I had another lazy start, a lazy breakfast of muesli, yoghurt and fruit (my favourite), packed up and left the slightly strange guesthouse. I say strange because it had elements of a boarding house about it – the workers finishing their 6packs of beer in the setting sun while puffing darts, the communal kitchen which came in handy, and the on-site owners.
I thought today was going to be a fairly easy 70kms to Votice but the lumpiness continued and combined with a headwind, meant that I was one tired biker by the time I arrived
The highlight was undoubtedly Tabor, a gem of a place with an old town, cobbles, funky restaurants and yes, churches and towers on hills.
I was hungry when I got to Tabor after 33kms, so I found an interesting looking restaurant where I had some superb food. I had baked radish soup which I never knew existed, and it was fantastic. I’ll definitely try and make this once my homeless days are over. Then it was baked pork with potatoes and spinach, which doesn’t sound particularly appealing but was also fantastic. A Spanish coffee washed it all down, and you’d think I’d be ready for the second half of the ride after that .. but I was ready for a nap instead. Oh well. It was tempting to stay here though.
The rest of the afternoon was, you guessed it, idling through small villages that dotted the landscape as I headed north towards Prague.
Komoot had told me there was about 550m of climbing today – and that’s a very very manageable amount of effort. Unfortunately, there were 1280 of them which made it my biggest day in Europe so far. It was different though, these were rolling hills where you get a nice downhill recovery before heading on to the next one. That’s as opposed to the alpine areas that just seemed to go upwards all day – not my cup of tea at all.
By the end of the day, however, it was getting tedious. I rolled into Votice at around 5pm, went past the first penzion because I didn’t like it and then found the second one which is on the way out of town. They understandably spoke no english but we communicated with a couple of German words and google. But really, if you’re in the tourism industry, how hard can it be for a penzion owner to understand – 1 person, 1 night please, how much ? I guess it must be mainly locals who come here. Regardless, after all that, the lady, Dascha, was great. The breakfast the next morning was top notch.
This took ages, and I think I was the only guest tonight. It’s a lovely place though – Penzion Beak – and I rode into town and grabbed some dinner. It was so quiet. The choice was Asian takeaway or Pizza, not exactly local specialties, but the Bun Bo Nambo hit the spot.
So, all in all it was a very nice day but I’m ready for a rest, and tomorrow I’ve decided on a small ride to the station and a 50 minute local train into Prague.
