October 22, 2013
Czech this out!: What a place!
Country Number 16 - Czech Republic
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The only man that I ever knew who was from the Czech Republic was the mechanic at my rickshaw company in Edinburgh, Jiří . He had told me that his country was fantastic for cycling in, a suggestion I dismissed as the fantasies of a clearly deranged man. I should, however, publicly thank and credit Jiří for being the man who drilled through my sheared rear rack screws, allowing this tour to even take place. And I'd like to say if you do ever meet Jiří don't be afraid to let the clearly deranged man near your priceless bike frame with a drill, he'll do a fine job.
Anyway, the point of this introduction is that Jiří's fantasies were, against all the odds, actually true. I crossed the border and came immediately to a map board showing me cycling routes on quiet roads. These were wonderful and there were lots of other cyclists too. One of these, a middle-aged man on a road bike, pulled alongside to talk with me. His name was something like Milan but he spoke no English. Even so he rode alongside me for a while and even phoned his wife, who was out on a training run nearby (she was training for a marathon) and organised for us to meet with her along the way. So we stopped and waited on a bridge and watched as his wife came jogging across a field and joined us. She introduced herself as Natalia and spoke some English. The whole point of all this appeared only to be to welcome me to their country and to ask if there was any way that they could help, even trying to arrange for me to stay with their daughter in Prague. I was really struck by the friendliness of these complete strangers.
After saying goodbye I cycled on, another cyclist giving me a thumbs up and me being completely happy, taking a main road for a while but satisfied with the wide shoulder. I arrived into a town which had cycle paths, a nice park, even a Lidl! As if all that wasn't enough, in the centre of the town I found three map boards with maps of the town and the area, each at a different scale, and all showing the many bicycle routes. This was incredible! What a place!
Today's ride: 31 km (19 miles)
Total: 7,981 km (4,956 miles)
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