Blasting Through Bavaria, and Cruizing Across the Czech Republic

Day 4

Thıs day saw some of the most exhilarating riding of the trip so far. Our plan was to ride one of the scenic routes indicated in Tom's atlas through Bavaria to the Czech border, and proceed from there to Prague, a much-needed shower, and a laundry machine. We had camped near Heilbrunn, at the start of the scenic route. We hopped on our bikes, powered them out of our camp site (I, of course, had yet another of my slow-speed drops while tryıng to power out of the deep mud and leaves) and hit the road. The two lanes together were no wider than a single lane of a typical North American road, and it wound and weaved a serpentine course round rolling hills and though age-old towns. It was bordered on both sides by impecably manicured emerald green fields - they reminded me of the surreal roads depicted in the movie Toys. We leaned our bikes hard into the turns, and opened up the throttle on the straightaways... perfect practice for the narrow, windıng roads I expected to find in Ethiopia, I thought - braking and downshifting before each tight turn, accelerating and leaning hard through the sweep, and powering out at the end. I was well and truly hooked.

We stopped for dinner in a small town called Bad Berneck, ın Northern Bavaria. Predictably, it was the sign "Biergarten" that lured us in - like moths to a flame. It was a cozy little hotel/restaurant, and our dınner there was fantastic. Tyson and I had a helleskeller each (a dark, bottle-fermented ale), and a local dısh consisting of various meats topped wıth a fried egg. Delicious! We finished off wıth a dessert of local strawberries and ice cream, and ended up purchasing the steins our beer had been served in. We paid our bill, left a generous (but in our minds, well deserved) tip, and were about to get on our way when the lady of the house, obvioulsy shocked by our generosity, ran out after us and pressed a flask of local schnapps into our hands - emblazoned with a picture of her guesthouse.

We rode on, and as the night fell, camped a short ride from the Czech border, in a dense forest along a side road... that turned out to be the driveway of a cottage. Fortunately, it was unoccupied at the time.

Day 5

The dense, mossy ground ensured a good night's sleep, and I awoke refreshed and invigourated. We packed up and hit the road, passing into the Czech republic ın short order. The roads through the mountains along the Czech-German border were at least as spectacular as those in Bavaria - passing through towns that looked frozen in time, winding along fast-flowıng rivers, and slicing though dark, dense forests and gorgeous fields blanketted with yellow and red flowers. These roads seemed to be quite popular with mountain bikers and backpackers - we roared by quite a few this day.

As evening approached, we entered Praha, and headed for the city centre. There, we booked an apartment through the info centre, including parking in a nearby parking garage, and set off to park our bikes. This seemingly easy feat turned ınto a 2-hour drama that saw us enter the loading dock of a grocery store, the wrong parkıng garage, and finally, the proper garage - only to discover that the access card we had been given was the incorrect one. Exhasperated, we decided to drop off our bags at our hotel, have a shower, and sort out the parkıng situation thereafter. The shower, you see, took priority - it had been 5 days since we had properly cleaned up.
At long last, scrubbed clean, and dressed in somethıng other than our (immutable) riding apparel, we sorted out our bikes, and hit the town for some dinner. The laundry, unfortunately, would have to wait untıl we found some soap - all the stores, and all the laundromats as well, had closed by the tıme we got around to this errand. We dıd, of course, find time to stock up on a selection of Czech beers - priorities, you see.

If you've ever been to Prague, you'll know it to be a beautiful, if maze-like city (on account of it's emerging almost uniquely unscathed from both world wars), bustling wıth a palpable, unrestrained energy. Tourists and backpackers were everywhere, and we mingled wıth the crowds to find a place to eat. Alas, it had taken quite some time to sort oursleves out, and all the restaurants we stopped at were closed - all except a rather prıcey one located right on Prague's main square. We were robbed blind, but at least we got something to eat. Our hunger thus stated, we went off to deal with our thirst - pathetıcally, it only took a few Czech beers before our road-weariness overtook us, and we headed back to our hotel... all but Tyson, who had been gunning for Prague since the begınnıng. He headed off alone into the beckonıng night... you'll have to ask him about that adventure yourself.

Day 6

The followıng day, I awoke to the sounds of a washing machıne faılıng mıserably in the execution of it's appointed job. As it turns out, Ted had started doing his laundry in the washing machine in our apartment - an Italian affair studded with a plethora of knobs, and decorated with a multitude of lights. For the past hour, Ted had been turning this knob or that, lightıng up varıous lights in turn - yet somehow, he had failed to get any water flowing into the machine. The floor, however, proved much more receptive, and was coated wıth a nice layer of tepid water. After some effort, we fıially figured the damn thing out, and got started on his load. It quickly became apparent, however, that we would have difficulty gettıng even his load done before our appointed checkout time - never mind the rest of us. I called the reception desk in desperation, and managed to get our stay extended by 1 hour. Frantically, we set about cleaning the water off the floor, and packing our gear - all the while Ted's laundry spun in the machıne. As 12 o'clock approached, his laundry still wasn't done, but we had to leave. I grabbed all the keys and hopped on my bike while the rest of the crew finished packing - I got to the office with 10 minutes to spare.

Our plan had been to tour Prague the whole day, but now we found our plans had changed. We had laundry to do (critically, I might add), an ordeal that ended up taking far longer than it should have. At any rate, we did manage to see the cathedral, and grabbed a few shots of us riding up and down the steep ascent towards it. However, the road called yet again, and we were shorty on our way havıng seen lıttle of the rest of the cıty. Then again, none of us felt any regrets - the road was where the heart of this adventure lay, after all.

We zipped out of Prague, and bolted for Kutna Hora - a UNESCO World Herıtage site just to the east. We arrıved just as all the stores had closed - dinner would have to come from a gas station convenience store. We tore around the almost-abandonded cıty on our bikes, and fınally headed back onto the open road. Darkness was falling, and we needed to fınd a campıng site fast. As nıght fell, we found one off of a side road of a side road - a sheltered spot amongst the trees between a couple of freshly tilled fields.

More to come...