Tuesday 26 May – more rain, but ending up in a castle

Tuesday 26 May – more rain, but ending up in a castle

Today we we had planned a shorter ride of 62km to Sucha Beskidzka south of Krakow. However this turned out to be long enough as we were in rain after the first hour and there were also a lot of hills.

Our start was delayed as Kris got talking with the intelligent young Pole working at the hostel. It was very interesting hearing his views on Poland and European politics. He spoke about the challenge with Ukranian refugees. His grandfather was lucky not to be one of the 22,000 soldiers executed by the Russians (Katyn massacre) but was deported to Siberia during WWII. Eventually an agreement was reached that Poles could join the allied forces, but they had to get to the allied bases themselves. So they had to walk from Siberia to the border in Turkey. His grandfather survived but the friend he walked with did not.

The start of the route was the most pleasant as we rode out of Krakow alongside the river for about 8km in overcast conditions.

riverview

We headed onto road 953 through a series of villages where we encountered road works and it started drizzling. We eventually turned off at Kalwaria onto a quieter road. We passed a huge 17th century monastery on a hill. There were a number of tourist buses but no tourists in sight, it was raining and pretty miserable weather at this time.

monestary

We were advised by a couple of people and also a map outside a hotel of a more direct route through to Sucha Beskidzka. This road was in very bad condition with lots of potholes and patches and also had lots of steep up and down hills – lots of them through forests. Road signs helpfully indicate the gradient, most were 9-12% but the highest was 14%. I had to get off and push my bike a couple of times.

We were getting cold by the time we reached our hotel in Sucha Beskidzka. The hotel is on the ground floor of a Renaissance castle and is called Restaurant and Hotel Kasper Suski. We are finding the Polish prices very affordable – for example this hotel costs around NZD 50 for two including breakfast and wifi.

sacha

I enjoyed getting warm and clean again. Kris did some maintenance on the bicycle brakes. We had a three course meal in the hotel restaurant – I had trout which was delicious.

Here is a photo of Kris adjusting bicycle breaks in the rain.

rain

Monday 25 May – Krakow

Monday 25 May – Krakow

We felt quite revived today for our ride into Krakow. The route went on 791 to Ogrodzieniec – Pilice. Then along 794 through Wolbram, Trzycha, Wielinoza, Skata, Brotowka, Korskiewsku, to Krakow.

It turned out to be an easy 70km as we had a lot of downhill runs as we came closer to Krakow. We also noticed that the quality of the roads had improved today (fewer pot holes and patches), presumably due to our proximity to the big city. We also saw our first other bicycle tourists – one about 30km before the city and a second (a Frenchman) in the centre.

The outskirts of Krakow didn’t look at all promising – with many ugly big square apartment blocks, congested roads and angry traffic. We circled around a bit to get into the centre and it started to rain quite heavily just as we arrived. We found a currency exchange, tourist information (for accommodation) and bookshop (for a map). Once these were sorted the rain had stopped and the place was looking a lot better. We decided to have a meal at an outdoor café on the main square. This was quite a treat, as they had outdoor gas fires that we could sit besides – nice and warm. We both had steaks and beer. We know from previous experience how good red meat is when you are cycle touring.

restaurant1          restaurant2

We then rode around to see the main sights. There were no tickets available for the today or tomorrow for the two things I would have liked to see – Wawal castle and the underground Krakow tour – so we just rode around soaking up the ambience. There are enough museums and tours to keep you busy for a week, and also horse drawn carriages, a real tourist Mecca. All the people in the centre seem to be tourists – we heard French and German, spoke to an Irish couple at the cafe and even saw some Indian and Chinese people. We talked to an eccentric solitary French cycle tourist. I guess we are eccentric too. We hadn’t come across many tourists during the rest of our trip – it seems that they are all concentrated in this one spot. After seeing hundreds and hundreds of cycle tourists in Germany, we finally saw two cycle tourists in Krakow.

krakow1

After checking into the Okay Hostel (couldn’t figure out if the name is marketing genius or idiocy), which is near the river, we rode around some more on our bicycle (another 15km in all around Krakow). The nicest place to ride is on a bike path alongside the river.

krakow2

There are heaps of places to eat and drink. We had a beer on a boat restaurant (one of many) and found a superb delicatessen where we bought some snacks and red wine before heading back the the hostel.

