I noticed a crack on the sidewall of my front tyre, so rather than tempt fate I decided to replace it in Krakow. That now brings the number of tyre’s I have used on this tour to a grand total of 6.

Our last day in Poland as we proceeded towards the mountains of Slovakia was in the pouring rain. We stayed in a motel just before the border to dry out and even managed to catch the opening day at the Olympics.

We entered Slovakia on a fine day weather wise, which is perfect when in mountainous regions. Slovakia is my second favourite country, after Norway of course. Everything is green, the towns are all neat and tidy and they have mountains to rival those of Norway.

We found a campsite and surprisingly the people that ran it were nothing like the Slovakiansfrom the film Hostel. So we settled in and immediately went on a beer run. We also found some internet which seemed like the local hangout for kid’s, upon which they all decided to practice their English on us. It seemed they hadn’t learned anything other than “what is your name?” at school.

Our second day in Slovakia saw us leave the mountains behind, but only after a tough, tough climb that was gave views that were worth every drop of sweat. Instead of looking up at the mountains, we were now looking down into them. Awesome. Cue 20km’s of un-interrupted downhill, reaching a top speed of 64kmh.

Next stop Hungary, where I changed €15 at the border and got 3200 Hungarian back. Great. After a lot of rolling hills and Fanta breaks we neared Budapest, which was our target but with dusk approaching we decided to pull in at a campsite a stone’s throw away from the River Danube.

SunsetThere were 3 main landmarks I wanted to see on this trip. 1. The Arctic Circle (although you can’t really see it) 2. The River Danube 3. The view of Asia from Istanbul. Finally got to number 2 as the sun was going down, I had to touch it to make sure it was real. I couldn’t believe how far I had come all under my own steam.

Showered for the first time in a week, dirt poured off of me.