28 June 2016 (sunny, cloudy warm, with showers) 66 km

Who on earth would take a baby camping?  The family camped right next to us, that’s who!  And that baby did what most babies are great at……cried all bloody night!  It was 2.30am before it finally shut up for three hours and at 5.30am it was at it again.  It must have had something wrong with it, but you’re not in a very understanding mood after three hours of sleep.  So we brewed up a cup of tea and started packing up.  Breakfast in the tent and then when the drizzle stopped, we broke down the tent, loaded up the bikes and we were off.  Incidentally, even though that camp looked so good when we pulled up, the shower card they gave us didn’t work, we couldn’t get wifi and we got no bloody sleep – three very important things in a bikepacker’s life so that camp gets a 1 star rating from us and that is only because it was so clean, otherwise it would be a zero.

So a quick ride into town and a stop at the supermarket and we were back on the Elberadweg – or cycle way alongside the Elbe river.  This is a superhighway for bikepackers of all ages and stages.  Most were out for the day or a week, but there were plenty of them. It wasn’t too far on that we found the perfect spot for morning tea….or as we call it…the rest of our breakfast! There at the side of the cycle path was an undercover area to eat, a fence to hang a soaking wet fly sheet on, and some nice warm concrete to dry the inner on. What more can you ask. As we sat eating, a couple of German guys came by with cameras. Now…some of the rocks and scenery around here are stunning, so we naturally assumed that they would be shooting that.  

Konigstein

Not at all…..trains…yes trains…! They set themselves up at the side of the tracks and began taking photos. They were there a while too as trains were coming by at the rate of one every four minutes. Meanwhile, Julia was giving me a much needed haircut with a pair of sewing scissors. As she cut I asked her….”Do I look like Brad Pitt sweetheart”…. “More like Cess Pitt” she replies.  And that is why I love her….or is it….and that is why I love her? The weather had dried the tent but the sun was fighting dark clouds for supremacy, with the clouds coming out on top, so not far down the road, just after Konigstein, we had to dive into a pergola type set up, but it only lasted a couple of minutes before we were off again.

Stunning scenery as we cycled through Saxony-Switzerland as they call this part of Germany

And some stunning houses too!

Into the town of Perna with the clouds still hanging around, but the sun fighting back. To the Tourist Info, where Julia asked for maps of the area, but they only had those affecting the town…?  

The lovely little town of Perna

The river Elbe is a constant threat, shown by these high
water marks, the highest of which is from 2002.

Had a look around and then headed off on the cycle trail again, this time for our destination today…Dresden. One minute we were stripped down, the next we were putting on rainjackets. The riding however, was pleasant throughout and by lunchtime we were well down the route and enjoying the river after a lot of hills in Czech. Lunched in a covered pergola again, enjoying the river and watching the cyclists going by.  One couple had been playing change the leader with us for a while and they stopped for a couple of minutes for a breather and a bit of a broken conversation. It’s these kind of interactions that make the touring so much fun.

Cosy lunch stop - just cooled down enough here for us to enjoy our coffee - jackets were off again about half an hour later.

Now we were heading into the outer suburbs of Dresden……and very nice they were too.  There is a lot of money round these parts that’s for sure and each home seemed like it was trying to outdo it’s neighbour.  

Our personal favourite - the more turrets the better!

Then we saw the castles….three of them in a row all looking down on the river.  As we cycled in, there was a massive green area going for several kilometres – just acres and acres of grass.  The farmers amongst you would have been totting up how many cows you could feed off that.

All in all it was a very pleasant and stress-free ride into the city without having to ride on the road at all.  And then came the impressive Dresden skyline.  We were surprised how many old buildings were there as we knew the whole city was flattened during World War ll but apparently they have rebuilt many of these old buildings.  They have done an outstanding job because you wouldn’t know they hadn’t been standing there since day dot.  

We both thought the bridge was a rebuilt job as although the materials were old, they just looked too precise – well that and the two cranes that were being used to put the finishing touches to the bridge.

After wandering around oohing and aahing for awhile, we went to Tourist Info to get a free map of the area – no such luck.  So found a McDonald’s and had a McFlurry each while we googled directions to a campground, uploaded the blog and wrote down directions for tomorrow. 