Krakow beer

The Okay Hostel is up two flights of stairs (a disadvantage with bikes) but otherwise I would recommend it. It is very cheap and based on the youth hostel model. We had our own room but shared a bathroom. It was not full, so not a problem. An advantage was that they had a washing machine that we could use to wash our clothes.

Sunday 24 May – Pentacost and Sunday afternoon rest

Sunday 24 May – Pentacost and Sunday afternoon rest

Today we we chose a shorter route – 71 km on flat terrain – as we felt we needed a rest. The route took us through Sadow – Kozecin – Sosnica – Woznika – Kozeglowy – Lgota Nadwarcie – Myszkow – Zawiercie. I was still sore and slow from the previous day. Kris adjusted my handlebars however and this has made an improvement to my comfort on the bike.

It was a cold morning and we noticed the smell of coal smoke as we rode through the villages. The plains of Europe are dotted with the large German built wind turbines similar to the ones we have in Wellington. Poland is no exception. We have seen many wind turbines, even in places where there does not seem to be much wind (when we passed). We have also travelled through many beautiful oak woodlands on our journey. There is another side to this image. On colder days inhabitants fire up their coal fires, and a tarry stench greets us when we enter villages. We have also seen no effort to engineer eco-friendly transport systems.

The receptionist at Hotel Lubex had warned us that it was a public holiday (presumably for Pentacost), so we carried our food and wine with us. We also heard church bells a number of times and saw families making their way to church. The Roman Catholicism in Poland is very evident as you ride through the small towns. There are small shrines (either Jesus on the cross or Mary) on many cross roads. Pope John Paul II (who was from Southern Poland) is also venerated here and you see many references – statues, a traffic circle in Lubliniec named after him, etc.

Our accommodation in Zawiercie has the unlikely name of CMC Putex Hostel. I found it on the internet but was not sure that it would work out at all. The only other accommodation in town was an expensive (by Polish standards) spa resort, which we could afford if we were stuck.

Zawiercie turned out to be a dormitory type town, with many large worker apartment buildings. The entrance to the hostel is through a small forest of trees alongside these apartments. We pushed on however and found that the hostel is actually in a lovely old building and a wedding party was in progress in the downstairs reception rooms. We were given a large “apartment”, with a sitting room, bedroom and bathroom. Also a big TV, but all the satellite TV movies are dubbed into Polish.

CMCPutex

We arrived early at our hostel and after eating our food had a indulgent afternoon sleep for a few hours. Later on we went for a walk down the road and found a bottle store and bakery open – bought some Polish beer and some biscuits.

We also had the unexpected pleasure of finding this street art, on the back of some lock up garages off the main street behind our hostel.

streetart2                               Streetart1

Saturday 23 May – exhausted

Saturday 23 May – exhausted

Today we exhausted ourselves with a 100km ride. Our route took us through Skorogoszcz – Narok – Slawice – Luboszyce – Turawa – Ozlmek – Zedowice – Kosmidry – Lubliniec.

The route was straight forward and flat. At the start we were going through nondescript semi urban areas with traffic (not too pleasant and slow).

The route improved when we approached the lake Jez Turawskie – nicer houses as well. A highlight was riding on top of an earthen dam wall alongside the lake. It was Kris’s good idea to haul our bikes up there, and we found a few other cyclists and walkers on the dam, as well as fishermen. The lake is huge and there were a large number of wind surfers in the distance.

