1999 Biking East Europe
Monday, September 20 – Votice, Czech Rep –
Penzion Amerika, 300Kc
Distance cycled: 79.5 – Maximum speed: 49 –
Average speed: 12
Liber: Slept later than planned after our
long Sunday, finally leaving the Sport Camp at 08h15 headed for Tabor 100kms
south. Had some difficulty, but not insurmountable, getting through Prague in peak-hour
traffic. Essentially headed east and downhill to the river, crossed and turned
right/south. Kept the river immediately to our right for some time cycling for
awhile on a cycle path right beside it. But, after a roll and cheese and salami
breakfast on a busstop bench, we turned toward our chosen route passing on the
outskirts of Prague
an enormous complex of flats. The terrain is fairly tough being ungraded hills,
but we have had a few great downhill runs in compensation – especially the one
into Liber which twisted and turned at a hell of a speed all the way to this
basic beer joint where we are taking a coffee break. On the downhill section here
I was hogging the middle of my lane so as to make the curves – and all the way
down a car sat patiently behind me unable to overtake safely on the narrow road
and obviously happy to join me at 40-odd kph. Patient man.
We are in Votice alone at the Penzion
Amerika on a hill east of the town. Lovely scenery brought us here – but as
usual pretty scenery means tough terrain. Very hilly with long tiring uphills
interspersed by exhilarating downhill runs into villages clustered along a
river or around one of the 5 000 medieval carp ponds in the region. The
signposting is good on the whole so although we had planned a complex route
using back roads to Tabor, we did not go wrong anywhere – simply cycling from
one village with too many consonants strung together to another. By the 50km
mark at Neveklov I was pretty sure we would not make Tabor – by then the simply
tiring climbs had become tiresome and my knees were really aching. Charl is
unwell too, having started a cold yesterday in Prague. We stopped at a cool restaurant-cum-pool
bar in Neveklov where we shared a meat goulash served with lots of sauce and a
dense doughy bread ideal for the lapping up of. Then back on the road. Past
farms and fields being mechanically tended, and homes with bright gardens and
barking dogs (everyone in eastern Europe seems to keep a dog – many of them
caged in too-small places, their only entertainment barking at passing trade),
up hills covered with trees, the forest alluring and cool and shimmering with
filtered light. We often found ourselves cycling beneath a rustling canopy of
branches from which leaves would rain gently upon our heads whenever a fast
moving truck passed. Which wasn’t often, the roads being relatively quiet. Once
passing three truly ginormous turkeys – the size almost of short-legged
ostriches!
Once we had made the decision to stop for
the night in Votice, we were really eager to find a room and get a hot meal into our
exercise-hungry bellies. But life is seldom so simple – particularly on a
bicycle. We saw no accommodation in town (only impressive buildings and a
church around the square – with a backdrop of a nearby smoke stack) but were
directed to this Penzion by someone in the local pub. Getting here turned out
to be a helluva climb (walk) up a helluva hill. We got here to discover that
not only was the building dilapidated and unattractive, but also locked and
uninhabited. Not promising and very daunting in our exhausted state. We cycled
back into town feeling a little desperate and stopped an elderly couple walking
on the square to ask if they knew of an hotel. They directed us first to
another town 8kms away and then, after some discussion with another passing
woman, the man got on his bike and gestured for us to follow him. He took us to
a home near the motorway, where he had a discussion with the owner who turned
out to be the proprietor of Penzion Amerika. Who kindly locked our bikes in his
garage (after I had made it clear there was no way in hell I was going to
tackle the hill again), drove us and our bags here, served us with ease and
aplomb and speed beer and coke and pepper steak and tomato salad to the strains
of Nikita and such, and locked us in for the night. The inside of the Penzion
is newly-renovated and fairly attractive – and our mood changed quite quickly
from despair to pleasure – all for 300Kc for a pleasant simple clean room and
‘shared’ bathroom.
There was quite an amusing interaction with
our guide-on-a-bike before we said our thanks and he his goodbyes. He asked if
we were English. English? is what he actually asked. We tried Sud Afrika and
Afrika du Sud and finally just Afrika before he began to understand from where
we came. Charl then tried Cape Town
which got no response and I said Nelson Mandela. Which elicited a huge grin and
enlightenment and then this comment – half to us half to the proprietor:
Mandela, Castro, Cuba, Gorbachev. With bemusement
and disbelief quite evident.
Earlier on today Charl saw two crates of
Hotel soap lying on the side of the road – literally fallen off the back of a
truck. He stopped to look and to pick up a couple of small boxes and was
spotted by a passing driver. Who did a U-turn and rushed over to load both
crates into the back of his car!
And so an uplifting end to a tiring day.