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Kate & Kieren

@places2pedal

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Gone cyclin, back later 🌍
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Grateful for all the amazing people, incredible experiences and unreal places of the last few months!

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Like this 😊

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Tomorrow is the big day! After walking over 6,200km, I’ll be coming into Darwin on Day 170.

Since my last post, I made it to the Stuart Highway which I’ve been following for the last 10 days. It’s been somewhat of a mad dash to reach Darwin in time, as I’ve got two friends and my mum flying up to see me, so I had to lock in a finishing date a while ago. It’ll be so great to see them and have them here to celebrate this milestone 😊

During the week I had the pleasure of meeting Kate and Kieren @places2pedal who have cycled from Adelaide and are also heading to Darwin and onwards to Asia! It was great having some company out on the road and we got to camp together one night by the Fergusson River.

While some days I won’t meet anyone, other days are filled with many friendly encounters. Friday was one such day.

A man travelling with a caravan stopped to offer me a ride and then realised we’d met back on the Savannah Way over a month ago. He pulled off the road and put the kettle on. After a good chat and two cups of coffee, I continued down the Stuart Highway.

Then in the afternoon, I stopped at a rest area and walked out with my waters filled, two mandarins and a bag of dried apple slices thanks to the friendly caravans camped there for the night.

I continued on walking into the dark till a couple pulled up beside me. Steve hoped out and went to the back of his ute to get out a coke, a packet of chips and two chocolates for me :)

The last two days I’ve had to pick up the pace. It’s been tough in the 34 degree heat but I managed to knock out 55km yesterday and today will be 58km. So it’s only a cruisey 28km into Mindil Beach tomorrow! Can’t wait! 😁

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Week 12 Wrap-Up Komárno 🇸🇰 to Solt 🇭🇺 245km

The dream-team of @doublejohndolanand @nearocketsalad & the Places2Pedal crew was off to a flying start this week. Through a captivating composition of gracious good-looks, stoic sobriety & nauseating navigational skills our goal was to make it to Budapest for Hungary’s national day. The temperature tried to hold us back with regular highs in the upper 30’s but Slovakia cheered us on by repurposing their Soviet propaganda speakers to blast ABBA at us as we rocketed by. Any scrap of shade was swiftly inhabited for a bit of rest & refueling as we made our way along the Slovak Danube.

Crossing the bridge at Štúrovo we received the customary dusting of paprika as we entered Hungary but there was no time to admire the cosmic copper domes of Esztergom as we scrambled to find an ATM to stock up on Forint, our first new currency on our journey. The previous luxury of bountiful bridges & frequent ferries were now scarce resources & time was in short supply to make it to our next ferry point. After making it to the north bank we could take it easy for a while. With the light fading & the temperatures dropping we cruised along the river with a spectacular panorama from Duna-Ipoly National Park spread before us. After pitching our tents on a sandy island beach we could finally sit & admire the sun setting over the rolling peaks.

Back on the road & back up to 38°C, luckily shade was aplenty as we left the main river at Vác to follow the quieter Szentendrei-Danube for our assault on the capital. After lunch the path began to improve, then degrade & then improve again in a frustratingly cyclical fashion. Eventually a very pointy parliament building came into view & sighs of relief could be heard all round. After the final push over the bridge from Buda to Pest, we had made it.

Cycling through the city we passed some of the most erratic architecture we’d witnessed during our travels, each building looked as if it had been imported from a different corner of the world. We settled into another excellent biker-exclusive campsite, just as the clouds began to gather some courage & sat out the heavy rains...continues in comments ⬇️

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