After this we found ourselves following long straight roads through forests, but with occasional fast passing traffic. This was quite monotonous and my arms were aching badly the last hour or so (Kris was also suffering with his bottom).

It started to rain quite heavily at around 1pm and we stopped to shelter in a bus stop. A little old man was already sitting there, but he beckoned for us to sit down and could speak to Kris in German (though was difficult to understand). He was adamant that we should take the turn off just before the bus stop (the map seemed to indicate the next one), saying that a bridge was impassable. We decided to take his advise and it seemed to be correct as it the connection from the other bridge seemed overgrown when we passed it.

We were happy when we reached the town of Lubliniec where a lot of roadworks were happening. The hotel Lubex was fairly budget style but good. They were getting all set up for a wedding and most of the other guests seemed to belong to the wedding party. It is surprising how many wedding venues are advertised in Poland. Maybe everyone gets married many times.

Friday 22 May – country roads and new friends

Friday 22 May – country roads and new friends

Kris spent hours last night working out our route for today. It was tricky because we wanted to travel on small rural roads and it was difficult to connect them up.

In the end it worked out perfectly, and we reached our location at Lewin Brzeski around 3.30pm, having done 93km. The ride was through flat countryside, making it easier than the previous few days. Also the weather was a lot better, and we even had a little sunshine, though it did begin to get cooler in the afternoon (no rain though!). We passed lots of ploughed fields with various crops, including the same yellow rape seed fields we saw so much of in Saxony. Many of the roads have avenues of trees planted on either side.

We also passed through small towns or settlements every few kms. The main route was: Sobotka – Pustkow Wilczkowski – Borek Strzelinski – Kojecin – Wiazow – Miechowice Otawskie – Klosow – Oborki – Lewin Brzeski.

Even with a carefully planned route, we had to ask directions a number of times. We found that the signposts are not always clear. We also had to be careful about the directions we were given, as sometimes people wanted to direct how they would drive with a car (onto the main road), not through the smaller byways. At times it felt like we were on a scavenger hunt where you go from location to location using various clues.

We were surprised to find a long stretch (about 3km) of cobbled road in the middle of the countryside.

cobbles

 

At one point we also cut through a farm track alongside a field to avoid a busy road.

farmroad

A highlight of the day was a long conversation with a man in the town of Wiazow. This was totally unexpected as it was one of the less impressive looking towns as we rode in, all the buildings looking a little run down. He said he was a cultural ambassador to the town and also a musician (piano and accordion). He spoke in broken German (about as good as Kris’s). He was keen to take us into the town hall to show us a memorial to Peter Yorck von Wartenburg, a war hero who resisted Hitler and was later executed (we didn’t catch everything he said but I looked it up on the internet later).

We were invited for coffee at a cafeteria tucked in a side street for more conversation and we accepted. Other interesting parts of the conversation that I could catch were that the Polish have no love for the Russians due to various massacres, he is a Christian and they couldn’t display any crosses during the communist rule, his father was captured during the war and weighed only 36kg when he was released, the young people are leaving the rural areas and so there are no builders to fix up the old buildings. He also said Polish women were beautiful and Kris agreed.

conversation

A little while later we stopped for a rest alongside an old wooden church in Oborki (St Peter and Paul church). It was all closed up and decrepit with overgrown lawns. I found out from the internet that it has a long history starting in the 14th century and was taken over by the Protestants during the Reformation. The current church was built in the 16th century and now belongs to the Polish Catholic Church.

PeterPaulchurch

I had found our accommodation on the internet, as Lewin Brzeski is a smaller town without a hotel. We were unsure how it would work out. We went to and fro a bit trying to find it and it didn’t look promising. Kris was ready to move onto the next town, but a young man who could speak English directed us to it. This is essentially a bed and breakfast built onto the back of a large home. The father met us but could only speak a little German. Soon his young son arrived who could speak English (we got the impression the mother actually runs the bed and breakfast). In the end they showed us to the accommodation which is the best value we have had so far. Alongside our room we have a little living room and kitchen. And they are washing and drying our clothes!

accommodation

Thursday 21 May – treasures falling into ruin

Thursday 21 May – treasures falling into ruin

Breakfast this morning was delicious, with a huge variety in the hotel buffet.

