It was a perfectly peaceful night last night and we were again serenaded by golden orioles at first light.
The trail cam didn't record anything but during breakfast I did bottom out a bird call that I've heard several times before on continental Europe, but which has always been a mystery to me. As the coffee brewed, the until-today tormentor began. This time, armed with the (mostly) excellent Merlin app, I was able to record the calls and the app reported common quail. I was then able to confirm this from the database of calls recorded on the equally excellent Collins Bird Guide app so, finally, mystery solved.
I've seen quail before but not heard them, and heard them but not seen them. From this point forth, bring it on, quail.
We bumbled off contentedly but pretty quickly re-entered a world of juggernaut-infested poorly surfaced Slovakian roads heading roughly southeastward. Though more rolling and bucolic than yesterday, there isn't much to report from the remaining bit of Slovakia we traversed until the last few miles before we hit the border with Hungary.
Two things of vaguely interesting note, then. The first is that we're now convinced we've bottomed out the formula for finding the cheapest diesel a country can offer. Basically, note prices as you drive and memorise the most competitive. When you then need fuel and reach a station that matches the best prices +/- a truly negligible amount, stop and fill to the brim. Here's the guarantee: the very next station you encounter after the one you've just filled up at will, absolutely, be the very cheapest in the entire country. This happens without exception. We filled at €1.45 / l and then drive past the very next station at €1.43 / l.
The second thing of note before leaving Slovakia was that the last two small villages we passed through saw an obvious shift in ethnicity. We suddenly and unexpectedly found ourselves, most definitely, amongst wattle and daub communities of Roma.
The shift was stark and the territorial demarcation seemingly rigid. All that was missing was a border control point. Hmmm...
Anyway, we made it through the enclave without having to show passports and are now in Hungary. We've visited this country many times before and, to this point anyway, have always felt quite at home here. It was certainly the case that the first few miles we drove on Hungarian roads were a much more relaxing affair: it's the first time in a couple of days that there hasn't been a queue of cars, vans and trucks behind us waiting to time an overtake.
We're currently in the hilly northwest of the country and have pulled up for the night in a woodland clearing (coordinates and pic). From here we did a run together down through the wood, which proved a few merciful degrees cooler than full exposure to the sun.
The clearing we're in is also excellent for butterflies and, to this point (as well as more if the same species so far encountered on the trip) I've seen white admiral, a fritillary I couldn't identify and a day-flying Jersey tiger moth.
Emma has hopes for the area as we've already heard a lot of large-animal crashing in the woods and we're apparently on the outskirts of brown bear territory. She's also already spotted boar and badger prints. The trail cam is set.
What could go wrong?
Post composed at 22:15 on Thursday 31st July from our intended overnighting spot N 48.41505°, E 20.53146° / http://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:48.41505%2C20.53146