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Monday 26th May 2014 As the shops were closed yesterday we were on the road by 0800 with only a cup of tea and half an apple each in our stomachs. It was a long climb to the Vranov Dam, the Greenways trail going over it.
We only set a 30kms aim for today, to the wine town of Satov but Judy did notice that we would be climbing over 600m in total on this leg. For the first 13-14kms all we seemed to do was climb, albeit it was only steep in a few stops. Judy doesn't particularly like going down hills and when it is combined with either a potholed road or a dirt track she became even more concerned, walking down many long hills, much to Rags' disbelief.
The first stop was in the town of Cisov where we made a slight detour to see what remained of the "Iron Curtain". This fence was set up 2kms in from the real border by the Communist government with the gap of "no mans land" being cleared of the farmers who were there. It stretched 7250 kms from the Baltic Sea to Adriatic, this section
being all that remains in the Czech Republic. Until the mid 1960s it had 10 000 volts flowing through it. 390 people died trying to escape between 1948 and 1989. 654 border guards also died during this period, only 10 in conflict with people escaping, the rest by electrocution, gun accidents, drowning, or suicide.
Early on in the day, Rags had a puncture in the rear tyre of his bike, luckily this could be repaired without removing the wheel as the piece of wood which caused it was still sticking out. We made this a coffee stop as he fixed it.
We passed through a couple of towns, none seemed to have a shop open. In the next town we walked around the building a couple of times, asked someone using sign language, until finally the door to a small supermarket was pointed out, the door being in what we thought was a storage shed. We were able to buy a few white bread rolls and these were eaten in the local park spread with a meat mixture we had chosen from a previous shop. No idea what it was, may have been pet food, but it tasted
ok. Here, when Judy went to take out he thermos she found her bag was very wet; Rags started berating her for not closing the lid but when he took off the lid he found the thermos was shattered inside. So Judy had an apology. Having the thermos has been wonderful as it has allowed us to stop in all sorts of scenic areas for a cuppa. It was unceremoniously buried in the nearby bin.
Then came some more hard sections with steep uphill slopes, dirt tracks down and to add to our frustration Rags had another puncture. This time he sent Judy ahead as she was walking down the hills, warning her it may take some time. It took about an hour as he had to remove the gears and rear mudguard to get the tyre off and to renew the tube. Judy was well rested by the time he caught up with her, the final hill being too much for either of us to climb in one go.
Lukov was larger than we thought it would be, we couldn't find the penzion that we had earmarked last night and no-one we asked had a clue either
Second puncture!
Had to undo derailleur and mudguard to get wheel out. There is always one bolt that won't go back easily!what we were asking or where it was. Judy went in to check one but came out shaking her head. We finally followed a sign and found the Bohemia penzion that seemed ok for a night. No-one else was there so we took the double room with a kitchen and bathroom opposite us. Only later more people came in but they took the upstairs rooms so we didn't have to share the bathroom.
After a lunch at a restaurant we had been directed to, we walked around town looking for some shops only to find that on Mondays everything is closed, even all the wine cellars lining a cobbled street. This was most disappointing as that was the main reason we had come here, Ken and Jan giving it the thumbs up.
On our return, Rags went to pay and he asked about vino. The lady started beaming, went inside and came back with a sample of a delicious white. Rags gave his approval and asked for a small decanter. She then came back with a rose, also delicious and Rags gave his approval. When she came out again with a decanter of each, Rags only accepted the
Satov
On Mondays the cellars are closed.
We missed out! rose, not wanting to have both. (on reflection he should have). The decanter of rose cost him about $1.20 so he was annoyed he didn't take both.
Dinner was where we had lunch, another filling and delicious meal with Rags' camembert in a potato pancake being the highlight. The side dish of cabbage in a sweet pickle reminded us to try it at home.
We were both exhausted by then, the day in our opinion being one of the hardest we have done this trip. Looking at side elevations, the rest of the journey should be relatively easy.
Tuesday 27th May 2014 We only rode 22kms today to the town of Jaroslavice. It was an easy ride on flat roads and as we no longer have a thermos we had to look for an open cafe/bar. It wasn't until we reached the little town of Stratochice that we found one. There, a delightful young lady played charades with us and we successfully ended up with our black tea and coffee without sugar. Cost for the two? Less than A$2.
We gave her a 25%!t(MISSING)ip and she was delighted. Tipping isn't
prevalent here especially in the country areas.
About 8kms further on we came to the town of Jaroslavice and on finding a nice penzion, the Podzamci, decided to stay. After a change of clothing and a bit of freshening up we found somewhere for lunch in the main square, more fried food! Tasty though, and they had lemon beer for Judy and black beer for Rags. Everyone content we started exploring the small town, but as we had had a refreshing drink at lunch we both felt like we were dragging our feet so didn't end up walking up to the monastery on the hill. In reflection, we should have!
