The Danube Cycleway Volume 2: From Budapest to the Black Sea

This is the second of two volumes describing the Danube Cycle route, a 1717km cycle ride following the lower part of the Danube, Europe's second longest river. This guidebook describes the route from the vibrant Hungarian capital of Budapest through Hungary, Croatia, Serbia and Romania to the river's delta on the shores of the Black Sea.

The cycling is generally level with a few gentle gradients, mostly on quiet country roads or riverside flood dykes. The 32 stages vary from 30-100km, with some longer excursions and surfaces are mostly asphalt and in good condition, suitable for hybrid or touring cycles.

Cycling infrastructure is generally good in Hungary, Croatia and Serbia. In Romania, where there is no waymarking and often long distances between places to sleep and eat, this guidebook gives a detailed route description, maps for each stage at a cycle-friendly a scale of approximately 1:150,000 and a listing of all places offering accommodation.

En route you will see spectacular gorges, medieval fortresses, poignant memorials to the recent Yugoslav civil war, vineyard-clad hillsides and rural areas where crops are still planted and harvested by hand and the main means of transport is the horse and cart. Off-route excursions enable short visits to be made to Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine and the Danube delta.

Mike Wells has been walking long-distance footpaths for 25 years, and a keen cyclist for 20. He has walked the major British paths, the GR5 from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean, and explored the Dolomites Alta Via routes in Italy. He has also walked in Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Norway and Chilean Patagonia. Starting with UK cycling routes, he soon moved on to long-distance routes in the rest of Europe and beyond, including a circumnavigation of Iceland and a ride across Cuba.