Tabor to Hluboka nad Vltavou, 40.1 miles (65 km) 3 hours and 47 minutes, 2135 feet (651 m) of elevation (climbing).
Not exactly a 'flat' ride today, for sure. I did a lot of cussing.... and I recorded a few videos where I bemoaned having just completed yet another uphill climb. It was a tough day. We did walk the bike up that hill in the photo at the top of the blog. Oh, and when we got to the top, the road turned the corner, and there was yet another climb. The good and the bad of GPS is that you can actually see on that little elevation map exactly where you are. It places a blue dot on it so you can see. It's so rewarding to get to the top of the hill and verify with the app that you are indeed done with that climb. It's also very demoralizing to THINK you are at the top of the hill, check the elevation map, and realize that nope, you are only halfway done with this climb and more incline is coming. That's what this day was like.
The ride started out pretty flat and took us into a forest where we were riding on a dirt path that had short runs of cobblestones that had come up from beneath the dirt. Okay, cobblestones and bicycles are like oil and water. They don't go well together. It's very challenging and slow-going. There is even a stage with cobblestones on the Tour de France which many dread. Not a fan, myself. We came around a corner and there in the middle of the path, correction road, because it was indeed a road, was a car and two gentlemen were standing behind the car at the trunk of the car. We could not see what they were doing as we approached their car. My initial reaction was suspicion and what are they doing out here in the woods? Are they doing a drug deal? Are they criminals? Have we interrupted something nefarious? I was a little nervous as they were staring at us (and that couldn't be because we were kitted out in all our strange riding gear riding a strange-looking bicycle).
We had to go around their car and then we saw what they were doing. They had a chain saw and were cutting wood and loading it on a trailer. We could hear someone else further out in the woods using a chain saw doing the same thing. Totally innocent....
After the forest the hills kept coming. This was another climb up from a village that had a steep section:
And we crossed a few rivers.....
We did find a cyclist hot spot on the way to Hluboka. There were quite a few who had stopped there for lunch. It was called Relax Hotel Pelikan. There was a restaurant there, so we stopped. I ended up getting some chicken schnitzel and what I thought was potato salad for lunch. We also had a beer. No one spoke English and the menu was in Czech. I had downloaded Czech, Slovak, Hungarian and German dictionaries into Google Translate before we left the US, so I was prepared to read menus and signs. FYI, punctuation matters, ha ha. Potato salad was actually potato and salad, so I ended up with the schnitzel, boiled potatoes and a side of green salad. They were very patient with us when we were ordering. When we left, I typed in "Thank you for being so patient with us" into the translate app and showed it to the proprietor. I felt it was important to let them know we appreciated them trying to understand us and take care of us. He smiled and was very appreciative.
We continued on our way after lunch and arrived early in the afternoon in Hluboka. Okay, I'm not going to say exactly where we stayed but it was probably the lowest budget hotel/pension on this whole trip. Our room was acceptable, but that was about it. The bed was like concrete and the pillows so flat we might as well have not even had one. There was one tiny piece of artwork on the wall, and it was some creepy looking abstract face. To make matters worse, we had a bit of conflict with the reception clerk when checking in. We wanted to put our bike away for the night right when we got there. She wanted us to leave it outside and put it away later. We did not understand this as it was going in a shed, three feet behind where she was standing, for which she had the key in her hand. She even asked if we were 'done' for the day. I insisted that yes, we were done for the day. But still she was aggravated at having to take the extra three minutes so we could put our bike in the shed behind her. I didn't get this at all. It took no time to wheel it up the ramp and into the shed. I'm convinced I missed something she was trying to convey given her limited English and my non-existent Czech. The next morning at breakfast she was perfectly polite so whatever was going on had passed.
We loved this little old area of Hluboka nad Vltavou and were very glad our hotel was here. We had a fabulous meal, made a stop for dessert, and spent some time just walking around looking at the buildings and statues.
This was a very cool statue on the wall:
I even found our next bicycle.......
Day three is done.....
As always you can see more photos of our adventure on Instagram under the handle 7th_decade_redhead.
If you would like to read more about our three week-long bicycle tour starting in Prague, Czech Republic and ending in Budapest, Hungary, here are the links to our entire adventure:
Day Zero in Prague (Weather or not I wanted to)
Day One.... The Hills are Alive .... and I am not
Day Two....Vistas and Grocery Stores (and an angry cashier)
Day Three.... Are we Hiking or Cycling? (Today it was hard to tell....)
Day Four.....My Favorite Place on the Entire Tour (and a nod to the Beer of Kings along the way)
Day Four and a Half (I couldn't do it justice in one post)
Day 5 ...... Will This Day Ever End???
Day Six... Pausing in Passau (AKA This is the way we wash our clothes.....I think....)
Day Seven - Off down the Danube (If we'd only had that meeting.....)
Day Eight - We needed a day like today.....
Day Ten Cycling the Danube - Cloudy With a Shot of Melk
Day Eleven Cycling the Danube... A rare short mileage day!
Day Twelve Cycling the Danube - Aahhhh Vienna!!!
Day 13 - Our Day in Vienna (It's not supposed to be this HOT)
Day 14: Vienna to Petronell-Carnuntum (Apparently, I can speak some Italian.....)
Day 15 Petronell-Carnuntum, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia (Rain and broken Chain...)
Day 16 Bratislava, Slovakia to Gyor, Hungary (There's a snake in the grass....)
Day 18: Komarno, Slovakia to Esztergom, Hungary (A tense tummy and a tense moment......)
Day 19: Esztergom to Budapest, Hungary (A long ride for the last day)
Day 20: A Day in Budapest (We had to see the last of the "Stevens/Stephens")
