We were a bit puzzled when our Garmin satnav brought us to an HGV ferry crossing the River Danube, the border between Slovakia and Hungary. Our map showed there was a bridge further along the river but the satnav kept sending us back to the ferry – so we decided to take the ferry.
It turned out that the bridge had been totally destroyed by the Germans at the end of the war and the replacement bridge was designed to take vehicles weighing less than 3.5 tons – which was exactly the weight of our camper that we had plumbed into the Garmin. Of course, we soon realised that the bridge would have easily taken the weight of our vehicle and we should have overridden the satnav’s guidance, saving ourselves €30 – Duh! Anyway we did enjoy the ferry ride and we also enjoyed the banter with the ferry men who probably thought we were quite mad to be using their service.
Our camp site was close to the historic city of Esztergom on the banks of the Danube. The weather was hot 31° but thunder storms threatened. We ate supper overlooking the river – a couple of beers, a decent meal plus a bottle of wine – £25.
We cycled the short distance into Esztergom to visit the stunning cathedral built on a hill overlooking the city. It was beautiful inside the Basilica and we even (nearly) managed to climb the three long flights of ever narrowing spiral steps bringing us into the cupola to give us an all round view of the city, including the bridge that refused us access!