When we got out of McDonald’s it was nearly 6pm and all we had to do was find highway 170 to get to our campground.  We were trying to figure out which way to go when an elderly gentleman on a

bike asked if he could help us, in German.  We apologised that we could only speak English and he switched to English – a bit broken but way, way better than our German!  We explained where we wanted to go and he said, “Follow me” and in five minutes had taken us straight to highway 170 and pointed out the cycle path at the side.  His name was Mendel and we thanked him profusely, (hope he didn’t notice that Pete called him Mental!), and were at the camp in forty minutes after picking up some groceries on the way.  Little things like finding your way easily and having a supermarket on your way without having to divert to one can really make your day.  It would have been nice if it had been flat all the way, but we all know campgrounds are either at the top of, or over a hill.

Pitched tent in a very busy campground for $32 NZ – missing those Czech campgrounds already!  A couple came and pitched next to us, pulling a tent out of a box, very new looking panniers and bikes.  We suspect this is the first day of their very first tour and they have gone out and bought all the stuff.  Their tent is twice the size of ours and must weigh a ton!

Got showers and had a very late dinner at 9pm and looking forward to a sound night’s sleep tonight.

27 June 2016 (cloudy, sun and warm) 55 km

Sometimes doing this cycle touring thing, I feel and probably look like a homeless person. You pack up all your belongings and move from place to place looking for somewhere to lay your head each night. It’s really only like a homeless person, except that we’ve traded the supermarket trolley for a bike. I’ve mentioned in previous blogs about our ability to find camping spots beside railway lines, well last night was a new one even for us. In Decin, where we lay our heads, we found ourselves under a fly over…I do not lie….a bloody flyover..! Now what bright spark thought…hey let’s build a flyover and just to get some return on that outlay, we’ll put a campground directly underneath it. All we needed last night was a couple of cardboard boxes and we’d have felt right at home. We not only had a new experience, with a road going over our heads, but some prat from the railways thought “we could really piss them off and put a line through here”. So we had the double whammy….if the noise from above didn’t get you…the bloody trains did. I thought long and hard about the situation last night and decided that someone up there….isn’t too pleased with us. I realise I can make the odd aloof comment when it comes to religion, but I reckon the fact that Julia’s maiden name before she married me happened to be ..Hobo…is giving someone the last laugh…! All we need to do now is camp next to an airport……and we’ll have planes…trains….and automobiles…!! Maybe the film studios will get hold of that one…

Late start to the morning, rising at 7.30am to a sodden tent once again. It had been drizzling all night, but our dome on the inside was dry. Over to the kitchen for brekky and to use the wifi and power. Possibly the fastest we’ve encountered. 

Our last Czech city - Decin (pronounced Tetchen)

Rode the short ride to town, picked up some food for later, found a postbox…yes that’s right….not e-mail, but an actual postcard, from the cave man days, before we headed out of town for Hrensko, in the Bohemian Swiss National Park….don’t ask me….we’re on the German Czech border? Thinking that there was bound to be a Bankomat…or automatic teller at Hrensko….Pete didn’t get any money out and we only had 89 Czech Kroner left….sounds a lot, but it wouldn’t even get you a decent feed. Beautiful cycling through a scenic gorge on a lovely smooth road….a touring cyclist’s best friend….arrive at destination….no Bankomat…nearest one 11km away. The language used was not pleasant…so I told Julia not to talk like that….There was no option but to cycle into Germany, to the next town of Bad Schandau. It was all on cycle path and great riding…so off we set. 

the riding was beautiful this morning and scenes from a model a train set at every turn

the lovely little German town of Bad Schandau

Checked into a gorgeous camp there after getting some money out and then made the trip back to Hrensko. 

Hrensko

Now the reason we were visiting this particular place, Pravcicka Brana was on the advice of our darling daughter Briana, whose Czech friend Andrea had said we must visit it if we were going past as it had the largest bridge shaped rock in Central Europe …… and the ride and 45 minute climb were worth every Kroner…except that now I‘d paid in Euros.  

Met a Korean guy whilst we were up there and he offered to take shots of Ju and I whilst we did the same for him. He was on his own and is travelling around a few countries during a summer break from his studies. Was telling us that the average working day in Korea is 10 hours and the average wage is $7 per hour. He is currently studying, but doesn’t like his mechanics course, but will probably finish it because he will have limited opportunities. A job in the Hyundai factory is the ultimate in his line of work. 

After taking numerous shots and walking on the available trails we made our way down, meeting up with Gee Bum, our Korean buddy, on the way down. Then the cycle back. The weather, as is common around late afternoon, was looking dodgy, but it held and we picked up supplies from the supermarket and headed back to camp. After a delicious meal, we did some work on the blog and prepared ourselves for the trip up the Elbe river tomorrow to Dresden.

