Blog: Through Europe with the Blazing Saddles

Shropshire's Henry Brydon and his friend Jamie King are cycling 25,000km through 25 countries to get from London to Sydney. Keep-up-to-date with their progress with their regular blog.

The pair, who set off on May 3, are raising money for Brain Tumour Research and the MS Society.

• For more on the pair's journey click here.

• To visit the friends' website click here.

This blog was written earlier this month, from Budapest, Hungary. The pair last tweeted on June 17 when they reached Zadar in Croatia and saw the sea for the first time since leaving Calais.

Current Location: Budapest, Hungary

Days on road: 35

Distance: 2517km

Number of countries visited: Seven (UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary)

Believe it or not, we have successfully completed one month on the road - these blogs are not being written from a shed in Surrey. It certainly feels like an achievement already and long may these months continue.

A staple part of every evening since we set off is to write all of the highlights (both good and bad) that occur during the day in a 'Black Book', together with a lesson learned from each day on the road. Not only does this mean nothing is forgotten as our minds deteriorate with age, but we should also have a publishable book of over six hundred modern day philosophical musings by the end of the trip. These golden nuggets of road wisdom are all directly relevant to the life of cycle tourists and extend from the subject of this blog, 'to find the full strawberry, you must dig deep within the jam jar' and 'don't dismiss Lidl supermarket, loitering outside can generate unexpected relationships'. Pretty special stuff I think you'll agree.

So since our last update we have continued east along the River Danube as it slowly but surely increases in width and velocity, most stunning between Passau and Vienna. As you have probably heard, Central Europe had silly amounts of rain, in fact more rain in May than any other year since records began ... no problem if you're perched up high in the hills, but a problem when you're cycling next to one of the largest rivers on the continent.

A rather rude awakening occurred just outside Gyor in Hungary last week when in my sleepy morning state I zipped open the tent to begin my ritual and was confronted with four inches of water that had filled our porch and unfortunately the entire area which houses everything we own.

A small part of me was tempted to keep quiet, zip the tent shut and go back to sleep in the hope that it was just some kind of evil Narnia nightmare, but unfortunately '"We're flooded, bud" were the first words that came to me!

Our waterproof bags were certainly given a run for their money and in most cases, the rain won. Most of our stuff was drenched, but with only a couple of days to carry it before Budapest's washing and drying facilities, we just had to crack on in the incessant rain.

In order to take our minds of the brutal thunderstorms at night we have resorted to such tactics as cranking the Prodigy's track 'Thunder' at full blast on the speakers with a flashing bike light acting as a strobe whilst dancing in a like epileptic seals. Simple things....

Couchsurfing.org is a movement that some of you may be familiar with, and is something we stumbled across in Austria when we decided that it would be a cool way see some of Europe's major cities from an insider's perspective with the added bonus of being completely free accommodation (and dry).

We pinged out a few requests on the site for Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest offering in return a free and totally uncut Blazing Saddles ukele/harmonica extravaganza and/or dish washing in optional petticoats. We've been inundated. From student parties in Vienna, penthouse apartments in Bratislava to staying with Arpad in his pad in Budapest. He is a nutcase who has recently cycled 8,400km up to the tip of Norway and who has some big ideas for future trips.

Each stay has been truly awesome and thanks to Helele, Linda and Yannis, Arpad, and Brigette for making each visit seriously good fun and memorable.

If anyone reading this has not been to Budapest and has a few quid lying around I insist that you get over here for a long weekend. It's an epic city with the most incredible vibe that is hard to explain - just get over here and see it for yourself.

Vienna is a city with hidden delights. Other than the nudists who occupy the eastern stretch of the Danube and the top class nightlife we met a modern day saint.

Micka, or Saint Michael as he has come to be known, was soaking up a couple of cold ones on a sunny Friday morning before his dentist's appointment.

Micka's past, it turns out, is more colorful than the most psychedelic kaleidoscope. He bought us beers aplenty and we chatted away about the trip, his adventures in China and philosophical outlook which can be captured by the phrase `pimp your soul´.

He took us on a bike tour of the city whilst heckling anyone and everything in a 10-metre radius with cries of Oopla (code word for get the hell out of my way). His salute and shout of `I captain´ was taken in the wrong way by the local boys in blue who proceeded to give Saint M a severe telling off and full search.

Our fun filled day was cut short when Henry mentioned it was Good Friday. Micka's face went pale as he realised that he has to be at work, tiling a roof. Before we parted ways he invited us back to his house to load us up with some home grown veggies, he drank one more beer, vomited, then wobbled off to work. A true legend.

So where to now? Our fairly speedy progress of up to 130km a day has given us more than one month until the Exit Festival in Serbia. We have tickets, so we have decided to take some much needed R and R and hit the Croatian coastline for a couple of weeks.

We will be hooking back up to Serbia via Bosnia/Sarajevo for what looks set to be some incredible riding.

Anyway, its Monday morning as I write this and we should really be getting back to work. We have an interview and a photoshoot shortly with Hungary's largest tabloid newspaper so we must find the Immac bottle and comb our dodgy beards.

Our office today is Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Europe and a pretty darn cool place from what we have gathered. It's a tough life.

Henry and Jamie