Tuesday, June 9th, 2026

Distance ridden, about 40 kilometres
Distance hiked 7.3 kilometres

We tend to rely on Lucie’s weather Apps which, to be fair are usually as close to being right as you could really hope for. So, when we woke up and a quick check revealed that the “expected” late morning rain had “moved” so as to be “expected” mid-afternoon rain, we decided we could delay the start of our sightseeing day. That also meant we could have some breakfast after all ….. Hooray !

It was a simple and, to-the-point sort of breakfast – but I got my cornflakes, eggs and, most importantly, a hot cup of tea made from my own tea bag. Enlivened – and clad only in our windbreakers – we jumped onto the Harley and set off in the sunshine to Tatranská Lomnica, which, not having moved in the night, was still only about twenty kilometres away. The peak itself is visible from quite a distance as we approached.

As we had been there the day before, we easily found the ticket office where we were relieved of no less a sum than 174 Euros for the cable cars needed to ascend the Lomnický Štít mountain to a lookout point. It was actually 89 Euros each, but there was a 4 Euro deduction for me, because I am a decrepit and doddery old pensioner ….

It felt like a lot of money, but it did buy us a lot of cablecar. In the interests of fairness, if you consider the sheer amount of work that must have been involved in setting up the cable-carsystem, it was probably cheap !

The first set of gondolas raised us up to the 800 metre mark. Not a huge lift, if you consider that we did not start at sea-level, but it was a very l-o-n-g run of cable.

The second set of cars elevated us up to 1751 metres. Here, there was a small lake, an observatory, restaurants and a souvenir shop. Plus, of course, some spectacular views. 

There was also, of course, the lower station for the final climb.

In front of us, looming massively, was Lomnický Štít itself. It was a sheer and massive wall of whatever rock it is made out of and it was topped, so high up that it could hardly be seen, by the destination platform.

A tiny red cable car left the station and seemed to be literally ascending centimetre by centimetre as it made its final approach.

This final ascent has only a single and, quite small, car. This goes backwards and forwards and the trip in each direction takes about ten minutes. Tickets bought for this final trip have a time stamp – and you must go then. At the height of the Summer and Winter seasons, demand for tickets can be of such magnitude that advance booking is usually needed if you want to be guaranteed an ascent to the summit.

Our time came, we got in the car and up we went, almost vertically for the final part of the climb.

When we disembarked for our, strictly controlled, fifty minute visit, the second station, far below, was disappearing into the clouds and was soon totally obscured.

Luckily, behind the peak, there were wonderful views over the High Tatras in every other direction. 

We did the “tourist photo” things and proved we had been 2,634 metres up.

Then we had a drink in the bar, where we discovered, or rather, the unfortunate barman did, the effect of high altitude on fizzy (non-alcoholic) beer.
Whoops !!!
Then, we sat hopefully on the viewing platform, but the clouds obscuring the second level refused to part.

On our arrival, we had been given a card with a number on it – and this number was now called, so we had to leave. The cable car departed into a solid wall of cloud and we had dropped quite a way before we could see our destination.

When we got back down to level two, the looming peak of Lomnický Štít was now totally invisible in the clouds – we had scored again !

We did not mess around, we went straight down and down again and were soon mounting up on the Harley and leaving the parking lot.

On our way down the hill from Ždiar, we had noticed a nice looking restaurant (Koliba), in the small village of Tatranská kotlina, so we decided on lunch there. U Furmana (Tatranská kotlina, Vysoké Tatry). The parking attendant let us park for free, even going so far as to issue us with a receipt for 0 Euros ….
We had a lightish lunch of lamb gulaš (me) and salad (Lucie) which was quite cheap considering the elevated pricing that the nearby presence of Lomnický Štít seems to bring to the whole locality.

=

When we got back to the hotel, we had a drink on the terrace. That owl “motif” was everywhere !

