Today we decided to do a looped ride from Bratislava and head north and cross the range known as the Little Carpathians.

Geomorphologically (what a great word), the Little Carpathians belong into the Alps Himalaya System and the Carpathian Mountains sub-system. The Little range is around 100 km in length.  Bratislava castle ( the one we can see out our bedroom window is the southern aspect).

The wind was howling when woke up. We checked the meteorological wind forecast and confirmed that it was seriously windy, and would be all day.

Never mind, doing a loop ride would surely provide a mix  of head, tail and crosswinds.  Won’t it?

Here was our route.

We headed out following the Danube and wow it was tough going. We came across a triathlon race in progress and felt sorry for the cyclists.

We liked this bike rack in between the penny farthings.

At Devin there is a famous castle standing on a massive rock hill above the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers. The castle is part of the oldest history of Slovakia. Not having access to a drone today I have ‘borrowed’ a photo to show an aerial view (on a brilliant day!).

This was our view.

Heading up the road we spotted a cycle path a little ‘lower’ than the road. Hmmm! Cuss curse!

It was too steep for me to walk down with my bike. Fortunately my partner in adventure was willing to take it down. This is how I descended!

Stop laughing all you alpha males! At least I got there in one piece!

I had noted whilst shuffling my butt down the slope these guys having a quiet fish.

It is hard to picture wind but we managed today.

We came across a dog competition and stopped to take this photo for a Victorian cycling friend Judith Cahill, who also shows her dogs.

We were in quieter territory now.

There were occasional small towns. This one is as we started the climb for the day.

Climbing this hill over the range was a nice and steady 5-6 percent. The maximum gradient I noted on my Garmin was 6.7%. There were a few cars heading up and over but these were insigificant compared to the number of motorcycles screaming up like Valentino Rossi.

Now I am at top and this is what caught Tony’s eye. As a former motor cycle racer, some memories linger.

We descended into this town. I liked the statue and fire station.

On a bike path some 20 km from Bratislava we passed this critter. The third snake in two days.  Other non farm wildlife to date have been too fast but include one deer that ran across the road, two enormous hares and one pheasant.

Somehow we missed a sign and did ended up in a very hilly reserve with lots of mtb bikes and hikers. One climb was 16%!

Very nice area though. We did ask a younger person for directions. One advantage was no wind!

The climbing graph today’s ride which was 106 km in length.

An earlier night tonight as we intend being the first to breakfast at 6.30am. A longer day tomorrow as cross the border into Hungary, heading to Ezstrgom, around 150 km away.

Ooroo 😊💪🚴