17th May - Slovenia, through Hungary & into Slovakia

Its happened to me before, about a week into a trip something ‘disagrees’ with me.  Its no big deal really but when you have a long days riding planned through unknown territory, the last thing you need is to keep having to make ‘emergency’ stops.
Maybe it’s just over exuberance in the early days of a trip finally catching up with me, I’ve never been able to pinpoint exactly what the cause was.  In this case, the last thing I ate was a departure from my norm, but not in any extravagant sense.  I spotted a Vegan section on the menu and decided to select a dish from there on the basis that you shouldn't knock what you haven't tried.

It was certainly very tasty and I retired feeling pleased with myself for taking a healthy option.  My feelings by morning were somewhat different!

Anyhow enough of that, suffice it to say that my planned early start didn't happen and so I had a lot of catching up to do to get from Slovenia into and all the way across Hungary into then well into Slovakia by evening.

The early part of the run through Slovenia to the Hungarian border was pleasant but uneventful - I was still concentrating on other things to take any pictures!  However, by midday I had reached the Hungarian border with its border offices still standing but of course deserted.

Immediately after the entry to Hungary was the normal sign advising drivers of the regulations pertaining to the new state being entered.  The thing to note here is the change in road surface - the first picture is the last point of Slovenia and the second is the first point in Hungary just 200 meters later.

I recall when travelling across Asia, the stark contrasts in road conditions that were sometimes found either side of a country border.  The most memorable of these was the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan which had a 40km section of sand and rock (ie no discernible road) across the desert between the tarmaced roads that existed in both countries leading up to that point.
I was expecting not really to notice border changes in the EU and indeed so far had not, this was the first time that the earlier relative economic health of the two countries was evident.  Its fair to say however that there are some pristine highways in Hungary, presumably helped along by EU funding.

I jumped on one of these highways for a couple of hours to catch up some time.  Whilst the highway was pristine, they had not yet built any services anywhere and so comfort breaks required an exit and  suitable tree to stop by.

The landscape was largely flat until the approaching hills of Slovakia could be seen in the distance.

The border crossing between Hungary and Slovakia occurred half way across an old iron bridge and was almost unnoticeable by contrast to the earlier one.  Once into Slovakia it was another hour and half run to my stopping place for the night, the pretty town of Banska Stiavnica, built apparently in the middle of an immense caldera caused by a collapsing volcano, you can see the shape on this photo I took from the restaurant where I ate something meaty that night! 

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