Almost got an early start this morning, but found out that the big mall by the river was open on Sundays and had a phone place, so we headed over there and waited for their 10am opening. Half success: it worked with calls, but no data again. We got yelled at by guard for biking on the esplanade, then finally worked our way to the bridge back across. Lots of bikers, walkers, and bladers out on this sunny, slightly windy day. Stopped for drinks at the same stand I stopped at 11 years ago; much expanded, and more crowded. Some Slovak kids were admiring our touring bikes, and we talked with them for a bit. We then proceded on to the reservoir dike, which went on forever. winds slightly against us, which made it longer. Finally crossed the dam and went in to Gabčíkovo, where we had a really excellent lunch and free wifi! Took alternate road to reconnect to the trail with no problems. Between the towns of Narad and Sap there was a pub called Texan; I tried to explain to the folks outside that we were Texans, but they didn’t seem too concerned. About 15 miles out the trail became gravel…very loose gravel, so loose that it really was unridable. Map showed a secondary road we could take that would lead to the main highway, so we got off and followed it. After half a mile, though, it went from paved to packed dirt to Oh-my-gosh-did-they-bomb-this-place?. Ruts the size of a Volkswagens, some of which had been partially filled with crushed roofing tiles. After a bone-jarring couple of miles, we finally reached the main highway (see picture of John above). We stopped in a local pub about a mile later, which was Hungarian (still many ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia; of the 15 million Hungarians, about 5 million live in the so-called “successor states” of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; lots of dual-language signs in this region, for example, our stop today is Komárno in Slovak, Komárom in Hungarian). Refuelling helped, and we made it to The Olymp Pension (owned and operated by a two-time Olympic medalist in canoeing). We cleaned up, then walked across the bridge to a lovely dinner overlooking some docks. We walked back by the big statue of Franz Léhar, their favorite son, and whistled airs from The Merry Widow as we retired for the night.