Hegykö to Sopron: A rant and a bike ride
Tuesday July 2, 2013
I'll start with some generalizations based on our bicycle outings here in Hungary. They might not hold true in all cases, as I say they are generalizations. And one should never make generalizations, right? But I wanted to get this off my chest.
- Here they declare sidewalks as bicycle paths, officially, and you are expected to use them, always.
- The so-called bicycle paths are full of cracks, bumps, pedestrians, stop abruptly, etc.
- Drivers honk if you use the road.
- Roads with no bicycle paths: There aren't many little, low-traffic roads that go anywhere and for a longer tour you often have to resort to roads with fast traffic and no shoulder.
- Many drivers pass a cyclist when there is oncoming traffic and it's a tight squeeze for all concerned.
Okay, yesterday we rode our bikes to Sopron, a larger town close to the Austrian border with an interesting old town and historic buildings. The beginning of our ride was on bike paths, created as part of the "Neusiedler See Radweg", a 120 km bike path around Neusiedl Lake, partially in Austria and partially in Hungary. This bike path passes through Hegykö where we are staying and is okay, but I wouldn't want to do a tour of any length on it. We could leave the bike path after a few kilometers to reach Sopron. In this case my rant doesn't apply. The road, a steady climb to Sopron, was quiet and pleasant cycling. We returned the way we came as all other alternatives were heavily trafficked and of course we enjoyed the downhill. It was a nice ride, but we saw the limited possibilities for a tour of several days.
I'll start with some generalizations based on our bicycle outings here in Hungary. They might not hold true in all cases, as I say they are generalizations. And one should never make generalizations, right? But I wanted to get this off my chest.
- Here they declare sidewalks as bicycle paths, officially, and you are expected to use them, always.
- The so-called bicycle paths are full of cracks, bumps, pedestrians, stop abruptly, etc.
- Drivers honk if you use the road.
- Roads with no bicycle paths: There aren't many little, low-traffic roads that go anywhere and for a longer tour you often have to resort to roads with fast traffic and no shoulder.
- Many drivers pass a cyclist when there is oncoming traffic and it's a tight squeeze for all concerned.
Okay, yesterday we rode our bikes to Sopron, a larger town close to the Austrian border with an interesting old town and historic buildings. The beginning of our ride was on bike paths, created as part of the "Neusiedler See Radweg", a 120 km bike path around Neusiedl Lake, partially in Austria and partially in Hungary. This bike path passes through Hegykö where we are staying and is okay, but I wouldn't want to do a tour of any length on it. We could leave the bike path after a few kilometers to reach Sopron. In this case my rant doesn't apply. The road, a steady climb to Sopron, was quiet and pleasant cycling. We returned the way we came as all other alternatives were heavily trafficked and of course we enjoyed the downhill. It was a nice ride, but we saw the limited possibilities for a tour of several days.
Lovely stork nests
Street in Sopron
In Sopron
Scenery along the way - this is wine country
The bicycle path and some rare, old style straw thatch.
The bicycle path near Hegykö