A snooze dealt with the next part of the afternoon, work and blog updates using much of the rest.
A tasty meal was had in the penzion restaurant and Rags finished the night with a slivovitz, described by the owner as an apricot liqueur. He couldn't get any fruit taste out of it, although Judy insisted she could smell the apricots, Rags just got a very fiery liquid which needed the beer chaser he had with it!
We intend making a longer day of it tomorrow,
Mikulov
Judy loved the smooth flat road. having booked what looks like a nice penzion in the town of Mikulov, 40kms away.
Wednesday 28th May 2014 We saw our first deer today! In fact we saw 4 during the morning but only the first one was close to us. Not a big deal really, just that we had been looking out for them when in the forest areas.
The ride today was, in Judy's opinion, the easiest we have had this trip, flat, smooth roads, no wind, and even though it was cloudy there was no sign of rain. In fact, we only had a little bit of rain early this trip, none since then, and we were led to believe that May was the wettest month of the year. You can be lucky!
Besides the deer we saw quite a few rabbits as we passed through the fields of barley or potatoes, these being monsters compared to the ones we have at home. With the abundance of green feed (and freshly sprouted potato plants) they certainly looked healthy. During the morning we did hear the occasional shotgun shot in the distance, farmers wanting their crops to be undamaged.
Mikulov
First view of the town with chateau dominating the city Pheasants, grouse and the sound of cuckoos made the whole morning an interesting ride, we entering the medieval border city of Mikulov before lunchtime.
The Fajka Penzion which we had reserved through bookings.com was a nice enough place, the room very brightly painted with a swathe of colour and a large wrought iron bed dominating the room.
We originally booked this for one night but on seeing it suggested we might stay two, not being able to have it over the weekend as well. When we found that the Internet didn't work in our room, nor did our dongle due to the thick concrete walls, we had second thoughts. Lunchtime clinched our decision to only stay one night, no dark beer or lemon beer available as it was too early in the season, and they tried to not provide the whole lunch ordered as shown on their menu. It may have been an innocent mistake but Rags was unimpressed enough to cancel the extra night we had obtained.
The afternoon was spent looking around the town which has been well preserved and restored. It is dominated by a castle built on Chateau Hill overlooking the town. It
Mikulov
The chateau was first built in the 11th century and rebuilt several more times in the 13th. Now it is a museum and you are able to walk around the inside of the 2m thick stone walls in manicured gardens. Inside there is a viticulture exhibition (in Czech) and a barrel which can hold 100 hectolitres of wine. The bishop who lived there must have enjoyed his little tipple!
By late afternoon our bodies were telling us it was time for a rest, we returning to our room. Here, after a short snooze, we did our off-line work so that we could upload when we find a connection.
Thursday 29th May 2014 It was raining steadily, when we woke up so we held off leaving until 1000. We only have about 17kms to get to our final town, Valtice, where the bikes will be picked up tomorrow. When we did leave the rain had eased and it wasn't too bad with all our raingear on.
Rags led the way, the road we were on were very smooth and easy to ride on, but still quite hilly. As we only had such a short distance
Abandoned Border Crossing
Crossing near Valtice to Austria to travel we both used the motors whenever it got too difficult, keen to get out of the rain. After some time we both became concerned that we hadn't seen a Greenways sign since the turn-off from which we came in on yesterday. The next village confirmed things, we were now about 8kms into Austria, at a town named Pottenhofen and were headed SW rather than East which was where we were meant to go.
After checking the map and the road signs we rode back a different way, returning to Mikulov after being on the road for about an hour.
On our way again, this time in the correct direction, we were now riding on more uneven and deteriorating surfaces. Just this should have alerted us to our error as the previous roads in Austria were so much better. We agreed to call it “our” error as Judy said she should have checked. Rags was annoyed at himself for assuming we were headed the right way.
We wound our way through vineyards, checking constantly for the Greenways sign. On reaching the summit of a hill, the marked track swung to the right. We both felt this
We did it!
At the town entry was wrong and on checking the map found that Valtice was actually away from the route, about 3 kms from where we were. Just as well we were careful or another extra bit of riding would have been necessary. Where we left the track used to be a checkpoint between the two countries but now lies deserted.
Valtice looked very attractive as we rode down the hill to enter it, stopping at the town sign to photograph the end of our bike journey. A few wrong turns again in town followed after being given directions we didn't understand by a local man. The Apollon Hotel looked very inviting as it proved to be when we in our warm room having a hot shower. This will be our home for the next 3 nights before we move on towards Vienna.
After a tasty lunch we returned to our room where we rested and worked, the town could wait until the rain stopped.
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Congratulations on completing the Greenway...
I's sure Judy will appreciate not having to peddle up or walk down more steep hills.