Blitzed on the Road to Budapest…

The road from Bratislava to Budapest will remain in my memory for a long time… But not for a very good reason…!!

On the road to Komarno and on to the Hungarian border...

I was heading to Budapest to stay with a man who I had never met, but who had been a huge help to me over the past few weeks, sending me information about places to visit and routes to ride, getting information regarding the visas I would require for more than half a dozen countries, and, inviting me to stay at his “GBWT Budapest HQ” as he had dubbed his home…

Tibor Molnar had made contact with me through my website and we had “hit it off” from there…

For a change, I managed to get out of a major town without taking the most indirect route that Gi-Gi could find in that little brain of hers… Within minutes of refueling, we were out on the narrowest country roads imaginable… In the first half hour I passed only one other vehicle, and reveled in the freedom of the open fields and near deserted area south east of Bratislava…

Crossing the river of many names, but we know it as the Danube, Europe's largest river...

We followed the Vodne Dielo Gabsikovo, a man made canal that runs parallel to the border with Hungary, then ducked away from the frontier and zoomed through the Slovakian flatlands, shattering the quiet of the Sunday morning…

With fields of sunflower and maize on either side of us, and the slightly elevated road, I could see for what seemed like kilometres ahead of me, and used the opportunity to give the Big Fella a good workout…

In the run-up to Komarno, the road ran right up against the Duna River, which the Danube is known as here in Slovakia, and forms the natural border with Hungary… It was just after the town, that I ran into a spot of bother, in the shape of a bee or a hornet…!!

It came through the small gap of my half open visor, and hit me on my bottom lip… I was doing about 100 km/h at the time, and it felt as though I had been hit with a pellet from a gun… The bee, or hornet, was driven up between my cheek and the helmet padding by the force of our “coming together”…

After correcting the minor wobble that the Big Fella had gone into, I slowed down to see if I had been stung, and seeing no barb in my lip, did not bother to stop, but rode on through the stinging pain, waiting for it to subside…

It never did… In fact it got worse….much worse…!! By the time I reached the border an hour later, I knew I was in trouble…!! It felt as though my lower jaw was on fire, and the muscles in my neck began to stiffen… My helmet felt as though it were a few sizes too small for me…!!

The border post between Slovakia and Hungary, on the northern bank of the Danube...

The Maria-Valeria Bridge over the Danube River...

I crossed the border at Sturovo-Esztergom and stopped at the first service station I saw, to ask for ice to put on my lip… They did not have any and by the way the attendant shied away from me when I walked up to him, I knew that I could not have been a pretty sight…!! I took two Voltaren tablets, hopped back on the bike and headed for Budapest, my face trying to push its way through the front of my helmet…!!

The seat of the Archbishop of Hungary, Esztergom. This is the largest Basilica in the Carpathian Basin...

The suspected cause of my facial discomfort...!! A pox on them...!!

The pain in my face was almost too much to bear, and from time to time my vision blurred… This was not a good thing at the speed I was riding to get to Budapest as fast as possible…

I missed a turning and had to ride an extra few kilometres to get back onto my planned route and this did not help matters a great deal either…

I found my way to Tibor’s home without much trouble and was greeted by him as I pulled up outside his garage…

Without taking off my helmet, I said,

“My friend, I have a serious problem…!! I have been stung by a bee…!!”

“Where…?” he asked…

I took my helmet off and Tibor recoiled in horror, stopping just short of throwing his hands up in front of his face to protect himself from the ogre that stood before him…!!

“It’s that bad, huh…?” I asked…

“Oh, yes…!! It’s bad…!! Maybe you need a doctor…”

Hungary's official name is Magyar Koztarsasag...

Tibor’s home is built on a steep slope and after lugging my gear up the 57 steps to his front door, and then down another dozen steps to the room I would be occupying, I met with his wife Panni and their daughter Veronika…

You can imagine my embarrassment at the shape my face was in… It is very hard to look someone in the eye, when they have what seems to be a very large sausage attached to their lower jaw…!!

Later, as we stood at the counter of a pharmacy, the attendant’s eyes as big as saucers at the sight of my swollen face, she agreed with Tibor’s suggestion that I seek medical attention…

She called a number to see if there was a doctor in the building, all the while telling Tibor to get me to a hospital before my throat closed up completely… The side of my face had now swollen so much that it looked as though I had a cricket ball wedged in my cheek…

My bottom lip made Tito Mboweni’s look like a string-bean…!!

Together with Tibor and Panni I enjoyed many a meal on their terrace...

I walked through the mall with my hand held over my face, so that I wouldn’t scare the life out of the shoppers that thronged the passageways… At this point you may be wondering if I will post a picture of what my face looked like…

Well, the answer is a flat “No…!!” The jokes you will no doubt think up will haunt me for years…!!

The pharmacist did not seem to know what “Antihistamines” were, and prescribed calcium tablets instead… I took one immediately and then spent the rest of the afternoon with Tibor, driving around Budapest and seeing the sights of this bustling city… But more about that later…!!

It has taken three days for the swelling to go down, and I now have an “almost symmetrical” look to my face, according to Tibor…

I also have a much strengthened dislike for bees and hornets…!!

GBWT 2010