The weather today was overcast and cool at times, but at least the rain held off, apart for a brief shower around 3pm. This contributed greatly to a much more pleasant ride (86km in all) through the Polish countryside.

We started out making an unplanned detour through a place called Wilkow, due to misleading signage out of town. A very helpful woman gave directions to help get us back on track. She spoke only Polish. We are finding that none of the older people speak English. Some speak a bit of German. We also found that it is a bit hit and miss finding a helpful person – some just don’t want to talk with you. Anyway this woman was lovely.

directions

From Wilkow our planned route took us through the little Sichow, Jawor, Luboradz, Konary, Udanin, Imbramowice, Domanice, Tworzyjanow to Sobotka

A lot of the old heritage buildings in the countryside are seriously dilapidated. Too many to stop and photograph. There are also some new houses dotted around the place – it almost seems as though they would rather build new than renew.

ruins1 ruins2 ruins3 ruins4

The most striking example today was in a small settlement called Pyszczyn – a massive building visible from quite far away. When you get closer you see that it is falling apart. I looked it up later and found that it is a palace from the turn of the 18-19th century and for sale together with 8.27ha of parkland (probably for the price of a small house in Auckland).

Ppalace

A highlight of the ride was a short cut we took through an established beech forest. We started out taking directions from a couple of workers at a small trucking firm. The younger could only speak Polish but the older could speak basic German. He brightened up when we said we were from New Zealand and said – “yes, New Zealand, Wellington!” (note, not Auckland). After riding all day on pot-holed and patched roads we should have been wary when the Polish warned of a bad road. It was bad – started out as an unsealed track with muddy holes between two fields. Soon it took us through a beautiful forest though, where Kris saw two deer, which made it worth while.

forestride

On reaching Sobotka we found Hotel Sleza easily on the central square. It is is a neat little hotel and has a feature arch in the foyer from the 16th century.

hotelsleza

Wednesday 20 May – a hard day

Wednesday 20 May – a hard day

Today was our first day cycling in Poland and also really hard, as it rained for most of the day and we exhausted ourselves with a 98km ride.

We crossed the border from Germany into Poland at the river, about 2km from the cloister where we were staying. We took the 357 to Lubin via Wlosien on fairly busy roads. We kept on hearing cuckoos for most of the morning.

We stopped in Lubin and bought strawberries from an outdoor stand. The woman at the stand directed us to the tourist info. I waited outside while Kris went in. It was still not really raining, only dripping and getting cold, so I put my rain jacket on. Kris got a brochure about a bicycle route from Lwowek Slaski to Zlotoryja (our destination) at the tourist info and we decided to try it. We would have liked a coffee, but after riding around for a bit we couldn’t find a cafe, so decided to press on.

We worked our way over small country roads to Gosciszow and then to Lwowek Slaski, the start of the bicycle route. We discovered that the bicycle route is not an off road route at all, but rather a route along small country roads (in fact, I think we had been on some bicycle routes already as we saw little bicycle signs painted on trees along the way). Our route took us through the small towns of Dworek, Sobata, Twardocice and Pielgrzyroka. Some parts were lovely, riding along tree lined country roads – but were a bit spoilt by the rain which got heavier in the afternoon until we were soaked.

