Day 52: to Kostrzyn, Poland (82; 3373)

I'd been feeling vaguely unsettled without firm plans, so after two beers last night I decided to settle at least one plan, and bought a flight to Greece. I begrudge paying Ryanair a horrific amount for a peak-season flight... But the return leg is already a sunk cost and I would be very sad not to get a Greek trip in this summer.

That settled, I can work back from there to determine whether or not I will need to catch another train. 

Today's ride was again mostly lovely dyke-top paths. The river has gained the Oder and become wide and slow and there's a lot of marshy national park around. I took a surprisingly successful shortcut through Eisenhüttenstadt, a 1950s town now named for its steelworks but originally called Stalinstadt. I then stopped for various facilities in Frankfurt (Oder), a biggish town though not especially attractive. I managed to pick up a free campsite map from tourist info and the Bikeline book of the upper Elbe so that was pretty successful. Also realised that while Hamburg to the ferry might be a week on paper, it definitely wouldn't be following the North Sea cycle path! Ah well, I will work that out when I get there.

There were a few more showers around this afternoon, or possibly just one that I kept catching up with again and again! Patience is almost always the answer on this trip... 

Inspired by the Czech couple who I met again at dinner last night, I decided to spend the night in Poland - a Polish motel costing about the same as a German campsite.

Ten seconds after writing that sentence, I dropped my phone again and the front screen smashed, again. I don't understand how I owned it for so long without smashing it when it wasn't my problem, and have done it twice in two months now that it is. Grrr!

If communication goes down in the next couple of days, assume it's due to technology not kidnap.

Day 51: to Neuzelle (86; 3291)

Friendly World Cup watching with my host and a Czech couple last night (Chile vs Brazil, went down to the final penalty). Then v interesting conversation with my hostess over a delicious farmhouse breakfast this morning. I learnt that the stately park I had been admiring so much yesterday was designed by a local Anglophile nobleman, who'd been and studied how the English made them. And that the two schlosses were completely flattened during WW2 when the Russians and Germans fought heavily on this border, and rebuilt only after German reunification.  Best of all, that they (the guesthouse owners) used to keep sheep but had too many problems with wolves! Good to know when you've just spent the night in a tent.

Most of the day was along a dyke through lovely water meadows, punctuated with small villages and a strong head/side/tailwind as the river wound its way along. This was lovely cycling in the warm morning as I raced the thunderclouds that were nipping at my heels.

They caught up with me as I lunched. With a 50 zloty note burning a hole in my pocket I was determined to get a Polish-side meal and did so in Gubin/Guben in the company of a German publisher / army officer who grew up there. The town is now mostly unified but he remembers of course when the bridge was impassable. So strange as always to remember that these events really happened in what is now such a peaceful landscape.

I had an increasingly wet afternoon ahead but only about 25k to go so just went for it, head down. My destination was the tourist village (brewery & kloisters) of Neuzelle. There was a campsite marked but when I got there it was deserted apart from one angry hippy type who I think was a guest, three billy goats, and some peacocks. The attached restaurant was also closed and deserted. Moreover it looked like a madhouse. I rudely used their loo and left. Once again tourist info to the rescue: they set me up with a funny little holiday flat. Given how wet I am, I'm not sad to be in the dry tonight and for only 24 euros. The greater cost however is in mossie bites: taking a wrong turn on the way to find it I suddenly looked down and both legs were covered with mossies getting stuck in. Horrible and I itch like crazy now. The flat has netted windows, I'm delighted to note, so I guess they may be a local speciality.

I'm feeling conflicted about where I go from here. On the one hand I am having such a great trip and don't want it to stop. On the other hand, cycle touring will always be there (now I know how great it is) and I am longing not to miss other 'events'. I can't square the circles of days available, miles to be covered, and where friends are and when. 

Clearly another beer needed!

Day 50: to Bad Muskau (76; 3205)

Slightly amazed that I've been on the road fifty days.

Early morning downpours and general laziness delayed my start. I cycled back through town thinking 'well, Görlitz is jolly lively for a Sunday morning', then on checking the weather forecast realised it was actually Saturday. So perhaps the 50 days are starting to show!

A breezy day, not too hot but humid (sweat rolling down between my bum cheeks humid).

The path has little to do with the river at this point, instead taking me through cornfields, pine forests, and meadows. 

