16 May 2007

Bakonyszentkiraly to Balatonalmadi

The storms that forced us indoors yesterday brought a cool change for today. After making sure we didn't leave anything behind, we saddled up the bikes ready to ride in tights and jackets. Johann sent us off with a hand drawn map so we could ride the scenic route out of the village and see the castle to boot. Well, we have come to know that scenic means hilly and Johann's route was just that. The climb to the castle was steeper than the 10% signed grades we rode later on. This castle in Csesznek was your basic castle ruins but the view overlooking the countryside and the two small villages was just amazing.
Riding from the castle to the main road was quite challenging at times with a few of those 10% grades thrown in. Once on the main road we cruised with a tail wind to Zirc where we had brunch. We didn't have breakfast and it was 11:00 A.M. We found a restaurant and Marie had 2 scrambled eggs while John enjoyed 2 crepes filled with poppy seeds and cherries topped with almonds and honey and powdered sugar. Since it was a bit chilly still we figured it couldn't hurt to split a bowl of soup for dessert. Have to love dessert.
With a tailwind still blowing and a 10% downhill grade to help us along, we were soon in the bigger than expected town of Veszprem. The rolling green hills of the countryside just went flying by. We have come to notice that the only time you see a speed limit sign is when you are entering a city. The cars seem to just fly by at excessive speeds but for the most part are giving us plenty of room even when a car is coming the opposite way.
Trying to find the info center in Veszprem proved fruitless so we continued on, after a bakery snack (we never have a problem finding those), to Balatonalmadi. It was an effortless downhill cruise the whole way with bike paths in a couple of places to help us avoid the city traffic. By this time the clouds were clearing and and the tights were off. It is a good thing we missed the info center in Veszprem because the one we found in Balatonalmadi provided us with the same cycling map as the one we have but in English. Now we will be able to read about the places we will be passing through. Lake Balaton is a very popular place in the summer, so we figured camping would be expensive and we weren't disappointed. The rest of the day was spent taking care of chores and business.

Kms 48.76
Timed 2:59:33
Avg 16.2
Max 50.3