Pavcicka Brana

Some reflections on Czech.  We both feel sad to be leaving this wonderful country of contrast and surprises, not to mention cheap campsites.  We have had lovely surprises visiting towns we knew nothing about to find beautifully preserved old town squares, churches or a castle dominating the scene.  We have also had the wonderful smell of native clematis accompany us every day (well it looks like our native clematis and smells like it too – don’t know what they call it over here).  We have also had the not so wonderful smell of sewerage works as we seem to cycle past every one on the outskirts of every town.  You also get the occasional whiff of sewerage as you cycle in the streets.  There is a vast amount of beautiful old buildings left to rack and ruin, often right in the middle of town, as well as not so old buildings which have been started and inexplicably left to rot halfway through construction.  We wonder if it had something to do with the global crisis of 2008.  And then there’s the whipper snipper fascination!  I think Czech will always remind me of Beauty and the Beast – yes there is ugly stuff, but the beautiful stuff more than makes up for it.

26 June 2016 (sunny, cloudy, warm) 68 km

In case you didn't see yesterday's blog, you can comment now....I think!

After a terrific storm last night, we woke to the following calm. The tent had made it through the night without any obvious problems and I have to admit to having a great sleep, once I managed to let go of all possible scenarios, involving us abandoning tent in the middle of the night. The thunder and lightning show last night was a doozie and anyone remotely nervous about being outside in that kind of weather, would have freaked out. Not only was it loud, but bright as hell and on a couple, Julia and I gave each other those looks which say…there ain’t no way we’re gonna survive this one.. All in all, for the intensity, our little dome did great. Woke early to the sound of light drizzle, but rolled over and went back to sleep. When I next opened them, we began our pack up. It was only then we discovered that water had crept in underneath the groundsheet and soaked through to the inside.  However, this was just under our sleeping mats so we actually had our own little waterbeds going on.  They just needed a dry out which they got later on in the morning along with a very sodden tent and fly sheet.

Out of camp and to the local supermarket, where Julia discovered she’d lost a sock. She’d left it on the back of her bike when packing up. Camp only a half km away, so back to check…no luck. Left Brozany nad Ohri, a very nice little village and off on quiet roads to Keblice, where we spied a school, just sitting waiting for us, complete with covered eating area, goalposts on which to hang the tent and fly sheet, as well as table and chairs for us…perfect….when it comes together….it really comes together…doesn’t take a lot for us…! 

After a delicious brekky we were off again on small farm roads to Lovosice, where we’d planned to follow bike route number 2 up the river, cross the bridge about 10kms up and continue the rest of the 20kms up to Usti nad Labem on the east side of the river on the bike path.  So we found bike route number 2 at Lovosice due to good instincts rather than good signage and what a lovely ride it was up the west side of the Elba River.  

Lovosice

We kept our eyes open for the bridge which should be appearing but there was no bridge - instead we found the ferryman on the smallest ferry ever, not leaving for another half hour.  So, rather than waste time waiting, we decided to stay on our side and take the road as it had a good hard shoulder and nice smooth surface – and as we’ve discovered in the past, this is something you can never be too sure about with bike paths.

Scenes up the Elba river

Castle in Usti nad Labem

It was a great ride and we were approaching Usti in no time with an unexpected castle atop the hill to welcome us.  We rode into town to get a new map from Tourist Info as we’d already pedalled through the one we got yesterday.  A lovely guy in there gave me a free map of the whole area, a map of Decin where we planned to camp, information about how to get to the campground and a book about the whole region.  I thought this would be great, it was all written in English and we could learn a bit more about the area over lunch.  So next stop was the supermarket, which we located quickly and while I nipped in to grab our lunch supplies, Pete stayed outside to guard the bikes as there were a number of dodgy characters about.  

the leaning church of Assumption - although I was
always taught to never assume as it makes an ass out
of u and me.

Five minutes later I was back and Pete had done a little tidy up.  He’d torn the bits we needed off the large area map and kept that but thrown everything else in the bin, much to my disgust.  So we will have to remain completely ignorant about this area.  One of the things I was really curious about was the leaning church.  It’s not so obvious from our photo but the front tower was on a definite lean and you wondered how it was still standing.

From Usti we crossed over and finally onto bike route number 2 which happily had a good surface all the way to Decin.  We were also thrilled that it was totally flat so our legs could have a bit of a rest.

