This week’s planning has been governed by cities as, instead of paddling then finding a rest place, we have had places that need seeing and a week of canoeing between them.
We’ve visited three capital cities in less than a week: Vienna, to Bratislava and to Budapest where we now sit.
Rest days are an important part of this, and any, expedition. Of course, it is important, after another challenging week on the water, to rest our bodies. But it is important also to cover the chores that build up over the week. We do a weeks’ worth of shopping, washing and mapping. We plan accommodation, buy maps and send old ones back to the UK if we want to keep them. We write a healthy amount of postcards and also write blog posts, both for TIBS and our own website.
Once those things are done, rest days are a case of getting good food and enjoying a new part of the world. Famous rest days have included eating top steak amongst the French countryside, watching a light-show play upon the cathedral in Strasbourg, listening to traditional music in Dole, drinking too much at the Wein festival in Lohr, driving to a castle at midnight in Blois, watching Austrian League football in Vienna and enjoying the Annual Museum Festival in Frankfurt.
So it’s not a bad mix. Planning and chores, but sight after sight and plenty of exciting things to occupy us.
This week was just the same with an added midway stop in Bratislava where a lack of campsites meant we stayed on a botel. We roamed the city for the evening, like tourists on a tight schedule, before chilling in the coolest cafe we’ve found on the continent. The next morning we covered the expense of the botel by demolishing a very sizable breakfast that was included in the price.
After a mix of dangerously windy and beautifully sunny days we have enjoyed our week’s rest day here in Budapest. Foregoing the ‘rest’ aspect we decided to bounce along to a charity 5km race being held on the city’s central island. At home we’re both club runners and thought it would be a good way to feel involved in the city. Happily we took first and second place, just like that, before chilling out in Budapest’s famous public baths!
Since then we’ve had a fantastic three course meal, stumbled across some international basketball to watch for free and gauped at the famous Heroes Square, before finding our current spot to sit and write blogs.
So that, my friends, is a rest day. An important part of the sport: to rest our bodies. An important part of the expedition: to do logistics. And an important part of the journey: to see the world and enjoy some of the fantastic places Europe has to offer.
From here we head south across Hungary, our fifth country, before turning East again to the Black Sea.
For more regular updates and to follow our progress find us @CanoeingEurope on Twitter or visit our website www.canoeingthecontinent.com.