We noticed a striking ruined church at Twardocice and stopped to take a quick photo in the rain. There were plants growing on top of the walls and an overflowing recycling bin was situated beside it. Later I found out on the internet that this is the home town and ruins of a large evangelical church associated with the followers of Schwenckfeld Caspar von Ossing, a 16th century disciple of Martin Luther. His followers were persecuted in the 18th century and 500 left at night with only the clothes on their backs. They made their way to Netherlands, where Mennonites gave them shelter and financed a trip by boat to America, where they settled in Pennsylvania and still exist today.

ruinedchurch

We departed from the cycle trail to take a more direct route to Zlotoryja, our final destination, as we tired and wet. This took us along a busy road with no shoulder, alongside a ploughed field. I heard something fall off my bike and shouted to Kris to stop. He did but misjudged the edge of the road/ field and put his foot down on a steep grassy slope which dropped about 3m to the ploughed field below. Much to my dismay he went sliding down the slope with his bike! I had to help Kris pull his bike up the slope again. Luckily the bike was fine. Kris was also lucky in that he was not more seriously injured, though he did hurt his arm.

So we entered Zlotoryja soaking, muddy and worse for wear. We stopped at a supermarket as usual and Kris bought heaps of good food and some wine. We then quickly located a hotel nearby. It was a lovely, warm, modern, comfortable hotel – more than we would usually expect to pay but well worth it!

Tuesday 19 May – off the beaten track

Tuesday 19 May – off the beaten track

We were the only guests at our Czech hotel and we had an interesting time talking with owner. He was in the military, mainly with the Russians, so he says he speaks good Russian. He speaks a little German, which he has learnt to talk with German hotel guests, but only a few phrases of English. He was involved in supporting the Angolans against the SA troops. He likes the Russians but knows that politics have changed and he is now allied with the Americans (why not with Europeans?). He also has a house in Auckland – but no interest in visiting NZ!

We were well of the beaten tourist track today, we only saw one other cycle touring couple the whole day. There were also lots of hills!

The first 5km was uphill and hard going, especially on a busy road. Then we had a long downhill run, with through green hills, with blue hills in the distance. The next 4km were up and down through the countryside into Ceska Kamenice, where we saw an 18th century baroque chapel (Chapel of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary) in disrepair.

ChapelVirgin

After this we turned off onto what was supposed to be a smaller road (263) but which still had a lot of trucks on it. It went through forests from time to time and more hills up and down for next 8km.

We stopped at small village called Chribska for Kris to look at the maps – there were some woman with babies sitting by the village fountain.

fountain

A steep uphill out of the village again (getting pretty tired of the hills by this time). We passed through the outskirts of Warnsdorf and stopped at a supermarket for pastries, so that Kris could get rid of his Czech money before we crossing the border.

When we crossed the border back into Germany it was just a sign on the street with a woman hanging washing in the garden opposite – Kris asked her if she was German or Czech and she adamantly stated that she was German. It was noticeable that the villages were much neater again once we were back in Germany.

border

We coasted into Zittau – which was quite a busy little town and had a look around the old town. There was a bit of construction happening in the main square, otherwise it was very neat with beautiful old buildings (the usual churches, museums etc). We ate an ice cream at a cafe near the centre and talked to a curious old man who passed by.

As we were leaving town the weather suddenly began to change with dark clouds overhead and it began to rain. You could smell the hot dust as it came down. We stopped at a supermarket just in time to avoid the major downpour and bought some food for the evening.

Then we had a magic ride along the Lausitzer river to Ostritz. The ride is on a tarred bicycle road through a forest with Germany on one side and Poland on other. The two countries are identified periodically by poles painted in national colours. The only downside was lots of little miggies (flying insects) – meaning that you had to keep your mouth closed if you didn’t want extra protein.

magicride

We reached the Kloster St Marienthal at around 5pm, having done 76km in all.

StMarienthal

We stayed overnight at the cloister, which was not such a good decision. I wanted to stay because it was so beautiful, however there was no wifi or breakfast and the accommodation was very basic for the price (E66)

Monday 18 May – into Czech republic

Monday 18 May – into Czech republic

Today was the first day of our cycle tour and it was a beautiful day. We got up early to drop our car off in Dresden, and were on our bikes by 10am. The drop off point was in a commercial/ light industrial area, so it took us a while to find our way back to the Elbe river.