Usti nad Labem bridges

Interestingly, we have barely seen a bikepacker the whole time we have been in Czech but as soon as we choose the flat routes by the rivers, we start seeing loads of them.  Obviously most of them have more sense than we do!

We reached Decin about 4pm and found the campground easily – not by a railway for once, but right underneath a couple of motorway flyovers!  The stanchions have silhouette paintings to decorate them, depicting all manner of different sports.  I’ve photographed a few because the one “sport” depicted which really amazed me was……whipper snipping?!!  Seriously, there were no other work related things on these stanchions at all.  It is a fascination that the Czechs and the Slovakians share, but we just don’t get it! 

Golfing, Cycling and Whipper Snipping?

Monastery at Decin

So we took our bikes across the grass as far away from the flyovers as we could.  We didn’t pitch tent immediately as although the thunderstorm last night had certainly cleared the air and reduced the temperature by about ten degrees, it was still pretty warm.  So Pete had a beer and blogged while I showered and then we pitched the tent before going to the supermarket to get our dinner supplies. 

Back at camp we had the kitchen to ourselves so we cooked dinner while the computer charged and then I blogged while Pete showered.  Settled in for what will probably be our last night in the Czech Republic.

25 June 2016 (sunny and unbelievably stinking hot!!) 75 km

Before we go any further, if you have been wanting to comment on our blog and been unable to do so, please try now as I have changed one of the settings – thanks!

There is not much to say about our sleep last night, as we got virtually none. Things began alright. Went to bed around 10.30pm after having a beer at the camp bar, where there were a few rowdies, but nothing much. We’d finally decided on a site, close to the road and just across from the beach, thinking that all the noise would be coming from the far end of the camp where we had checked out earlier. Not bad thinking, however totally wrong. That is because, the people who create the noise still had to go outside the camp, probably into the local town, 10 km away and then come back at 2.30am in a group of about fifty, stand…and I kid you not, right outside our tent, talking at full volume, shouting, laughing, singing etc. Now on occasion whilst touring, it has been known for me to have a word with one or two guys who have done the same. Common sense prevailed in this instance and it was a case of having to listen to these yobs for an hour before they disappeared.  Talk about aggravating.

Because we couldn’t pitch the tent where we wanted, we also had to take the full brunt of the early morning sun and so there was no lingering trying to catch up on lost zzzz’s when that sun starts to make a sauna out of your tent.  So we packed up quickly and quietly and were out of that camp by 6.45am.  We stopped a little bit down the road where we had our first swim to cool ourselves down before we started.  Pete couldn’t find his boardshorts though so just strutted down to the water beside me like he was wearing a pair – a pair of white ones I might add as he has quite the tan lines at the moment!

With our new map yesterday came a change of plan to our route.  We had thought we would take a more or less direct line through Teplice to Decin, then to Dresden.  However, our new map revealed contour lines and also some vast empty spaces with no small roads in the direction we had originally planned.  We assumed the empty spaces must be quarries, but we really have no idea.  This limited the amount of small roads open to us as most of the roads seemed big, so we chose instead to venture further south where it looked a lot flatter and there was a cycle route basically following the River Ohri.  Our thighs are aching and looking forward to some flatter roads for awhile.

Zatec town square

We had a great start with flat, smooth roads into Zatec where we immediately came upon our preferred supermarket (thank you to our sponsors!), Kaufland, where we were able to get all our goodies for breakfast.  Then only five minutes up the road, we found a lovely shady seat in a park where we ate our breakfast.  After brekkie we went for a look around Zatec which is nice old town with some buildings renovated and others waiting their turn.  We didn’t dilly-dally too long however because of the heat and soon we were on our way to Louny, where we were sure we’d feel right at home.  We stuck to the main road as it was not too busy, had a good surface and was reasonably fast riding so we could keep a breeze going, albeit a warm one.

Louny old town gate waits to swallow us up

On the edge of town we stopped at a garage for a cold coke and a Bounty to share, then cycled into Tourist Info to see if we could find out where the nearest campgrounds were.  We struck gold with the Tourist lady who gave us a great map showing campgrounds, the nearest of which was about 40km away, and she also told us where we could swim in the river.  So after negotiating our way out of Louny where once again the bike route signs sent us down a bumpy farm track rather than an actual road, we cooled our tempers with a deliciously cold swim about half an hour up the road.  The river was brown and murky, but we were desperate and it was just what the doctor ordered.

