Czech Mate

Well its been awhile since setting off and as you know I had hoped to blog a little more regularly than currently is the case, but hey ho. When I cycled down the road waving goodbye to Liz (my sister) and Mum the feeling is you never really know what the heck you are letting yourself in for. Its just another adventure. Questions like how long will it last? Will I make Harwich? Will I fall off going up this hill before I have even left Cheltenham and look a real idiot!!!
Well the reality is that you keep peddling, focusing on the next gradient, junction or whatever. Progress not too bad so far, Prague was my first major step if you like and I have made that; i'll worry about future goals in due course.
I had penned a blog in message form on my tablet but time and events have overshadowed that so wont regurgitate that.

On a journey like this, as I'm sure you know, the mental problems are the hardest to deal with, also the need to build a decent rhythm into the day and the ride. Essentially its getting over the tarmac as quickly as possible and not treating it as a couple days sightseeing tour, although every sound and site is worth looking at of course. I took the easy option starting off in Holland, just amazing cycle path routes where with a map and even my appalling sense of direction, you can find your way around easily, and of course its flat. Great country, loved Amsterdam although could only stay a day as it was their public holiday so no hostel accommodation spare. Loved Edam, very pretty, working my way north to just south of Groningen before heading south east into Germany. The Dutch love their gardens, every one manicured inevitably with canal frontage, not a scrap of rubbish anywhere; you do gain a slight perception of the 'Stepford Wives' syndrome but its just they are rightly proud of their country. I had originally planned to head north to Denmark and Sweden but changed that due to the weather, cost and time constraints.

Germany, crossing into Haren took me down the central south east corridor passing through Hamlyn which was beautiful; very affluent historically and probably better known for the Grimm Brothers tale of the local Authority renaging on its promises!! Spent an afternoon in the Uni city of Gottingen really thriving. As with Holland, Germany have excellent cycle routes, some of which follow the rivers like the Weser around Hamlyn, it adds to the mileage but it is a great trip.

Half way through Germany you cross into what was East Germany and their still is a perceptable difference in affluence and architecture. Villages and small towns have dying edifices of the former Soviet style buildings no longer used. As some of you know, I worked in Kazakhstan recently and I swear that they borrowed the same Soviet architect who build many of these buildings in Germany pre-uninification. Completely lacking in any sense of style. Those English gentlemen who decided that the Soviet way of life was so much better in the 60's surely did not consider architecture in their decision making process!

The countryside in the central region is undulating fairly bland in many ways, reminds me of Essex or parts of Wiltshire. Towards the Czech Border the hills start coming and the scenery improves, similar in many ways to the Dales or Exmoor (so it must be good!!). Close to the border you are also close to Bavaria and consequently the buildings reflect that, traditional wood etc, very attractive, and nestling in that vicinity is a city called Plauen. A delightful place with trams, rebuilt with inordinate character. Maybe it was the people who were so pleasant. Plauen like Hamlyn (I think) grew affluent on the lace industry. 75 per cent of the city was flattened during the war and the city was subsequently ignored pre unification. Its claim to fame along with Liepzig was that between them they started the movement for unification and clearly had little love for their East Block regime.

At this point I have to admit to a little cheating. Yes I took the train for 50kms between Plauen and Cheb in Czech Rep preferring to cut through the hills than spend 3 days going over them. It took me 4 days from Cheb to Prague, looking at a map you may wonder why. Well as with previous countries visited you are encouraged to take either B roads or cycle paths which is fine and sensible. What the maps do show is that Czech is very hilly and that their cycle paths are not! What they are in many cases are a mix of dirt and forestry tracks wholly unsuitable for all except mountain bikes. 1 in 6 elevations up these tracks was not unusual so hauling the best part of 48kgs up these tracks wasn't a lot of fun. In essence when you see a distance between 2 points on a map, for a bike you can pretty well double it at least. Nevertheless its all part of life's rich pattern so hey! Prague is the undoubted highlight of this Country a fabulous city which, when I have finished this, I intend to explore. The rest, well unless you only wish to see the capital, I would perhaps recommend another way across Europe.

