We had a late start this morning and didn't really have a set plan, but the sun was shining and it was warm, so off we went. We rode the cycle path 12 kms to Balatonfured and managed to find the tourist info center with a little help. There we found out that not all of the campgrounds along the lakeshore are open yet. There are many, but some don't open until late May. The woman called a couple of the places we had in mind and the results limited our choices. We decided we would probably set up camp in town here and then ride our bikes out onto the Tihany peninsula with no gear to make it easier. But first we found the bike shop where we wanted to pick up a few things, but it didn't open for another hour. So we went on to the famous Kossuth Lajos spring. Supposedly the heart patients in the hospital right across the way could drink their way to health with this water. We each took a gulp and figured that was enough to take care of our health since it tasted like sor!
t of fizzy iron water. Those poor patients!
We made our way to the campground and went into the reception area which was huge. The woman there was very nice, but the place was just too big for our liking. She suggested that we ride in and check it out before deciding if we would stay. We did just that, used the bathroom and left right away.
On to plan B. We would ride out onto the peninsula and back and then go the 12 kms to the next open campground down the road in the direction we were heading. As soon as we turned onto the peninsula road we were glad we did. Since we arrived at the lake and rode the cycle path along the shore, we had hardly seen the lake because there is so much development. There are campgrounds and private beach areas with buildings everywhere. But here we were right on the shore and could see everything. There were many people fishing and we saw a few brave souls swimming. At the first fork in the road we were confused because the brochure we had from the info center wasn't very helpful. We took the shoreline branch and ended up at the ferry terminal where we decided to get some lunch. We chose a little outdoor restaurant that had gyros listed on their banner. There were no prices or menus anywhere and the waiter didn't speak English, so we ended up having a huge gyro lunch alon!
g with a huge bill, but it was tasty.
We followed the signs to the city center which took us up some pretty good hills to the abbey. The view of the lake and surrounding area was great. There is a nature trail that goes all over the peninsula and we tried to get some info on it at the info center, but it was of no use. It was interesting, though, to watch some workers putting on a new layer of thatch on the roof of the info building. It was a totally manual process, but it looked like they had it down.
On our way out of town we saw a parking area for the hiking trail. We changed our shoes and headed up for some more nice views of the area's wetlands and the Inner Lake. We only walked about 15 minutes and then sat next to a small vineyard where we watched some big herons flying and a colorful lizard nearby. We felt at home walking on the trail and enjoyed it even though we didn't walk the whole thing.
Back on the bikes we rode off and on the cycle way into the campground in Balatonakali. The reception office was closed and we were about to just go and find a site when a man drove up in a car and explained to us as best he could in German and English that we had to go up the campground path another km to the second reception office. We did just that, registered to stay in another huge campground, rode 150 meters to the grocery store where Marie's German paid off for helping us find some things that we wanted, set up camp and cooked up an omelette. No, we didn't cook on our stove. We still haven't found gas. But this campground had a few gas burners to use which was helpful.
After eating we strolled through the campground along the lakeshore and watched one of the fishermen for a while. We saw the lights that flash in certain points around the lake that alert boaters and swimmers of approaching storms. We noticed some not-so-friendly looking clouds to the west and hoped that tomorrow wouldn't be a rainy one.
Kms 44.40
Time 3:03:27
Avg 14.5
Max 45.1
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