The river may have been murky but the dragonflies were spectacular

Kept the energy levels up with a couple of apricots but didn’t feel like anything else…..it was just too hot to eat.  

Pete takes a break in the shade at the castle in Libochovice

We stopped at Libochovice for a look at their castle and an ice-cream in the shade before grabbing our groceries for dinner and heading for the campground.  The temperature today would have to have been about 36C we reckon and you could feel the heat coming off the road to increase the intensity.  It really was like cycling in an oven, so when we saw some kids swimming in a murky pool in the town of Chotesov, we jumped in and joined them.  

Libochovice Castle

However, after the river, this was disappointingly warm, so we just dunked ourselves and continued on in wet clothes to cool us down.  Looking back, I can’t believe we went in there – man it was disgusting!

After that we were heading for the campground at Doksany …. on undulating terrain, but good roads and we could see the storm clouds building to the north.  This time we were hoping they would catch us!  So we stopped at a supermarket to pick up a couple of cold beers (the Czech beer is beautiful – even I’m choosing it over a shandy or a wine!) and the storm caught us.  This crazy wind came out of nowhere and just blew hundreds of leaves off the trees and blasted them horizontally across the front of the shop.  We thought wow, we better get to this camp which was only a km up the road, but it was a bit of a struggle with that wind.  Luckily, the wind subsided as quickly as it got there and in five minutes it was all over.

Arrived safely at camp to see a group of four Czech men who were out cycle touring for a week that we had seen when we stopped for our ice-cream.  They invited us for a beer after our showers (both of us had cold ones by choice) but we already had our beers which we enjoyed while blogging in the kitchen and powering up the computer.  Had quite a lot to do tonight on the computer with backing up and deleting photos, wages, checking emails etc.  So we had our dinner in the kitchen as hardly anybody came in and by now it had started raining.

One lady who did come in offered us each a piece of weiner schnitzel, which we gratefully accepted.  It had stopped raining so Pete went and set the tent up while I continued with the computer and then had our coffee and pastry as we looked at today’s photos, retiring to the tent about 10.30pm.  As we lay down on our sleeping mats, we noticed constant flashes and wondered if it was lightning.  Poked our heads out of the tent and sure enough, it was, although no accompanying thunder and no rain….yet.  We had thought of our problem with our leaky tent and devised a new system to deal with it – some people may call it a black rubbish bag, but we called it our stormcover.  Of course we had come up with the idea while pondering things in general as you do on your bike, but we hadn’t actually got round to making it yet as there were always too many other things to do in camp, like drink beer and coffee and blog or catch up with friends and family.  So there we were, nearly 11pm with a head torch and my miniature sewing scissors, quickly cutting the bag down the sides so we could then drape it over the top of the tent, tying it to the guy ropes with a spare shoelace and two of our bike bungees, hoping we weren’t getting bitten alive.  Back into the tent not a minute to soon.  The storm moved right over top of us and down came the rain by the bucketful.  The thunder was well and truly in residence now and clapped so hard it felt like it shook the ground.  Gradually it moved away but the rain stayed.  A brief head torch inspection showed the stormcover was working – we can’t believe it wasn’t ripped to pieces at the height of the storm – so we snuggled down to sleep.

24 June 2016 (sunny and stinking hot!!!) 67 km

I feel I should explain our reluctance to buy maps.  Firstly, on a bike you need quite a detailed map, therefore any maps you may buy, if they are detailed enough, will not cover a large area.  Most likely you will cycle through this area in a day or two and then you have to throw the map away – very wasteful and very costly.  So we usually call into Tourist Info and grab one of their free maps of the area.  However, Karlovy Vary were very stingy with their maps and apparently had no free ones of the area – so today we will be relying totally on the directions I was able to gather off Google Maps.

The sun woke us at 6.30am, despite us trying to set up so we would be in the shade first thing.  Already it was too hot to stay in the tent so it was off to the kitchen to prepare and eat breakfast while we topped up the computer with some power.  We have been using our Macpac solar charger but it just doesn’t give the same charge as a plug in the wall.  The tent was dripping with condensation so we turned the flysheet inside out as we ate and it was nearly completely dry by the time we were ready to go.  Last thing we did before we left was jump in for a cold shower, Pete soaking his buff and me my crop top to help keep us cool for longer.

