Czechmate !

Sunday 10th June 2012 to Tuesday 12th June 2012

We enjoyed the German Horizons meeting. Fern's dad turned up in a van to collect his daughter and her busted bike - she is going to get it fixed in England and the she will set out on her big trip again before all her visas run out. We chilled and watched all the crowd pack up and leave on Sunday. We had asked if we could stay an extra night so our tents stayed put until they were the only ones left and the campsite was eerily quiet.

Monday morning was overcast with just a few spots of rain, in fact ideal weather for packing up as it wasn't too hot. Our aim was to reach the Czech Republic and we set off in earnest at around 8am. The weather held for a while but it didn;t take long for the rain to start but we persevered and finished our marathon journey on Horadovice, well inside the Czech Republic.

We took a room at the Zlaty Jelen hotel where we soon learned that nobody spoke or understood English so we reverted to a mixture of German and Russian and some phrases from my east european book which seemed to get us where we needed nto be in the buying beer and food stakes. We took a brief walk around the town before dinner to whip up an appetite and we found a small restaurant which also had the England v France game on TV so we availed ourselves of the local pilsen beer and had a hearty meal.

The following morning (Tuesday 12th) we woke with the lark and packed our bikes in the courtyard at the back of the hotel where we also met the customary drunk (yes ! 8am in the morning). He seemed happy enough to watch us load our bikes and he even had a chat with a nearby car.

We left Horadavice and took a myriad of small backroads across the Czech Republic in what turned out to be a fantastic days riding with the exception of a truck, a car and two deer all of who had tried (unsucsessfully) to remove me from the road by either driving at me head on, pulling out in front of me or bounding across the road just a few feet away from my tyres. I survived the onslaught in time to receive a blast of heavy rain as we crossed the border into Slovakia a nice warm but wet rain which gave us a good soaking. We had prebooked a room in a hotel in Prievidza but even with two sat navs we were beaten when we tried to find the address, Sat in an outlying village I rang the hotel owner but we had a strange conversation as he spoke only Czech and Russian but no English. I gave up and ended the call but then I spotted a young girl walking up the road who, when asked, told us that she could speak English. I rang the hotel owner again and she translated for us. She told him exactly where we were and he drove the 4 kilometres to us and guided us back to the Pension Oaza - easy when you know where it is !

The Pension Oaza surprised us as it also had a well kitted out restaurant and bar so we ate and drank well before heading off to bed. Tomorrow (Wednesday 13th) we are aiming for Hungary. on our quest to be at the Bulgaria bikers meeting by Friday.

Some pics of Horadovice.....

 

Hotel Zlaty Jelen