Day 19: Bratislava in Slovakia to Komaron in Hungary

After the delights of Bratislava, time to post back home the maps so far used and no longer required before hitting the trail once again.  For both Bob and Mark it turned into a slog of a day, fighting a head-wind from the east that easily costs 30% in terms of performance.  To make matters worse, the heat-wave has returned and this afternoon temperatures approached 40 degrees C.  And it's been warm back in Blighty you say?

At one point today the Danube was more than a mile wide, but this is due to the construction 20 years ago of the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros dams and hydro-electric project.  Up on the dykes that protect the surrounding lower level land from the river, the head-wind was consequently at its fiercest.

More wildlife observed today: Swans, Storks (which are amazingly large close up), sea-birds somewhat incongruously (including Herring Gulls) and millions of Grasshoppers.  But we don't count the Hydrofoil passenger ships connecting the major cities along the Danube.

Hydrofoil on the Blue Danube

Between Gabcikovo and Klizska Nema in Slovakia the cheapest (and good tasting) beer of the trip to date was discovered: 70 cents, 55p a pint.  But these are poor farming communities which may in itself explain why signposting was poor and many of the few signs vandalized.  Moreover, those of a certain age and who had experienced the Communist yoke, offered no greeting or response to any given.  Are they denizens of a time when seeing and saying nothing was the best survival strategy.  And remember, it's only 24 years since the 'Velvet Revolution' took place in the former Czechoslovakia.