So off we set with our google map instructions and hit a problem straight away.  I had written down that we took the second right to a town called Lesov.  There was a small right of way and then a road turning in the direction we wanted but a sign saying that was the way to Ostrov.  We were unsure if the right of way would qualify as a road on google maps so continued on the road we were on, uphill of course, looking for further clues, when we came upon the town of Lesov.  This thoroughly confused us but we had no map to refer to.  So we just kept going seeing as we were at least heading in a northeasterly direction, which is what we wanted.  When we got to Ostrov, we saw a sigh pointing to Velichov, 7km away.  This was on my list of towns to pass through so we turned east and followed this road up quite a torturous climb, but we were still cool and well rested at this stage and handled this no problem – although I was annoyed at having missed the right road, right at the start of the day.  Although the climb was a long 3km, at least it was in the shade and the road surface was good.  We then had a delightfully cooling ride down 3 km in the shade to the lovely village of Velichov.

A beautiful old house fallen into a terrible state - all too common over here, but the horses are grateful for the shade

The road I had chosen then followed a river through a valley and although there were a few up and downs, it was nothing too draining and we were mostly in the shade to cap things off.  Then we came to the tiny village of Jakobov, looking for our northwesterly road out.  The only one that seemed to fit the bill, quickly deteriorated to a gravel track.  We checked with a couple of local ladies and they said yes, this was the right way.  So we carried on and got a bit more tarseal before it changed to gravel and then dirt.  I said to Pete it was only about 5km and we would be back on the road as we would reach a village then and this was probably saving us a lot of hillwork.  I personally really enjoyed this part of the track – riding your bike more like the mountain bike that it is, plus I had the thrill of a fox trotting across the path about five metres in front of me.  It was also mostly in the shade and that was vital as it had become incredibly hot.  I’ve got to say though that as the track became nothing more than a dirt line through a grass field, I wondered how on earth it qualified as a road on google maps.

Google said it was a road!  But hey, it's supposed to be a bit of adventure too!

the Beautiful town of Kadan - and what a surprise with it being stuck between two nuclear power stations!

Still, it got us back to the road with not too much sweat involved and we had a lovely, although undulating ride through to Okounov.  From there, for the next hour, it was uphill and down dale and we were feeling it.  But we were rewarded at the end of our endeavours with fantastic views of the town of Kadan.  

We had no idea what was going to be there – to us it was just a dot on the map and somewhere we were going to pick up supplies, but it was lovely.  Although it has to be said, it was still stinking hot!  We walked our bikes into the town square and found Tourist Info.  The two ladies here were a lot more accommodating than the Info ladies I had talked to in Karlovy Vary and magically managed to produce a free map of the entire area especially for cyclists.  So we thanked them profusely, bought our lunch supplies and spotted a bike shop.  Pete’s bike was still squeaking and groaning, not quite as bad as before he had the crank replaced, but still bad enough to know that all was not right with his bike.  So we ventured into the shop which was marvellously cool and asked the guy to take a look at it.  He seemed to be convinced it was the pedals so replaced Pete’s pedals all too quickly, charged us $16 and we were back out in the heat in about fifteen minutes.  And of course it wasn’t the pedals at all – we drove down the road and squeak, squeak, squeak.  Couldn’t be stuffed going back so just carried on, looking for somewhere shady to eat.  We had decided today to only ride for half the day as we heard it was supposed to be so hot and we had found a campground on the side of a swimming lake.  So we headed out along a great road and managed to fly along this.  There was not too much traffic for a main road and before we knew it we had swallowed up the 16km to the camp by the lake.  We stopped by the lake and went in the water in our shorts as it was just too hot to look for the campground entrance, hunt out our money and our passports etc.  Felt so much better after that but after expecting a reasonably easy day, we had still done 67 tough kilometres in crippling heat.  Checked out the first camp which seemed dirty and sloppily managed so cycled to the next one which was run by the yacht club.  It was very cheap, only 120 kroner ($8 NZ) and very big and busy.  Being a Friday, there were a lot of Czechs coming to the lake for the weekend.  We drove down by the lake and found a quiet spot in the shade where we just spread out the groundsheet and had a very late lunch at 4pm.  There were two deserted looking caravans near our spot and while we ate, their noisy owners came along and opened up while their dog came and pissed on Pete’s bike.  Luckily it was only a little dog and Pete was able to drown it when he pissed on it……don’t mess with the master, dog!

