Prague to Ceske Budojovice (Budweis)

This part of the trip by bicycle has been a little eerie and weird, honestly. It's also been the gloomiest and most physically demanding part too. It's made me realize how culturally different some of these places are from each other, even though in reality they're geographically close. I don't want to pick on Kentucky, but the Czech Republic feels like the same cultural and terrain tilt that happens from northern Ohio to central Kentucky.

I left Prague feeling good.

I finally found some proof of bike friendliness in town along the river as I was leaving. I had my bike map with me and things seemed flat and sunny. I ended up in the countryside quickly, riding along the side of the road. I was by the river all this day, and did some backtracking when I missed my turn to cross over the river. Bridges are scarce things.

My ascent started this day fairly quickly. It was more than when I went to Pittsburgh. My map told me to cross the river again at Zivohošt where I could take a ferry. I decended from this hilltop about 200 meters to get to the small village.

It was raining and a little deserted. There was a campground with people at an outside bar that I passed when looking for the ferry. I biked over to the small marina and stopped at a hotel restaurant for a coffee. At the place, I unwittingly ordered this 'salad' that just revolted against the craving for greens I had. The menu was in Czech, and I pointed to the first salad hoping it was plain, green lettuce.

It was cheese, canned corn, pineapple, ham, hard boiled eggs with orange yolks, and this heavy mayo like dressing in gobs. I tried, but it was like something a great great great aunt would bring over for potluck.

The hotel, I found out, was only open on Fridays and Saturdays. I biked around Zivohošt some more. No ferry was in sight. 

I biked over to the campground to talk or wildly gesticulate with the people there. They looked like bikers and had taxidermied decorations.

David told me the ferry only ran on Fridays and Saturdays. Fudge. He said I could camp there and looked at my map. It would be a 22 km hill monster detour to get to what was in sight across the river. It was too late to leave, and I was exhausted.

I was in a summer town where everyone had accepted that summer was dead. He offered me a beer and I studied my map and charged my phone under the shelter of the outside bar. It was still raining. 

I hung out with them as they drank and cracked jokes in Czech. I would never get into a drinking contest with someone from Bohemia. I would die. They were kind to include me. 

My favorite moment was when they asked me how to toast in English, and I said "cheers." The guy from the Ukraine raised his mug and said 'choose' and everyone laughed. Choose or tschüs is goodbye in German. It was like he was raising his beer and getting out of there. It was amazing how everyone knew all these little bits of languages even in this far off village. And I was starting to learn more bits too. Dominicka, Kuba, and I exchanged a little French too.

They were generous and offered me shelter in an empty caravan. It was raining pretty hard. I got inside and noticed it was leaking straight onto the bed. There was a dry spot and slept in all my clothes and sleeping bag (schlafen sack) close to the wall.

All of them worked early in the morning, getting rides into larger cities. I got the sense that it was sort of a hard lot. There's dreams of being able to travel, but the Euro is really strong and things are expensive for them. They asked me about my former income and American ways. I think it held some kind of promise for them. It was the first place in Europe where I think the U.S. is doing better, maybe minus having access to healthcare.

I'm glad everything worked out here for the best. I was able to leave early and did the crazy detour where I had to climb out of Zivohošt to a road on the ridge that would lead me to the bridge that was closer to be on level with the village. After crossing the bridge, I had another long climb to a ridge where the main road was. In general, it was up and down.

This is me halfway through the detour almost delirious on earth that is in no way straight.

I felt like I didn't make it that far, but I accomplished a lot that day. I made it all the way to Krasna Hora, but they recommended I turn around and go back to Kamyn, 200 meters down a hill for a place to stay. I would have to redo a stretch where I had to hike my bike up. Kamyn was actually a nice place with a few bars and a penzion house. I'm just learning that these are sometimes cheaper places to stay. This one was $27.

I went to a bar with a one-armed bartender who was pouring all the drinks and making all the food. With the hotdog came this horseradish condiment called bren, I think. Best thing I've ever had. I also had some of the best spaghetti ever at the place next door. It all helped for the next day.

From Kamyn, I had to recllimb the hill to Krasna Hora. I felt really good this day and made it to Cesky Budajovice by sunset. This entry is so long, so I just want to list a few things from this day.

I had to make the decision to the leave the bike route. It was not clear and was rough. Once I did this, I sailed south nicely. 

The map did help me once I reached Tyn nad Vltavou, and the main road was too busy for bicycles. It gave me a nice suggestion for getting to Ceske Budejovice along the river.

 Bike routes are for transportation and sport. If I knew more Czech, I might be more discerning about my chosen path. Outside of Hluboka nad Vltavou, I took bike route 1079. I only saw men in spandex with light bikes here and these hills: some of them were walking too. I'm glad I made it.

This day, I also had the strange experience of having an ill man on the side of the road expose himself to me. I could tell on the approach something was off when he was turned around. That gave me a nice bump of acceleration.

It was so nice to reach Ceske Budajovice. There were cyclists everywhere. It's as if they were waiting for me. Come here, stay, rest. Take a dip in the wifi, it's warm and ready. The Penzion Centrum even had a bike storage room, and I found it by chance. I stayed for 2 nights to rest after these hills.