Day 4 - Saturday, August 1, 2026
Well, the first three days turned out to be quite exciting and eventful, let us see what the new month has in store.
For starters, it cooled down considerably, so I did not take a dip after waking up. Soon, I crossed the "official" border (on land) and now it was time for a nice breakfast. Still in Germany, apparently in a village called Wegscheid, I noticed a number of cars stopping in front of a butcher´s shop. Initially, I just wanted to buy a few items at a grocery store, but I felt compelled to take a look at the shop. There was quite a long line, people were waiting patiently. When it was my turn, I noticed there was a large breakfast for €8, quite fair, I´d say and ordered a coffee and an apple juice to go along with it. When my tray was filled, I sat outside, with large mountains visible in the distance.
The funny thing was when I started eating (devouring) my meal, all - but really all - the customers coming in and exiting greeted me and wished "Mahlzeit!", the Austrian/Bavarian expression for bon appetit.
I rode on and got back to Austria and was on really scenic, authentic Upper Austrian countryside, large, green pastures running up the hillside, neat, tidy houses in the villagers and hardly any traffic. In one small village, I stopped at a bakery and asked how to get to the Czech Republic. Wow, you should have seen the commotion that followed. The lady at the counter summoned her boss(es), an elderrly couple, who arrived with about 5 map books, which they laid out on a table strategically. Like a general planning a military strike, they painstakingly started laying out various alternatives. They wrote the name of each of the villages I was to cross on a piece of paper, then saw me off, wishing me good luck.
Well, I was not all too far from the border and there was a bit of a hill to climb. Not just a bit, it was quite an incline, at least for a kilometer and a half. Some light-weight road bikers were rolling down the hill and they yelled "good luck" over (well, maybe that was the very reason the elderly couple wished me that). Well, I managed to cross the hill. At the top, the sign for the border appeared, the third country that I visited that morning.
What was ahead of me was Lipno Reservoir, the largest water area in the Czech Republic. The couple had told me that ferries to the other side depart once an hour, half past the hour and I was kind of angry at myself, as I would be barely missing it. As it turned out, they run more or less continuously during the summer, so I had to wait like five minutes and was already being whisked to the other side. Had it not been for the ferry, it would have meant a detour of some 25 kilometers.
On the other side was a large beach, where I saw it prudent to hop in for a swim.
After cooling down, I was now headed for the town of Cesky Krumlov - and was about to have an encounter. You see, I had spoken with my parents that morning and they complained what boiling weather was in Vienna. I told them that it had cooled down considerably up north - and we agreed they would drive from Vienna, with an ETA of around 5:30pm in Cesky Krumlov. By that time, I had found a nice apartment on AirBnB not far from the center, for one night, for 3 people.
I was the town of Horni Plana and had still some 28 kilometers to Cesky Krumlov. It was 3 pm that I left town, and, by now I had forgotten, was quite a challenging, hilly ride, through a military area otherwise closed to traffic - bikes were allowed, with strict instructions not too veer off the main path.
Anyhow, I had reached town at around 5 pm and I headed for the address of the accommodation, right in the center. When I got there, a merchant selling some useless touristy stuff laughed out loud - there were two exactly similar street names, one in the castle, the other a bit further, outside the touristy area. Fine, the only thing that bothered me was that I had been riding on cobblestone streets, my bike (and its rider) rattling feverishly. I tracked back and found the correct place - and see wonders - my parents arrived like 5 minutes after me!
It was great to be reunited and we walked around town and visited the atelier and home of Egon Schiele, the Austrian painter, who spent a year or so there. We had Vietnamese for dinner, which was surprisingly good and not even all too expensive - and we retired in the pleasant, artistry apartment. My parents were especially grateful for the mild weather - they had trouble even falling asleep in the sticky nights in Vienna. My parents decided to prolong their stay and leave only on Monday, so we would spend the following day together.
That day I had ridden 75 kilometers, but the elevation gain was quite high, around 1,350 meters.