Then their kids got out their beach ball and started playing soccer with it and of course, every second kick was over by us, so Pete had no choice but to stuff that beachball over the little boy’s head and suffocate the little bastard.  We thought at that point we had better move as the last straw was the sun had now come around and removed the shade from our spot.  So we packed everything back on the bikes and moved further into the camp and found a lovely shaded glen, all to ourselves with no caravans anywhere near.  The only thing that did concern me was there were two fire pits there and I hoped it wasn’t where all the teenagers congregated to when the sun went down.

By now we were ready for another swim so immersed ourselves in the murky, warm water gratefully.  Came back and sat on the groundsheet while I typed the blog and Pete cleaned the bike chains, enjoying the mellow sounds of the thrash metal being played at 100 decibels about thirty metres away.  I feel Pete could be on for a hatrick.

It is now 8.10pm and I could still be on for a hat trick, but after listening to thrash metal at close proximity for an hour, we moved behind some trees, which took some of the sound away. Then, no sooner had we done that, but a bunch of petrol heads decided to set up shop in the neighbourhood…pissheads definitely in the making. So we did a recce and found a spot. Currently after spending the last hour at the camp bar, listening to more pissheads, whilst we tried to get wifi….which we couldn’t, we returned to our tent and on the way discovered newly cut wood, for the little Czech campfires that they have all the freakin time in this place. It’s like watching Neanderthal man and his amazement that he can make fire. Today would have to have been 35 degrees….and they’re lighting fires. Even now, it’s bloody warm, could you not learn how to make ice sculptures or something useful, like ice hotels?

I have written previously about the driving here in Czech, but have perhaps not mentioned their passion for drinking whilst driving. HELLO….did you not get the memo….? The whole culture here revolves around drink….and a good drop they brew as well, I’m the first to admit it, but seriously at 9am in the morning…? We may have a problem here I believe…!  So, as the sun begins to sink low in the clear blue sky, it’s time for some dinner before I continue.

Sunset over the lake tonight

Complete with one of the nuclear power stations

Campfires a burnin…drunks are staggering about the campground… and noisy thrash metallers are trying to see how many burst eardrums they can achieve in one session. Our tent position looks out over the lake which we’ve been swimming in today. We crossed a dam which was 3km if not longer and I am currently admiring its sleek lines. We are coming to the end of our time in Czech and a good time it has been. After speaking to people in N.Z. who hail from here, we thought there would be more English speakers, but there are not as many as we would have imagined, not that they need to, this is their country and with England voting to leave the EU today, there may be fewer still. The scenery, architecture and history are a dream for travellers and it is cheap to live here compared with other countries we’ve visited. We have traversed from East to West and even fitted in a tiny bit of the South. In a few days we will be back in Germany, with much higher prices, but good cycle lanes.  So time for bed and hoping we can sleep through the heat and the noise.

23 June 2016 (sunny and stinking hot!!!) 48 km

We set off this morning full of trepidation.  We knew Karlovy Vary was only about 25 km away, but we also knew it was in a mountainous environment and we were not looking forward to any more hills.  So it was a slow start to the morning, due in no small part to the dread we were feeling at the expected hills to come, compounded by the fact it was already stinking hot when we first rolled out of bed at 7.30am – luckily we had pitched the tent in the shade, otherwise there would be no way we could have stayed in the tent past 5.30am.  Unfortunately we couldn’t linger too long as we had no breakfast, which was a shame as we didn’t see Herbert before we left.

We had a good start with a nice flat road right outside the aero club and welcomed the gentle crosswind which cooled us down a little.  The roads we had chosen were very quiet with hardly any traffic, although the road surface on a few was pretty bad.

We turned northwards and the wind was now a tailwind as we cycled through Hlinky and got a long downhill section, thinking all the way down it uh-oh, here we go, uphill in a minute.  But no, it was a mostly flat ride through to Stanevice where we finally found a shop.  And he had big wooden tables and chairs set up in the shade outside, with no drunk man lurking around.  So we sat there and enjoyed our breakfast, cycled out of town about half a kilometre before hitting another downhill stretch.  We couldn’t believe it.  Surely we must be almost through to the middle of the planet by now?  No wonder we were exhausted yesterday – we must have climbed a long way.  This downhill stretch went on for 5km, and the road surface was immaculate hotmix.  We were in shade all the way with a tailwind – a cyclist’s dream…….we were just waiting for the nightmare to start.