I lunched in the extremely empty main square of Rothenberg,  a completely tumbleweed town by noon on a Saturday.

In the afternoon I thought: let's see a bit more of Poland. There was a 20 km detour marked on my map, and it was nice country - unsurprisingly a lot like the German side, but with less herbicide use, fewer habitations and almost no cars.

Oh, and 5k of awful jarring cobbles. I suppose they were actually rather beautiful but I have a bit of a dicky tummy, so they were not that welcome! The worst thing was having to keep going fast enough so the flies didn't catch me - I've been bitten by horseflies on my right knee twice in two days. 

Then just when you think you've seen it all, out of the forest comes a completely deserted, brand new, 89 metre high wooden viewing tower. With a stunning view of the local area. Thanks again, EU money.

 

Got quite lost the last few k back into Germany. First a (legit, marked on my map) cycle path ended at a big gate with barbed wire and an angry-looking sign. I feel somewhat less inclined to trespass in Poland, even if I could get round the wire. Then I end up in what I think is the right town... but which direction is the river / bridge / Germany? I try navigating by cigarette shop density but this surprisingly fails. I realise I'm getting nearer however when I find myself cycling through a full-blown border market, like in Mexico. Knock-off goods and pleather bags and cigarettes and multipacks of everything. Complete with police checking car boots once back on the German side. All in all rather odd - still Schengen but perhaps the first real economic 'border' I have seen all trip!

Bad Muskau, the German side of this, is a perfect little town with yet more cobbles, and a beautiful public park containing a couple of castles, follies, etc. I tried repeating my luck at tourist info but turns out it doesn't work so well in German. Even so I ended up at the perfect little camping spot in a hamlet a few km on from the town. I believe the set-up is actually a barn converted into a bell museum (?) but also has rooms.  Right now, Horace and I have the peaceful little orchard all to ourselves. Couldn't be happier!

Day 49: to Görlitz, Germany via Poland (79; 3129)

The last Czech bit was again very satisfying, slow uphill through Hansel and Gretel villages and then a long long downhill with a view out over Poland and Germany. I did finally see a horse and cart but I suspect it was a hippy, rather than peasant, in the driver's seat. 

I stopped for brunch in Hradék nad Nisou where, as the name suggests, I picked up the beginnings of the Nisa (Neisse in German, Nisou in Czech). This river and the Oder which joins it later, will form my path for the next few days. 

This is a funny little corner of the world, where the Czech Republic, Poland, and Germany meet. My brain hurts with attempts at currency conversions and country-appropriate greetings. 

So back now to Deutschland, via a few km of Poland (where the petrol stations advertised their prices in Czech, Polish and US currencies). Despite Poland being the 12th country, I am thinking of referring to this trip as the 'four corners of Germany' route. I'm not sure I set out to see so much of Germany! 

I saw yet more hills this afternoon due to a river path closure - beautiful riding up and along a high ridge of cornfields, but hard work with endless swooping ups and downs.

There are flags flying absolutely everywhere in Germany now. The standard for your car, as well as flying flags from the windows, is to have red yellow and black booties covering the back of your wing mirrors. I'm not actually sure when the next World Cup match is... But Germany is definitely ready for it!

Tired, but with no camping spot in sight, I asked in the tourist info in Görlitz. I was told firmly there was no camping, and then very helpfully found a cheap room at an unusual herberge in a huge gothic house. I'm very happy with the arrangement, but amused to note there is indeed camping marked on the town map that the tourist centre gave me - but it's on the Polish side of the river so presumably invisible to the German tourist info office!

This is an amazing town for architecture (4000 listed buildings!). Blows Cambridge right out of the water, though the old town is strangely quiet this Saturday night, suggesting it's strictly for tourists. 

The headline of the promotional brochure says 'Görlitz: For many simply the most beautiful town in Germany'. I love the modesty / qualification presented by the 'for many'. 

After a cheap and cheerful German supper I strolled back through Poland. The cafés next to the bridge were full and thriving (note to self: eat in Poland), as were the cigarette shops. Differences presumably in tax - also minimum wage and profits? Away from the bridge it is obvious that the German half has had a huge amount of care put into restoration work, which is only just beginning in Poland. Still there are signs showing plenty of EU money flowing across the river so the two will doubtless match again soon.

