If there was one thing that tied this tour together, it was: variety. On my last two tours, I had an experience dominated by one element (like the
heat) or landscape (those endless piny hills of inland Sweden). But over these two weeks I had a bit of everything: beautiful still  clear days, headwinds, tailwinds, days where I was soaked to the skin and days when I spent hours obsessing over where I would find a graveyard to get water. I slept in wild in the woods, in campsites, some of them abandoned, in hotels and hostels, and out in the open in a bandstand. I passed from decaying industrial landscapes in Poland and the Czech republic to domestic holiday destination packed with Poles or Czechs, to cosmopolitan Plzen and trip Germany.

The one constant was the excellent, dreamy, demanding cycling. Actually, demanding is the right word, because though I enjoyed every second of it, I was very conscious of not making good progress at the beginning of the trip, and starting to struggle to make the distance in the Czech Rep. Am I just unfit? Getting too old? Carrying too much weight? With apologies for the quasi-scientific style (it amuses me and likely no-one else) - let's take an empirical approach:

Total miles ridden: 870 (1,400 km) including transfers
Touring miles ridden (full days): 769 (1,237 km)
Total hours in the saddle: 87 hrs
Full days in the saddle: 13 (excluding rest day)
Mean miles per day: 59 (95 km)
Mean miles per hour: 9.7 mph (15.6 kph)
Mean hours/day: 6hr 5m

Well, this doesn't help my case. I averaged slightly shorter days still compared to the Black Forest (103km, 6hr 50) and much shorter days than the, now frankly scary, numbers for Sweden (average 122km, 6hr 44). On the other hand, I went further, for longer, and faster than last year. Maybe I am just getting past it?

Oh well, let's have a look at how much I climbed:

Meters climbed total: 14,937m
Meters climbed/day: 1,108m
Average climbed/day (outside Poland): 1,333m
Total descent: 14,837m
Biggest continuous climb: 381m over 11km - "category 2" (Bolkov)

15K? What?! How did that happen?! For reference, Mount Everest is about 8.8km high.

And there just weren't any of the huge, all-afternoon, lung-busting climbs I had in the Black Forest. But the thing about the Czech Republic in particular is: it just rolls. It's like a giant Devon or Wales, which is no bad things, except every direction there'll be pretty little hills, and they add up, and take it out of you. Consider that my biggest day in the Black forest - Shauinsland - was "only" 1,300m in total, and I can start to see why I was getting so fatigued. Outside of the relative flatness of Poland, my average was 1,333m (so more than this every day) and there wasn't a single day when I didn't climb more than 1,000m. I speculated on whether I was hitting 1,000m on some days, but didn't really expect this.

But ... what about my Swedish trip? The climb average there was also >1,000m per day. I have a simple answer here: it's wrong! (my description of the hills as "generally very gentle" seems to bear this out). The Swedish numbers were based on the elevation data supplied by the mapping website - and I could see, especially around the remote regions of the border, they were full of artefacts, as I've now written up in some detail. One day, for instance, is down as 3,300m (ha!) - in reality it's practically a third of that. This time the data comes straight from the GPS and so is much more accurate.

Pilsner consumed: Enough that I was actually tired of it by the end
Calories eaten: Slovak string cheese. Halloumi. Gnocchi. It all adds up.
Calories burnt: No clue. But less weight loss again
Most meals in a day: 4 (Plzen rest day)
Body fails: Minor shoulder aches. Risk of fainting in rural Czech shop. A bit hungover from too much Pilsner.  

The good news is the old body is holding up well, much better than the terrible dehydration in the Rhineland last year (even my eyes dried out).

Punctures: Zero! (the record continues).
Mechanical faults (that made me stop to repair): Not one. I barely even inflated the tires.
Losses: One tent peg
Gains: Another sweet German hat

What a record! I can only look to the amazing performance of the Shift here. The frayed shifter cable I noticed: worked fine for the entire tour, and I still haven't replaced it. The "noisy" jockey wheels were inaudible once I got going in earnest. Marathon/plus continue to be amazing. After returning, I put the shift away for three months before riding it again - and everything was still smooth as silk. I almost wish it went wrong a bit more often so I'd have a chance to practice my maintenance.

Falling off: None! I suppose I came a bit close on the very loose sand off-road in Silesia, but was going so slowly that it hardly counts
Car trouble: What can I say? The Poles and the Czechs were just impeccable, really courteous and careful and friendly. Someone honked me once, but I sort of deserved it.
Bad roads: It took some more planning, but my problems were more often with dodgy surfaces off-road than bad traffic. There were a couple of occasions where I found myself holding up Polish/Czech trucks, but they never made me feel unsafe.
Navigation errors: I was really happy with the way the GPS unobtrusively allowed me to avoid these, this time. Sure, there were times I took a route I regretted, but nothing like not being able to find France last time. But..
Non-existent services: Two campsites and one sinister youth hostel with "no room". Sort it out, ADFC!

Paper maps still are far superior for planning and "strategising" the route (if you can call it that). I'd only bring out the GPS when I sure I didn't want to mess up. Leaving it alone and letting myself explore the landscape is still the preference. It was also invaluable for finding accommodation and restaurants, which is usually something I want to do in a hurry and not mess around too much (and here the OpenStreetMaps performed really well).

Number of nights camped: 12
Nights in hostels: 2
Cheapest campsite: 3€
Wild camps: 3
Temperature range: A good 25°C (9-34°C)?
Rainy days: 3
Number of days my tent stayed wet: 4

Real variety in the accommodation, temperature, and rainfall kept me on my toes. I wouldn't say the weather was kind to me this time, but on the plus side I did get to exercise all my various clothing, including an impressive showing from the waterproof socks (this time).  The panniers were as totally waterproof as you'd expect, my lack of mudguards still isn't really bothering me, and my now rather aged tent can still stand up to a downpour (though the groundsheet seems to be going, somewhat).

The only real constant (other than the hills) was that it was cheap - really cheap in the Czech Republic, and still reasonable in Germany, even when I was staying in pensions and hostels.