We cycled through the village of Brezova and followed the signs to Karlovy Vary, only 5 km away.  But we came across an unexpected bridge and an extra turn, so stopped to check our directions.  Just then a racing cyclist pedalled up the slight incline behind us, so we asked him if this was the way to Karlovy Vary.  We thought it must be as the compass was pointing North and that’s the direction we wanted.  To our surprise he said we were better to turn around and go South and that road would take us right into the old part of Karlovy Vary and continued on his way.  We looked at each other in disbelief – do we believe this guy or is he a mate of Rudi’s?  It made us re-examine our map though to see if this could be possible……and we realised he was right.  So we turned around and had the most beautiful flat ride through a valley following a river, on our beloved hotmix, with very little traffic, in the shade.  Fantastic!  It was only for the last km that the hill finally appeared, and it was a good one, full of switchbacks and full sun, but we did have some marvellous views to distract us.

Karlovy Vary is a stunningly beautiful town, full of ornate old buildings and with a pedestrian zone to walk through to admire it.  They have mineral water here flowing out of taps in the main street that you can fill your bottles with for free, which we took full advantage of.  There are masses of high priced shops, fashion, watches, jewellery etc which we did not take advantage of. 

Karlovy Vary is a well-known spa town and it looks like many people come here to treat themselves, us included.  In fact first order of the day was a McFlurry each as they had an outside deck in the shade and at 34C, man we needed cooling down!  We also took advantage of their free wifi to upload the blog which we hadn’t been able to do for two days.

We tried in vain to find the Tourist Info but could only find a rip-off place trying to sell maps and exchange your money – we already had Czech Kroner and there was no way we were going to pay for a map.  So using Google Maps we found our way to the only campground in town, cycling our way halfway up a hill (at least it was only halfway!) in the heat, only to find they took mobile homes only.  Groan!  So it was back into town to grab some groceries for a picnic by the river.  We were hoping for a dip in the river but it was filthy – we had wondered why people were only sunbathing and not in the water.  So, no campground, stinking hot…would have to be one of our hottest days and we are on the tourist trail, heading into the town to see what it had to offer.

Karlovy Vary is situated amongst dense forest in a valley and just the setting alone is beautiful, but then you throw in some of the most gorgeous buildings, from churches to hotels, ornate pavilions to fantastic homes and your camera never stops. Anyone wanting a wellness and spa holiday, this is the place to come. The heat by now was overbearing and after we parked and locked the trusty steeds by the side of the canal, we decided to take the cable car to the lookout, whereas we were thinking about walking it. The ride up takes about three minutes, but with no opening windows, it felt like thirty three. We were gasping at the top and it was only a light breeze that cooled us somewhat. 

Once again the views were incredible. Vistas of the town and surrounding forested areas, all very alpine, which is in fact what it is. Shot after shot and then down the one hundred and fifty stairs, because the bloody lift wouldn’t work…and yes…I counted every one!

Nobody had nicked the bikes so that we could claim exorbitant amounts on the insurance, so next time we leave them, I’ll leave a little note with a couple of beers as enticement. Our next point of interest involved a friggin big hill, not long, but really steep. 

It did however provide us with more great photos and a good finish to our tourist gig. Then, back into town for dinner and to check our outward bound route, before we stocked up for breakfast and hit the road. Must have had the Gods looking down on us tonight and they took pity on two weary travellers, because we navigated our way to our campground at Sadov along the river and up some shady lanes, where we first of all crashed on the groundsheet with two cold beers before Ju went for a shower, I carried on with the blog, we put up the tent and then I showered. Great way to end the day.

Just as a footnote. For those of you who have previously read our blogs, you may be familiar with some mention of campgrounds and their vicinity to railway lines. In fact, as we were winding down for the evening around 10.00pm, it suddenly occurred to us just how close this campsite was to the noise of locomotives. Now, as a boy I loved my first train set, eventually building on it, until I had a fine array of engines, carriages and a good length of track. Let’s face it….it’s all about the length of track. Anyway I digress….I had wonderful times with that model railway….until after moving out of the family home…..my father sold or gave away the bloody lot!  Over the years whilst travelling, Julia and I have found it strange how we are drawn to campsites in close proximity to railway tracks.

So I have come up with a rating system for these sites.

1 star……within 10 feet of tracks…freight trains only, passing time..no less than half an hour, night time hours  predominantly.

2 star……within 50 feet of tracks…freight trains with a couple of passenger cars, operating no later than 1.30am and no sooner than 5am.

3 star…..within 100 feet of tracks…local commuter trains operating until 12.30am and not beginning until 6am

4 star…..high speed trains running between normal waking hours at a distance of 500 feet

5 star…..Not a friggin train to be seen or heard anywhere…!