Day 48: to Hamr ne Jazère (81; 3045)

Due to some poor interpretation of the triangulation of map, reality, and google maps, I've seen a bit more of upper Bohemia than expected today. But it's been fantastic.

For starters, Horace has some shiny new parts. Apart from giving him a good old clean up (probably in self defence!) the nice bike man replaced a chain link and the whole of the rear gear hub (is that what it's called?). How lovely it is to have silent and smooth gears! Yet another resolution - go on bike maintenance course. Although the whole shebang cost about 50 euros and was done before 9.30 this morning so I certainly don't begrudge the cost of expert Czech service.

I am loving the Czech Republic. It seems to me that the biggest irritations of the former eastern bloc states are drunk men and angry dogs, both of which are at a maximum on the outskirts of towns. But the Czech countryside is just beautiful, people are friendly, the young speak English (the older generation, German) and people, not just tourists, seem to be enjoying it - cycling, climbing, hiking. 

Admittedly I've probably been in national park all day. It hasn't been high mountains as such, but lovely old deciduous forest and crazy conical hills and tower-like rock formations. Mixed in with high farmland, lots of small lakes, and odd bits of conifers. Lovely.

The legs feel OK - there hasn't been a lot of great long hills though there's been plenty of gentle uphill all day, and occasional steeper bits. But with judicious use of sugar, and (probably most important of all) the right mentality, I've really enjoyed it.

I am rather off-course to the east, but the well-marked cycle trails will take me back tomorrow I'm sure. The mapping is really super - the biggest issue I have is learning to trust it! 

Day 47: to Melnick (55; 2959)

Rain in the night and thunderstorms forecast, with a warning of flash flooding. So not the best day to be heading into the mountains then!

Cycling out of Prague was surprisingly easy, within minutes I was in a park, then the zoo, then on the green riverside cycle path. This appeared to be part of EuroVelo 7, so that's another one to tick off, though I don't even know which it is! It was also part of the Elbe river route, which I hope to see again in a few hundred km (begging the question why on earth I'm leaving it). 

The Czech cycle maps seem excellent, once I have got to grip with interpreting the key - specifically that 'other cycle path / planned cycle path' doesn't guarantee a lot! I had a hairy hour or so heading along an ever-decreasing path that was clearly just foot access to some climbing rocks on the riverbank. I was feeling a bit foolish for refusing to give up and go back when I was caught by a Swiss couple who were on the same path whilst following the Bikeline Elbe book. So that's OK then!

The other comedy moment was when the very clearly marked cycle route 7 pointed up a very tall spiral staircase onto a bridge constructed to carry gas pipes across the river. Not sure the Czechs have completely cracked this cycle path thing.  I know from bitter experience I can't get a loaded Horace up even a marginally steep ramp, but managed the staircases successfully in two trips (panniers and Horace separately). 

Arriving into Melnick I was a bit conflicted. On the one hand, not so many miles covered, only lunchtime, and this is still the pre-hill part. On the other hand, thunder clouds looming. And on a third hand, my gears have suddenly started slipping and Melnick is the only chance of a remedy for several days.

As usual when undecided, I retired to a cafe. Two minutes into my delicious and unidentifiable soup the heavens opened, and I was escorted indoors. From my indoor table I couldn't see the action but there were some impressive thunderclaps. Decision made: cue an afternoon drinking tea and listening to early 90s soft rock (was there ever a better  era??).

The nice campsite lady, who speaks good English, has pointed me to a nice bike man, who speaks none. So I have entrusted him with Horace and, if I understood his Czech right (!) he's going to give the gears a service first thing tomorrow. 

Melnick is a funny old town, with a glorious main square and a castle. I suspect it heaves with tourists on a sunny Sunday - but on a wet Wednesday it's deserted.

----

Yeah that's Horace peaking up from the bottom of the steps.

Day 45: in Budapest

Surely there is no more beautiful city. 

Here's my fact of the day, gleaned from cruising the Danube (which I have done twice - once in the day an once at sunset): they held a competition to design the Hungarian parliament building -and liked the designs that came 2nd and 3rd place so much they built them as well as the winner, on the same square. I just love that.

I spent a fair bit of the day on Margarite island, watching the dancing fountains. It's like a never-ending firework display (without having to crane your neck). Then every hour on the hour they play some music and the fountains perform a routine to it. 

This is my most southerly and easterly point: tomorrow I head north and west. By train! Exciting, and a little bit sad.