TCRNo6 part 3: Northern Diversion

The moon lights my way to Austria via Kranjska Gora the next morning. Riding through this Slovenian National Park it’s difficult to make out any signs of civilisation save the occasional campsite or stone farmhouse. High above the dark silhouette of a mountain ridge draws a jagged line under the stars. I’m too busy grinding my way up to the 1680m col to notice dawn arrive but I’m glad of the daylight on my descent into Kranjska Gora on slippery cobbled switchbacks.

I’m now at the base of a 1600km dog leg north to Poland and CP3. I’d forgotten how mountainous the middle of Austria is but I’m rewarded by fantastic alpine views. By early afternoon I’m wondering where to sleep for the night, last minute booking app Trivago fails to come up with anything in my price range and the towns I pass through are deadly quiet. Noticing a pizzeria I stop for a meal with a plan to ride into the night and bivvy later, it’s only 50km to the Danube.

Riding towards the Danube post pizza under clear skies is a delight, floodlit castles keep watch over the valley from a ridge high above and a light tail wind encourages me north to the river's languid waters. I sneak into a campsite and roll my sleeping bag out on the damp ground under a tree. Four hours later I'm on the move again through the mist of Friday's dawn. Climbing out of the Danube valley is a wake up call I could do without but it does at least warm the blood flowing to my chilled hands and feet. The sun rises high above shortening my shadow, and without warning, the road changes abruptly from smooth tarmac to pock marked concrete. I’m now in the Czech Republic. 

The mountains are now a distant memory, the scenery here alternates between undulating fields of golden wheat and ancient pine woodland. Quiet lanes lead north under a dense canopy of Douglas Firs until I emerge miles later outside a large town where a late bakery breakfast is found. I’ve been looking forward to croissants but there's nothing resembling a croissant or pain au raisin here. The cakes are still good though. Today seems like hard work, my legs feel tired and I’m making heavy weather of what should be an easy cruising kind of day. Perhaps this is ‘the hump’, I’ve been warned that at some point 3-5 days into this kind of ride I’ll have a day where motivation dives and fatigue catches up with me. I just need to keep moving, tomorrow will be different I tell myself as I book a hotel in the town of Kolin on the River Elbe for that evening. A tweet telling me I’m in 30th place boosts my motivation late in the day and by the time I arrive in Kolin I’m feeling more positive. I'm too late for a restaurant table so I end up finding a takeaway pizza which is washed down with some of the Czech Republic’s famous pilsner, I love Czech beer. 

My hotel overlooks the town square and I’m surprised to find locals still partying in the square at 4.30am the next morning. North of Kolin there’s a bucolic beauty to the Czech landscapes I roll through, they appear almost like water colours in the early morning light, softened by wisps of mist.

The town of Vrchlabi is my last stop before CP3, there’s 700m climbing ahead of me so I get stuck into a breakfast of milkshake, fruit and pastries on the grass outside a supermarket.  The climb to CP3 is an easy spin from the south, families cruise down the descent on what look like big wheeled mountain scooters. One man scoots down with his kid clinging to his back, she screams all the way as he takes corners at 20mph. No helmets required,  just optimism.

The parcours on the north side is a different matter, an out and back ordeal on a rough 25% gradient road marked with craters and tree root ridges. My brakes howl as wheels slip and bounce on the way down, legs and lungs scream on the way back up but at least I’ve stayed on the pedals. For once I’m efficient at the checkpoint and I’m soon on my way back down the hill, southbound for Greece. It’s more than 800km to the next checkpoint and I'm estimating three days riding to Sarajevo. Best crack on then...

day 5

day 6