Tuesday, July 9th, 2024

Distance ridden 248 Kilometres

I slept surprisingly late. So late in fact that Lucie had made her own early morning coffee before I even stirred – and that IS unusual to say the least. I saw that it was almost 07:00, so Lucie had woken up early. After a week on the road, we packed with practiced ease and were basically finished with it before a veritable peal of bells from the nearby church let us know that we could go and eat.

The Gasthof was family run, seemingly by a mother/daughter duo, with a bit of extra help in the kitchen. The restaurant had a slight air of barely controlled chaos. There were a lot of people who, like us, were obviously just passing through and the place was a hive of activity. The daughter part of the combo was scurrying around, refilling the buffet whilst her mother entertained a child who was presumably her granddaughter. There is nothing like knowing where your life is heading, is there ? The selection was as normal, but there was also, on this occasion, some fruit, namely nice slices of ripe water melon which was a pleasant variation.

We ate up, went and loaded the bike and we were off into yet another peaceful German village. Again we left in the same direction that we had arrived, so Gebenbach retained no unviewed corners. Even early in the morning, the scent of the harvest was in the air.

We were still on the Route 14 and we just went ahead. The farmland morphed into forest and the scent of corn was replaced by the scent of pine. The road was wide and fairly straight and it was necessary to be a little bit careful not to speed through the few small villages we came to.

After less than twenty-five kilometres, we came to the A93 motorway, where we headed south. That was the rural riding done for both the day and the holiday.

I will say it again, a motorway is a motorway. It was surprisingly quiet until we left the A93 and joined the A6. Once we got on the A6, it was basically a straight ride home of around 180 kilometres. This motorway is also known, for some reason as the “Via Carolina” and when it arrives at the Czech border, that designation stays, but it becomes the Czech D5. Just inside the German border, huge lines of trucks were waiting to be “inspected” !

We broke up the journey by stopping twice, once for petrol at the D5 exit 128. I mention that, specifically, because the petrol there is around five Czech Crowns a litre cheaper than on the motorway itself. Even with the relatively small tank on the Harley, this is quite a difference if, like ours was, your tank is a bit low.

According to the weather forecast, we were in for a very hot day. Temperatures of over thirty degrees Celsius were predicted, accurately as it turned out. Even in the mid-morning, it was already hot – and I was again riding in my shirtsleeves.

There are no dramas to recount. There were, of course, the usual roadworks and lane closures, but riding steadily in the sun was very pleasant.

Czech driving was as bad as ever, perhaps seemingly worse because of the far higher standards in Germany. There is no excuse at all, however, for the young mother (yes, that is right) who glued herself to my rear light at 100 kph while I was passing a long line of trucks on a hill. At some points, she was so close that I could see, in my mirrors, the expression on the face of her young daughter, strapped in the child seat in the back. Criminal.

Just short of Prague we could spy the well preserved castle of Žebrák, perched on a hillside to our left.

 

We came to Prague, drove through the city without incident and were outside our house just before noon.

The holiday was over. Time to plan the next one !