Once on the river it was very pleasant cycling with heaps of other cyclists, regular beer gardens and scenic river views. The whole cycle route is very well organised, there was even a marked detour where they were doing works on the cycle road at Pirna. At one stage we cycled through a bright green forest with spots of sunlight falling on the path before us.

We passed along some of the spots where we had been with Elsbeth on the day we went to see the Elbe Sandsteingebirge (Bastei). In fact it was a lot easier to find them with the bicycles, as the cycle route took us right past, where you couldnt go with cars, giving us a good view from the opposite side of the river.

JennyBastei

We also passed along the river below the Konigstein fortress, a huge castle that covers an entire hilltop overlooking the river.

We crossed over a bridge at Bad Schandau, a very pretty resort town with a large spa. We crossed the river again at Schmilka, as we were told that it was more scenic on the other side by a local woman walking her dog. She also advised us to take this ferry, as it goes more regularly. The first time we took our bikes on a ferry – only E2 per person and bike.

ferrycrossing

We had an impromptu picnic with some of our leftover food on the other side. We noticed the Czech republic border on the other side of the river just after Shmilka, but we were still in Germany for a little bit. When we did pass the border it was just a sign in the middle of the cycle path.

czechborder

The language and roadsigns changed immediately but the route remained scenic until we reached the immediate outskirts of Decan, which were littered with post soviet style metal works on the river banks.

We entered the Decan city across a bridge and at first it looked promising. However getting into the centre we found it a bit decrepit – even though there were some nice old buildings they weren’t well cared for. It was also quite busy and noisy with lots of people about. We rode around a bit looking for a tourist information office – there were lots of “i” signs but no office and we couldnt understand the notices. There was also a hotel in the centre but it wasnt very appealing. So Kris decided to take us out of town a little bit. We found ourselves going up a steep street with roadworks and traffic, also a driver doing a wheelie out of a side street. Kris spotted a supermarket alongside a number of high rise apartments and proposed buying some food. At this point I thought that we would be alright if we at least had some food, as we had the emergency tent with us and could sleep alongside the river.

I stayed outside the supermarket to guard the bicycles, as we have been warned by numerous people about theft. Interesting looking at the people going by – very different to the Germans – for example fat woman in track suit pants, and a woman encouraging a toddler to urinate on a patch of grass directly opposite the supermarket entrance (nobody turned a hair).

Kris spoke to some locals in the supermarket and found someone he could communicate with in German – they advised of a hotel a bit further up the road. We found it easily and were quite relieved when Kris could speak to the proprieter in German. The room is basic but clean and cheap (E47).

We are pretty tired after our first day but feel we have done well, covering 72km in all.

Sunday 17 May – in which we are all a bit sad as we have to say goodbye

Sunday 17 May – in which we are all a bit sad as we have to say goodbye

Today was the last day of our family holiday, as Elsbeth flew back to London on an afternoon flight.

We were surprised to find our breakfast table set with Meissen porcelain (knowing what it costs), presumably for Sunday best. It was the pattern that I particularly liked as well.

cup

Here is a goodbye breakfast photo with the proprietors of the Hotel Garni.

garni

We spent the morning in Dresden again, after a slow goodbye drive down the river past Meissen and along the Elbe. We took it easy, sitting in a cafe opposite the Frauenkirke, enjoying some treats. We also went to have a closer look at the big Cathedral once the Sunday service was over. The Museum of Transport was open for free and there was a band playing in the foyer. We had a quick walk through – some old cars, planes and trains.

After spending time seeing Elsbeth off at the airport, Kris and I didn’t feel like just going back to the hotel, so we went into Meissen. We found the town transformed with a market, lots of stalls selling pottery, but also food. We had some snacks and walked around the outside of the castle – enjoying the views over the Elbe and also surprised to find some vineyards hiding on steep slopes between the castle walls and the first town houses.