Hungarian country riding

We pass by a charmingly wild farmstead (with wandering chickens and their chicks pecking at the earth; sheep and their lambs nibbling at the grass;  ducks, geese and other fowl roosting and perching on various vertical structures; colorfully painted bee hives; some ponies hanging out...pretty much Noah's ark.  As rural and earthy and home-steady as can be. And I say, "awwww... This makes me want to farm!" And Ross says "this makes me want to play Agricola".  Sigh.  This is my urban board-game loving husband.

We also have been enjoying the parts of the Hungarian euro-velo path which are paved...only about 50-60% (and it seems newly so). The contrast of usage between locals and bikers strikes me. We are here decked out in elite and expensive gear (relatively speaking) enjoying the path for recreation and these local fishermen with calloused hands are riding along with poles and buckets and their lunches in plastic bags to "work" for the day.  There are also so many older folks on bikes...octogenarians with bundles of firewood or loaded with goods heades to/from market. I imagine the existence of this path makes things easier for many layers of people, travelers and locals alike. 

We also met a herd of the Hungarian horses that were aliens. They didn't like carrots! I tried to share some with theme by totally blew me off. I was sad to imagine that maybe these utilitiarian horses have not had much love or attention (or snacky treats) bestowed upon them...thus they didn't know what to do when a carrot came their way!

Hungary was full of little home/farm steads as described above. Everyone was doing their fields of peppers, corn, potatoes, cabbage, grapes or apples.  Wood stacks piled high. Wheelbarrows loaded with garden scraps.  Chickens wandering about pecking at little wrigglers.  I imagined they were all bartering eggs and pickles and paprika with each-other in an old-fashioned subsistence farming way.
After several nights of wild camping, the last of which was a gorgeous stay along the river (though sadly we got food poisoning, see "camping joys") we wrapped up the camping portion of our trip (tear!).  We were headed in Croatia, into an area that was in conflict as recently as 1991 and still had active land-mines in the forests and other un-paved areas.  So...understandably we planned hostels and warm showers to play it safe.