Danube - Slovakia Set 13

Gyor to Patince

Today was an 88k day that turned out to be quite hot.  We headed out of Gyor and got directionally impaired within the first ten meters.  But we found our way quickly to navigate through the industrial part of the city.  The directions and maps provided by the company leave a great deal to be desired.  Especially in this section of the trip.

We rode the morning through the Hungarian countryside.  The paved parts of the path were in disrepair and rough.  We went through a section of houses that were pretty poor.  There didn't seem to be any building code as each was a "shelter" made as best as possible with what was available.  

Then we hit sections of dirt road.  This is the first time the route has been on dirt.

We have traveled on gravel at times but not on unpacked dirt.  As we rode through you got the feeling that Hungary is of an economically challenged nature.  The roads, houses and even the people we see along the route are poorer than the other countries we have experienced.

For the last two days we have seen little of the Danube.  This has been more of a ride through back country of Hungary than a ride along the Danube.

Examples of rutted dirt roads we traversed...

We finally came upon the Danube in the afternoon.  We crossed it and entered back into Slovakia.  We are lunch in the square of a small village.  Things have gotten cheaper as we have gone into Slovakia and Hungary.

The heat of the day was climbing as we left the village and got back on the road.

    This is a building in the square of the village we ate lunch.  You can see the rich architectural detail but it is in need of repair and attention.

The afternoon ride into Patince was a hot one.  We rode along a paved trail on top of a levee.  You could feel the heat coming up off the pavement adding that little extra baking effect to the sun.  We rode into a head wind that did not add relief as a breeze might.  It just added to the effort needed to try to get us home.  At one point I did start to get dizzy so I knew the heat index had to be quite high.  

We made it to the hotel and got in the room.  It was air conditioned which has not been a regular thing on this trip.  Delusions of grandeur danced in my head.  The room was 78 degrees (25.5C) but I cranked the A/C down low to get the much needed relief.  Within an hour the temp had gone from a warm and uncomfortable 78 to a more relaxing 80 degrees (27C).  Wait a minute, that's the wrong direction! 😳   Then I realized that we were staying at the Wellness Hotel and Sauna.  It was just they were giving us the full sauna treatment.  Pretty cool that we didn't even have to leave our rooms to get a sauna.

But given I felt I had already had my sauna treatment while riding this afternoon, I called the desk for help.  They sent a "technician" to aid me.  The early 20's, late teens girl came and adjusted my thermostat from 15C (60 degrees) to 18C (68 degrees) and pronounced, "is good".  After a couple of more questions I realized she had just given me all of her vocabulary of English.

I decided to give the ailing A/C a fighting chance by closing the blackout drapes as the sun was blistering through the windows with the strength of a laser beam.  

With that I left for dinner thus removing my body heat from the equation that was lined against the A/C's success.  When we returned to the room after dinner we had a modicum of success.  It was down to 76 degrees (24.5C).  Certainly moving in the right direction.  Thinking that 75, then 74, then 73 were in the near future, I drifted off to sleep.  But I was awoken by a dream.  I was dreaming I was back out on the road sweating.  In the dream I kept thinking it's hot but at least I'm in the shade.  Then I woke up and realized I was actually sweating!  But at least I was in the shade... 😓   The room was back up to 80 degrees.  The A/C had lost its battle and given up the ghost.  I called the front desk and the lady said "is no one here".  I asked if she could send a fan to the room.  But I got, "is no one here".  Then I got some Hungarian that I think meant...  this is Tuesday, no air conditioning on Tuesday.  Only hot water on Tuesday.  I gave up. 😟  I opened the window and the door and let in cool air and the mosquitos and tried to drift back off to sleep.  😳