Our longest shortest day

Instead of waking to the sound of hotel hoovering, or Danube wildlife today the bells of Osijek Cathedral toll loudly at 6 am - they must be early wakers in Osijek. We are excited at the prospect of a shorter day of only 45 miles through a wildlife reserve as recommended in the guidebook, though with a warning about landmines if you leave the track (just when I thought it was safe to have a pee). We get hopelessly lost very early on and retrace our steps several times. Eventually we find the right track - with the help of 6 Croatians pointing to the map. We now have to go under a barrier and go off road ( well we did want to avoid cars and trucks) . We see two white tailed eagles, several breeds of heron, a grebe and most spectacularly of all a female wild boar with her young (boarlets?). This novelty soon wears off however when the unsurfaced track goes on for eternity and we realise we have made a 25 mile detour barely managing to get above 4 mph - the surface is just grass at times. Rejoining the highway we are met with unusually (we hope) strong headwinds (from the North) and the road into Hungary is a real grind. Clare I think must be feeling better as she starts barking orders from the sliptream about stepping up the pace. It is nearly 6 pm when we arrive at Mohacs, absolutely exhausted after nearly 9 hours in the saddle .The hotel gives us free beers. We hope the wind will not be the same tomorrow. (Osijek to Mohacs - 62 miles)