Hranice

September 14, 2014

When we leave in the morning we usually have little idea what the day will bring for us and by the end of the day it is often difficult to remember what has happened earlier in today. Today we knew one thing that we would spend the night at the Pension Ruzek in Hranice what else would happen we had little idea.

We left Olomouc (in the rain of course) and because of the difficulty we have leaving largish cities we used the GPS and put in one of the small places a little way along the route, this made things easy as it saved having to get the Ipad out all the time to check our route. It worked like magic keeping us on tiny roads. We came to a place that looked like a run down or disused military facility. As Ken said "it is lucky we aren't in a car we wouldn't get through". We came to the exit gates. Oh dear they were completely shut and padlocked. We would have to go back and retrace our steps. BUT when we got to our entry gate it too had been shut and padlocked. Were we to be hostages of the Czech Army and be kept locked up? There was a house beside the gate so Ken went and knocked on the door. Eventually a smoking man wearing slippers appeared. He said some things that I don't think were very complimentary but he got a key and came over and attended to the padlock as he told us more things about ourselves ( it was good we didn't understand a word). We very politely said dekuji and cycled off. I think he thinks the new plan to spy on the Czech military is on rainy days to send in 75year olds on heavily ladden bicycles, certainly a very cunning and innovative plan.

The rain was easing and the countryside lovely. The farming is on a really huge scale and there were hundreds and hundreds of acres of hops being grown all that had been picked. What we really wonder is, what happened to the farms at the end of the Soviet era ? The farms are massive there seem to be no small holdings. Who got the land? The villages we were passing through were very attractive such a change from the ones we had seen a few days earlier when we were closer to the Austrian border. We could even find a coffee stop.

Prerov was a large town when we came to and needed GPS help to get through. We had expected from here on things would be fairly difficult as the route looked wiggly and I always associate wiggles with hills. What did we find but the perfect newly asphalted Cyclostezka Becva which took us all the way to Hranice a distance of around 30km, it was beside the Becva river and perfectly flat, I felt I was on the Donau Radweg again but where were the people? Will it continue tomorrow?

They say it will be fine tomorrow

A fairly early 2 cylinder Fiat, Ken has not seen one like it before

There are apple trees all along the way and they look like children's drawings of apple tree

This is for the Wala men - adults were playing football on a very small pitch made of sand

The only group of cyclists we met along the way. I think we had gone invisible as they were completely non comunictive

Don't know what was happening here but it involved boats, beer and gold cups

Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 2,347 km (1,457 miles)

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