Lucie, who still wanted to go for a walk, checked the weather Apps and announced that it would shortly rain. I sat back to await this event and the inevitable happened – but it did rain whilst I was sleeping.

When I woke up, Lucie had planned what she (playfully) called a “short” hike. It was due to rain again, later on, but she estimated that we had enough time ……

We were well on our way up the first slope before I discovered that “short” actually meant seven kilometres. That was not excessive, in itself, but it began uphill and we climbed and we climbed and we climbed. It WAS, however, picturesque in the extreme. The meadows were somehow of different types, in as much as although they looked generally the same, their constituent flora was totally different if you looked at it closely. The mass of various wild flowers and grasses was a tribute to bio-diversity. The cows on the nearby hillsides all had bells that tinkled melodically as they grazed. This rustic idyll was all fringed by forests and, in the distance, mountains.

Perfect – but not for long !

Having dawdled behind schedule during the morning, the rainclouds of the afternoon decided that sprinting was now in order. It began to spit and then to drizzle – and then to pour. We got soaked right through in about five seconds.

It was a critical point. Even after all that climbing, it was still nearer to the hotel if we went back, than it was if we went on.
What should we do ?
We stood under a tree, with rain dripping on our heads and half-heartedly debated it.

We both hate to turn back so, really, even thinking about it was only wasting time …
So, onwards and (STILL) upwards we went. The going was muddy and a bit treacherous, but even I did not fall over. We were wet soaked to the skin.
To the East, we could see the sun shining, while the rain continued to fall mercilessly on our heads. The only protection that we had was our wind-breakers and they had soaked through in the first five seconds. We trudged up the last part of the slope, still taunted by the approaching sunshine to the East.

Luckily, our arrival at the apogee of our climb coincided with the rain ceasing and the sunshine finally arriving.
Our persistence was rewarded with a far easier stretch of walking along a wide track. We took off our soggy wind-breakers and dried as we walked.

The scenery was quite dramatic, mountains really do add something and we walked, now steadily descending, down tracks and across yet more meadows until we finally regained the village of Ždiar.

Geographically, we were still in the same time-zone as Prague, but we were quite a long way East. This meant that it began to get dark at around 19:00.

As we entered Ždiar, we came upon a pub/restaurant called Ždiarsky Dom (Ždiar 260, Ždiar) so we decided to eat there.
I had a pork dish, with cheese and Lucie again had trout. Both were nicely done and well priced. Sadly, the only beer was Pilsner Urquell – and I do not like that, so we both had flavoured lemonade.
It was a Tuesday, so we coerced the waitress into taking our usual “TND” picture for the folks back home. Unusually, we both had non-alcoholic drinks …

Of course, while we were eating, the rain arrived yet again and it was another damp trudge up the hill to the Hotel Sova. Luckily, we did not get too wet this time and gained our room unbowed (and, more importantly, undrowned).

The following day, it was our plan to knock off the remainder of Route 66 – but the weather did not, at that point, look very promising.

=

Wednesday, June 10th, 2026

Distance ridden 0 kilometres
Distance hiked 0 kilometres

When we woke up it was raining and raining very hard. The hotel had a tin roof, so there was continuous loud pattering. Guttering is not in general use, so the water coming off of the roof and cascading past our window looked like a mini Niagara Falls at times.

A quick scan, by Lucie, of the weather Apps showed that this situation was not going to change – full stop.

Riding in that, all day, would not be fun, so we elected to stay right where we were. That, of course, brought problems of its own as even going outside was not going to be an option either. Thank goodness for our eReaders !

We lounged around all day.
Inactivity does not suit us at all. The monotony was only occasionally relieved, when our iPhones, unaccustomed to such idleness, gently enquired as to whether we were still alive.
In late afternoon, it did stop raining and brightened up slightly. However, before we got our boots on to go for a walk, it began to rain anew – and it did not stop again.

The weather Apps did promise that the next day would be dryer. We hoped that we could continue our roll on down Route 66 then.