Along the Moldau

As I mentioned, bike roads are really nice, but have the disadvantage of curving around, up a hill to the left, then down the hill to the right, then up again the same way, only to roll down to the left - so you end up being just a short distance from where you started, even though you had ridden quite a few miles.

The next morning we were still seeing the large chimneys of Temelin, the atomic reactor, and were not really sure if we should try the cherries growing on the nearby trees, so we let it be. Yes, off we rode in the morning - with the plans of having breakfast at a nearby restaurant.

Nice plan it was - the only glitch that we rode through such remote places that there were nowhere to get food - and even if we did find something, it was closed. My Pavlovi reflexes started kicking in when we saw the sign of a place promising to be open as of 7 am - only to find out that on Sundays it was a lot later - and ever though the vendors were in there, they did not have pity on the three hungry Hungarian bikers. Then came yet another hilltop to conquer and then one more. Here, still hungry, we decided to move parts of Peter's luggages to my bike, which turned out to be a good move, Peter got a lot more motivated and for me, I hardly noticed the difference.

Another mount-watering experience kicked in - we found a restaurant, which was filled with people, so I was already planning what to order, only to find out they served no food on Sundays, just drinks. Then came a cake shop which was closed, then another little kiosk which had no food that day...it was past 11 pm when we found an old pub in the typical square architecture so beloved in the Communist world - and the old gentleman manning in told us he had nothing to serve for the next hour. My hunger transformed me to an actor and I started to make noises like a chicken and pretended to lay an egg. He laughed and soon we were devouring a huge plate of omelet with sausage and various vegetables, had a good beer and some sweet syrup to flush it down.

After digesting all this, we then rode through some beautiful places, over a bridge with bungee-jumping (we did not jump), next to lakes, all the while following the Vltava river. As we were riding, we met a young girl called Monika biking on her mountain bike, first we overtook her, but then she decided to show what she was made of and left us standing behind. At an intersection, she waited for us and we had a nice chat.

It was a very beautiful country-side, close to no traffic, with lots of woods. The weather was great, however, summertime can bring you thunderstorms - and we managed to get quite wet. By the time we had stopped at a covered place to fish out our raingear, it was sunny again.

Later we reached a never-ending incline, which was taxing for all of us, at the top of which was a nice little hotel - and we decided to call it a day and stay there.

Even though we had ridden some 200 kilometers, we were still about 70 km short of Prague. The city by car was not all too far, so Jan, our mutual friend, jumped in a his VW and visited us - so it was the four of us watching Germany conquer the World Cup - with a very happy landlord - who shared a round of Slivovica when the game was over.