In Holland and much of Germany I stayed on sites, showers welcome. In Czech its all been wild camping so I arrived in Prague not having seen water (apart from drinking it) for 4 days; clothes unwashed for a couple weeks in some cases. Apart from the first 4 days and the last 2, the weather has been dreadful, thunder rain often continuous for 36 hours at a time. If I had waited for a break I would still be in north Germany! So you get wet, sweat, and the two merge, into a wet sleeping bag (Alpkit 1000 model - superb piece of kit) , a sodden tent, pack it all up and put the wet stuff back on again the next day and off you go. My tent hasnt dried out since Holland and in the hostel this morning I was checking it out and found a slug which had probably travelled with me since Holland! It was so cold that I was wearing 4 layers and had to buy a fleece in Germany. Best thing I did. In Cheb when I left it was 11 degrees and felt like it. Conversely, here today in Prague 27 degrees. Perfick!

Politics

Not something a traveller really wants to get involved with but I had one conversation with a bunch of German guys on a site who were very friendly, inviting me to join their piss up and watch the Germany v Portugal game. They wondered how we perceived Germany and my comment was one of general ok, respecting their work ethic and quality of product which is superb. They remain unconvinced about Europe and despite their economic dominance you sense a certain underlying insecurity which I find strange. I formed the impression that they are not huge fans of France either so if taken on a national scale the portents for Euro union future perhaps faces some challenges.

Routine

Well quite simple really, get up (if on a site on the road by 8.30am - if wild camping away by 6am) Eat what I have, pedal for 70 - 120 kms a day, usually its around 80-90, my worst was a couple days ago when I did less than 40kms in 8 hrs and most of that was on foot. My best 117kms the following day. During the day fuel up on water, chocolate milk which I have a real craving for. Pitch tent around 7-8pm and sleep straight off. Thats it. In total think I have cycled about 1,570 kms to date.

Cynthia (My bike)

Yes, now she is a major piece of work! A Thorn Nomad weighing in at 17 kgs to start with and named after my ex mother in law. Fully laden she (the bike) wanders all over the place and needs firm handling from the saddle. This resonates well with my ex MIL. Overall she has behaved well, the pedal crank came off in Cheb, but screwed it back in; then probably as a result of the bike falling down some steps in Karlovy Vary and a subsequent rough haul over mountain bike tracks, the rear wheel split at the side. So fixed that. The saddle could have been a problem, you either like Brooks saddles or you dont, well my arse seems to have taken to it ok. Mind you, when you are trucking along in the zone loads of different songs come into your head that you would never expect. I was singing Rawhide, a theme song to a 60's western starring Clint Eastwood, dont ask me why; well it got me thinking, you know those westerns where the guys have been in the saddle for days, weeks and ride into town, hitch the horse get straight into the saloon, a few Jack Daniels and within 5 seconds they have gone upstairs and through 3 different women! (Yes I know ladies, you think that timescale is fairly typical!!!!!!) Well in my case, I dont think I have even gone through the saloon door yet let alone progressed up the stairs! Boy the saddle does make you numb. Best thing I brought were the mirrors, necessary for Czech where the drivers hate cyclists. Surprising really since after ice hockey, cycling is the biggest sport. I cycled a couple of kms with a fella of 73, bloody fit he was too. He raced for Czech and completed in the milk race 1962 and made it up Porlock Hill without stopping.

 I plan to add some photos to this but no USB port on this piece of kit so will try later on another computer. Must admit I'm looking forward to a break, its been a hard ride, harder than I had thought, but hey its great for the waistline getting my racing snake figure back again!

Thanks to you all for your interest, not sure when the next blog will appear, but will do my best. Yvonne, the T shirts look great and drew a few comments here yesterday. All the best.