In Heaven at Hell Farm

For two days Dallam and I braved the blasts of a stiff cold headwind, and on Friday 30th March rode into the Pest district, as in Budapest. The wind is evident in the photo below, and you can see I had to remove the Cutana hat brim from my Charles Owen riding helmet and tie it to my saddle to stop it being whisked away across the expanses of the Great Hungarian Plain.

Our next hosts were Karol and Mariann at the inexpicably named Polkotanya, or Hell Farm, where we enjoyed heavenly hospitality at their lovely old renovated schoolhouse set in open farmland - where did the children come from?

Yet another groaning table - Mariann and Karol to the left, centre is the bewhiskered Bela ( Mariann's father and Mike's drinking buddy), to the right Esti who came to interpret, and Mike.


In the house porch with one of their sizeable menagerie which included horses, dogs, racoons, turtles, emus, a fox, a deer, a lama and a wallaby, not to mention run of the mill guineas pigs, rabbits and goats.

Traffic police in Tapiogyorgy.

Setting off across the plains from Polkotanya on Sunday April Ist. Happy birthday to April Fool Gethin (my son).

One big plus about Hungary is the amount of wildlife. I frequently see little bands of white bottomed deer scampering away across the ploughed fields, or a large hare lolloping through the grass.