Day 80 - Boskovice to Stity: More of the same - No More Taxi Drivers

April 5, 2015

Day 80 - Boskovice to Stity: More of the same

Frozen puddles in the morning. Cold wind, snow, doom and gloom. Steep hills. I've seen at least a few snowflakes every single day since I arrived in Cesky Krumlov last month.

The villages I passed through were slightly less deserted than the villages I had previously passed through. During the week, all the villages are empty because there are no jobs there--the jobs are all in the towns and cities (this is an improvement over many other countries I have passed through, where there are no jobs in the villages, the towns, or the cities). Today they were nearly empty either because it's a holiday weekend or because no jobs means no businesses means no reason to be on the streets even though everyone has the day off.

I still had a headwind, of course. I passed some ideal camping spots (a rarity), but it was far too early to stop, even though I was tired of biking uphill and into that cold wind. Not to mention the snow on the ground promised a cold night. I felt chilled all day as it was. I have been seriously teased by spring since, well, the first day of spring, but it isn't progressing at all; in fact, it's regressing. I don't think spring is ever going to arrive for real. I'm just going to be biking into Arctic winds until I go home, where I will probably have to put up with more Arctic winds.

Just to add to the fun, the previously excellent mapy.cz site now holds a special place in my heart next to Google Maps because it sent me over the highest hill in the area. I know this because I could see a very, very long distance in every direction whenever I stopped to gasp for air at that excessively high altitude. You think I exaggerate, but everything was covered in snow, and at one point I could see three communications towers at once--very close to me--and we all know those are placed on top of very high hills.

And in the spirit of what goes up must come down, I froze on the short descent into Stity because my warm gloves and balaclava were packed deep in my panniers--why would I need that stuff in April?

When I arrived in Stity, I was, perhaps surprisingly, not in a good mood. That changed almost immediately when the first hotel I found was open, cheap, and came with a very friendly owner who spoke fluent English. He recruited his young daughter to carry my bags, found me some company for dinner (four guys on a hiking trip who were going to sleep in the forest, but at least they had each other for warmth), gave me a free slice of delicious cake, and was genuinely happy I stopped at his hotel. I guess he doesn't see many cyclists here. He even said I could stay in the room as long as I wanted the next day. Don't tempt me!

Looks nice, doesn't it? A classic example of how appearances can be deceiving.

Only at 600m--and still climbing. I give up, spring is never coming.

Note the door on this bus shelter. It was a welcome break from the wind.

This hill is so high I can see entire weather systems

I call this one Sunset Through a Dirty Window. I actually went for a walk to try to watch the sunset, but my room had the best view in town.

Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 3,753 km (2,331 miles)

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