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.