Hi All,
I am on the Eurovelo 6 with my partner and 1 year old travelling East to West. We are both pulling trailers, one with the baby, the other with camping gear and luggage. So we are pretty slow and bulky! I was thinking we could cross from Serbia to Romania by the Portile de Fier II bridge near Dusanovac to Balta Verde but can't find any info on how the bridge is for bikes.
The one we crossed from Giurgiu, Romania to Ruse, Bulgaria had a lot of trucks, no shoulder, was uphill, and had grates that we had to go diagonally across so our wheels wouldn't get stuck....so I do not really want to repeat that experience!
Any info on Portile de Fier II bridge gratefully received.
Also, I've read that the bridge from Calafat, Rom to Godin, Bum has a dedicated cycleway...is that right?
Cheers dears
The Giurgiu-Ruse bridge was built a long, long time ago, so naturally it has no dedicated cycle facilities. I am surprised that they let you cycle at all, since the bridge was closed to pedestrians around 2010 (before that, I used to walk over it when hitchhiking between Romania and Bulgaria), so I thought that cycling wasn’t allowed either.
The Calafat-Vidin bridge is quite new and indeed it has a dedicated cycleway. I have cycled over it a couple of times already; bicyclists are completely separated from traffic, and there is enough room that you can even stop and take pictures of the Danube without blocking other cyclists’ or pedestrians’ way.
About the Portile de Fier II bridge, I don’t know. However, I have crossed the bridge to the north of it at Drobeta Turnu Severin – Kladovo, which is a short bridge with little traffic and pleasant to cycle across.
Good to hear about the Calafat bridge, thanks Christopher.
Hello,
I crossed power plant Portile de Fier II in 2011 and 2016. So I think that is no problem in 2019.
Greetings
Michaela
Thanks Michaela. Is there a cycle lane or hard shoulder for bikes to cycle over the bridge?
Was the only one crossing the border. So no need for bike lane �
Michaela
BTW before Hungary I would avoid Romania and stick to the Serbian side of the Danube: better roads, no wild dogs, villages every few miles, and cheaper.
Another warmshowerer travelling with kids (on a bike for four people!) asked me for advice between Budapest and Vienna. He set off today, so you might catch up with him! Here is a copy of the message I sent him:
Generally, HU has cheap camp-sites, but wild camping is not ok. SK: not many camp-sites, but no problem with wild camping. SK takes Euros, HU takes Florints. Restaurants and fast food places seem to be similar prices. SK beer seemed to be cheaper. SK supermarkets eg Tesco seem to have better opening times (incl Sunday) than HU.
My biking advice is:
Step 1: Between Budapest and Esztergom(HU)/Sturovo(SK):
Choice A: My choice. The east/north side of the river. Longer, but there are more bike-paths and better views. There are characterful Italian-style riverside towns on the way, with town-squares and ice-cream, e.g. Vac. From Kismaros to Szob is really nice.
Choice B: The west/south side of the river allows you to see the beautiful village of Szentendre and then follows roads to Esztergom. It is shorter and quicker than the route on the west/south side, but more roads and more cars.
HOWEVER, if you take choice A (the north/east route), you will need to take the ferry from Szob (HU) (on the north side of the river) to the southern side of the river, because Szob (HU) is on the border between HU and SK and the only way to cross the border between HU and SK is to go up, up, up into the hills, to a bridge which crosses the River Ipel between HU and SK. (I beat this by following the railway between HU and SK and then pushing my bike across the railway bridge over River Ipel, but I wouldn't recommend doing this with kids.)
Step 2: Congratulations! You have taken the ferry from Szob (HU) and are now in Esztergom (HU).
From Esztergom (HU) to Komarno (SK) via Sturovo (SK):
Choice A: the best: cross the river by the bridge from Esztergom (HU) into Sturovo (SK) and follow the SK side of the river to Komarno. Quiet bike-paths, small villages.
Choice B: not so good: the HU side from Esztergom (HU) to Komarom (HU) is a fast main road and full of cement trucks.
Step 3: From Komarno (SK) to Medvedov (SK), or Komarom (HU) to Gyor (HU)?
My choice: Komarno (SK) to Medvedov (SK) is quiet cycle path and easier than Komarom (HU) to Gyor (HU). The main factor depends on whether or not you want to see Gyor (HU).
Step 4: To Bratislava.
At Medvedov (SK) or Gyor (HU), now you have a choice of 3 routes.
A. The toughest, which follows (often bumpy and dusty) roads: Gyor (HU), though villages to Mosonmagyarovar (HU), Rajka (HU), then easy from Rajka (HU) along bike paths to Bratislava (SK). Advantage: you see lots of small villages and there are campsites.
B. The easiest, from Medvedov (HU) to the start of Gabcikovo Dam (SK) and along the north shore of the Danube to Bratislava (SK) along the north side of the river. Flat car-free bike paths. And lots of places to wild-camp. The easiest and fastest biking in the world!
C. The second-easiest, which is the same as above, but at the start of Gabcikovo Dam, cross the dam to the south/west side of the dam, then follow the quiet road to Cunovo (SK) then bike path to Bratislava (SK).
Follow this link for a map: https://en.mapy.cz/turisticka?planovani-trasy&x=19.1267346&y=47.5650225&z=12&rc=9sJcsxLS3rgrnkBvibn... (link is external)
From Bratislava (SK) to Vienna (A) : there is pretty much only one route to take.
I live in Sedlcany on the Vienna-Prague bike route: not recommended with a trailer because of hills.
But the Prague - Dresden - Hamburg Elbe Bike Route is pretty flat and do-able with a trailer (so consider a train from Vienna or Linz to Prague).
Thanks heaps Matt. Very useful. We are in Budapest now and going to head off to Bratislava in a couple of days.
The link for the map you added is not showing any route...is there something I have to do to view it? Or maybe it has expired? Would really appreciate the route so we know where we are going, the bits off the main EV6 route.
Cheers,
Niamh
I just didn't zoom in far enough to see the route! Now I see it. Thanks Matt