some reason in the villages cyclist are forced off the road (which they rejoin just outside the village), which is painful with bags, since many of the forced alternatives are badly converted pedestrian roads, and there often isn't even a ramp at the crossing.
The car roads taken in order: 1, 117, 10, 11, mostly with traffic (there is one quality section road after Nyergesujfalu). The eurovelo crosses the danube at Pilismarot to Szob with a ferry (this time there was one every hour), but I continued to Visegrad on the 11, 'coz I haven't done this section of the road yet and because the friends I was staying that evening live in Nagymaros, with a ferry connection from Visegrad. Getting the bike up to their house in the hill was the most tiring!
Overall it was 141km in 6:40 (7:15). The road is ok if you can handle traffic, but otherwise (or with kids) I would suggest an alternative (maybe on the Slovakian side of the river) till Szob (visit Esztergom for sightseeing from Sturovo via the bridge), where the road is dedicated for cyclists, protected from car traffic (and has a great sight).
And probably was it not for catching up with friends I would have been in Budapest before daylight was out!
