This morning I woke at 5.20am, but in all honesty it had
been a disturbed nights sleep. Funnily enough not because we had railway lines
on two sides, believe it or not, but we were visited in the night from 12am –
2.30am by a couple. Didn’t get too close, but the noise level was just enough
to stop me falling into a fitful sleep. Julia roused at the same time and by
6am we had packed up a soaking wet tent thanks to condensation and dew. My
sleeping bag was wet as I had left the front door rolled up overnight and
because of the design of the tent, it had dripped. We’ve been checking out
different brands on this trip and the German makes look excellent. Waterproof
and practical in the design aspect. On the move down small lanes and bike
tracks, just as the sun was trying to break through and add some warmth to the
equation.
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| One of the many delights of cycling - you don't scare the wildlife away. Not that this guy looks scared of much! |
The riding was a slow steady plod, the only way to travel on
a long tour, usually averaging about 15km per hour. Came to a little village with a seating
arrangement, so decided that as there was only us, the birds and local factory
workers clocking on, we’d stop for breakfast. Sitting in the early morning
light looking at a number of houses that are derelict. Beautiful homes in their
day, just left to decay and now probably too expensive to do anything
with. Off again on nice roads, not too
much traffic although the hills were making an appearance. In the little village of Otzdorf after
stopping to check our progress, a nice man who could speak no English, in his
own way suggested that we go and see the castle at Kriebstein. Gestured how to
get there and away we went. It was about 4km out of our way, but a great piece
of advice. The castle was founded in the 15th century although the
usual rebuilding has taken place, but it was fantastic and we enjoyed a lovely
stay, looking around.
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| Kribstein Castle |
Heading now for Hartha, where we badly needed to get hold of
a map for the area we are currently in. On our way, after a huge climb, we
found a kids playground in which to lunch. It was ideal to hang up sodden gear,
when bugger me….kids come out of nowhere and expect to play on the bloody
stuff….I don’t believe it…! Hence,
although lunch was tasty, our gear dried on the ground with the help of a light
breeze. On to Hartha where after a
little fluffing around we found the Tourist Info office and a lovely lady who
told us how to head for our destination today.
Now…in the 70s, one of my favourite television shows was about this
particular castle. Never thought I’d get a chance to visit it, until we were planning
this tour and found how close we would be. The place and castle is….Colditz…I
can hear the theme music as I type this entry.
Fifteen kilometres later and we cruised into the town of Colditz. I was
already planning my escape, just in case we were suddenly captured by enemy
forces and taken to the fortress. Would it be a tunnel, or a glider perhaps, or
maybe I’d just walk out the front gate in German uniform, or hide in the used
laundry. Robert Wagner’s coy smile came
to mind as I thought about his escape efforts along with the other allied
forces.
The castle is massive and extremely old, 13th
century. It has been used as a place of learning and a hospital on different
occasions, but we were there to visit the museum and the info surrounding those
WWII years. We had planned on staying at
the youth hostel at the castle, but I’m not sure what the travelling youth are
used to paying for a bed, but apparently the older you are, the more you pay.
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| The impressive looking Youth Hostel inside the castle |
Not this tight git….so after a great time
taking as much info on board as we could retain, we were off to the campsite,
via a supermarket, where we had to shelter from a huge downpour. Fortunately it
did pass and eventually we made our way to the site. Went to set up in a great spot, when a couple
of kids decided to build a bonfire right next to us. That really pissed us off,
but we weren’t waiting to get covered in smoke.
So set the tent up in it’s new spot and then as has become our pattern,
I blogged while Julia showered and then she uploaded the photos while I
showered.
As we were preparing dinner, six Dutchmen came cycling in –
all of them we found out later over the age of 65. They were cycling for a week and had done
140km today!!! They were all on racing
bikes it has to be said and they had a friend driving a campervan with all
their gear in it, but nonetheless, a fantastic effort and very
inspirational. They all set up their own
tents and went over to the restaurant for dinner – while we cracked another can
of noodles and pasta sauce and added a can of green beans on our little gas
stove.
After reviewing the day’s photos over a cup of coffee, we
zipped up the tent and settled in for the night.
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