Journalists and bloggers came to see the new developments
On the second weekend of November three Hungarian and two Croatian bloggers took their bike, in order to get acquainted with the newly developed infrastructure elements of the EV13 GAP project, and visit the border area.
First part of the tour, from Barcs, the Hungarian Drava “capital city” on a short 30-kilometre section of the EV13 (the Iron Curtain Trail) led to Croatia. The first resting point after the border was at the Janković Chateau in Kapela Dvor, where a self-service service point for cyclists has been set up, with pump, hex, wrench and cone wrenches, screwdrivers and a mounting stand.
After the group has turned right in Turanovac, to the west, they took a look at the small belfry, then through several small villages arrived to Križnica. The settlement is located in beautiful nature, on the left side of the Drava, right on the Hungarian border. State border here is not following the Drava river, but the Rinya creek, that is also referred as “Ó-Drava” as it had been centuries ago a branch of the Drava. The village is accessible through a suspension bridge above the river for pedestrians and cyclists, for cars a wire-rope ferry is available. After the visitors have tasted the speciality of the local restaurant – fish soup made from six various types of fish, with gnocchi and local bread freshly made of scone-dough – they took the same route to get back to their accommodation.
On the other day light shower turned to heavy rain, but the newly built cycling path to Drávatamási – as it goes on the left side of the Drava is going on the floodplain forest – provided a unique experience. The EuroVelo 13 has been going on the same route, signposted on a dirt road on loose terrain, which was muddy in rain and dusty in dry weather, therefore mostly hardly appropriate or inappropriate for cycling. For this reason the project has got the name “gap”, as its primary objective was to make this section rideable for cyclists, which is now possible through a nine-kilometre long and 2,3 meter wide cycling path.
The tour on Sunday stated with a visit to the riverport, then – passing below the Drava bridge – arrived to the public beach. Here cycling and water tourists may camp for free, toilet facilities on the public beach from May till September offer warm-water showers all day long. Cycling forward on the new path, in four kilometres a rest area is found, which has also been established by the project, which was a good shelter in the heavy rain. After a short rest, then five kilometres of cycling – including two small uphill sections – participants arrived to Drávatamási, where – although the route is going forward – the study tour was finished.
The project „EV13 GAP – Filling the gap: completion of the cross-border section of EuroVelo 13 between Drávatamási and Virovitica” (HUHR/1601/2.1.1/0006) is implemented through the Interreg V-A Hungary-Croatia Cross-border Cooperation Programme, with co-financing of the European Union, in cooperation of the Town of Barcs and Virovitica-Podravina County from Croatia. The project is not only in line with the development of the EV13 route, but also aim at the development of cycling infrastructure, services and promotion in the border area. Through these measures it is achievable that cyclists will be more acquainted with the beautiful landscape, local people will be more involved in tourism service provision, which altogether significantly contribute to maintain local population in the sparsely populated area.
