So erratic (in writing ths blog)

Well, I have truly neglected this blog over the last 2 or 3 weeks.  We are about ot leave Czechia for the last time, having been in and out of the country several times since we left Cheb.  One reason for this is that I (Tom) have not been very well.  I had a fall before we left England and it led to something or other in my right knee that has dimished, but not gone away.  How far this has affected general activites, I have no idea.  I have also gone through a bad cough and cold, and it is always somewhat surprising how they can persist so strongly even in the brilliant weather we have been having.  "An area of high pressure persists over central Europe".  It has been wonderful, though did lead to two strong thunderstorms.

Excuses, excuses.  But only partly actual reasons.  Still, back to it!

When we left Cheb, we got lost leaving the town.  This is fairly normal practice, so nothing in particular.  But we found the way, crossed the German border and went on the lose the official EV13 route soon after.  Via a "Lourdes Grotto" we got back on the track OK an continued South  through a string of places.  On account of my health, we did not camp and went to Gasthausen; that was OK.  The first notable destination was Flossenberg concentration camp, a sizeable one where granite was quarried for some of the grand projects of the 3rd Reich.  They later also made parts for fighter planes.  There was a good exhibition about the camp and the conditions of the prisoners, which were dreadful to say the least.  Most of the camp, mainly the accommodation huts, have gone.

 We carried on from Flossenberg in a wonderful downhill run to Eslarn, a border town where we crossed over into Czechia again.  This led to a beautiful ride down a valley, on a road with no traffic at all (the car is a usually benign enemy when one is cycling).  We came out into Germany again, into Waldmunchen and on to Furth im Wald.

Furth im Wald does a medieval play every year involving a dragon.  More of that next time.

To return to the previous trip, after visiting the sculpture park, we had been told of a place to stay in the next village, and although there was no sign of it to start with it was there. Visitor accommodation next to an esderly care home.  A nice meal and a good stay.  Then on, via various places to Bad Colburg, where we stayed in a less welcoming, but perfectly OK B&B, and went to the therme.  This si quite moderan establishment with sauna and a serious of hot pools.  They do not get quite to Icelandic temperatures, but they are very satisfying.  "No textiles" is de rigeur in the sauna, maybe in faithful imitation of the Finnish origins, but fine in modern Germany!  After the Therme, we continued to Neustadt bei Coburg.  Although an important place for British royal history, we did not visit Coburg itself as it was off the route and we got lost around there anyway. 

Neustadt bei Coburg ws (is?) an impartant centre for toymaking.  Of thos more next time. 

Into Czechia, to As and Cheb

... and I have not spelt As correctly; it has a funny accent over the s and in German is Asch.  Anyway, we left Hochhoh in good time, cycled back through Modlareuth and on to a string of villages all close to where the border used to be.  Getting close to the border, George f9und a quite excellent coffee and cake establishment.

It is important to remember that one very importand reason to come to Germany is the coffee and cake; a day without it is basically incomplete.

After this bit of indulgence, we arrived at the "border triangle".  Crossing over was somewhat bizarre; we went down a lane to a soldier's grave, went on a path across a field and came to clearing in the woods with various information boards.  It was very peaceful, and this belies the local history.  Before going down the lane, George spoke with an old woman who said she had been born across the border but her village had been destroyed.  He said her accent weas difficult to understand, but we wondered if this had happened at the end of WWII, long before the border was "fortified".  There was resentment of the Germans by the Czechs, particularly after Hitler's invasion and Nazi rule.  Had locals done this after the defeat of Germany, when ultimatley the area was under Soviet control?  Once over the border, we saw remains of houses knowcked down and some information boards suggested there was triving, if small scale, iron mining activities.

Anyway, we continued on the only (dirt) road out of the spot.  Came to various junctions and followed signposts to As.  We ended up on forest roads that ran dead straight for considerable distances through hilly forested country - the roads just went down and up and the surface was not good enough really to enjoy the down.  Well, we got to As, and the other side of town was the Goethe hotel with our reservation.  Rooms fine, except the lighting was quite dim.  The restaurant was closed, we were too late, and we went to a kebeb place over the road where they all spoke good English and knew London, and sold us enormouse pizzes that lasted well into a subsequent piknik.

The next day, on south east towards Cheb.  This started on the same sort of Forest roads as before, but these ended up in the village of Liba, where we continued along a good main road with not much traffic.  This got us to Cheb in good time and we founf our B&Bs quite easliy.  Cheb is an impressive place and we enjoyed wondering around and had a good meal in a restaurant in Spalicek at the end of the main square.

Coming back to progress earlier in the year, we left our B&B in the Ulster valley and embarked on what the route guide called a very long push up, difficult for the ordinary cyclist.  It was.  But we got to the top and were rewarded with a suberb downward run thatb took our breath away.  The weather was good, the road sloed down, there was very little traffic.  Etc.  At the bottom, it was up again, made worse by me finding the wrong route.  We revoered from this ands continued through several villages to one with a quite extraordinary sculpture park, on the border and quie bizarre.

Back on the Iron Curtain Trail

We left Nuremberg the next day (Friday 6 Aug) by train to Hof, to the north.  DB did a special bit of making the journey negatively memorable.  Our train was at 11.38.  We went briefly to the railway museum, which is not part of the negativity - it was good, but not enough time -  and got to the platform about 10 minutes early to find it very crowded.  No sign of the train, which was starting there, but arrived in the platform about 20 minutes late and was only 2 carriages for a lot of people. We managed to get our bikes on, though not everyone with a bike managed this.  Lots of people standing.  The train then stood there for at least another 20 minutes and finally left.  It was hot.  Most of the children were extraordinarily patient, though one baby was not and had to be comforted all the way.  But the train finallly left and got to Hof still about 40 minutes late.

From Hof, along the Saale Radweg, by the river Saale and back the way we had come a few months ago.  We got to Joditz and had a drink and cake in the same place, and then to Hirschberg where we rejoined to Iron Curtain Trail, EV13.  A very steep hill out of Hirschberg and to the Gasthaus pre-booked.  We met George, Tom's brother, here.  The next day to Modlareuth village, about 1.8 km on.  Thisd village had arioginally been in two Lander, Bavaria and Thuringia.  So when the "inpenetrable" border was built, they contructed a Berlin-style wall right through the middle.  The middle was a stream and there are touching photos from before all this of ordinary people chatting by the stream.  We saw a short film about it, looked round the exhibition and the section of wall and fence and watch towers that the village people decided to leave as a museum.  Before this, we also saw where a mill by the boundary had been destroyed.

Then back to our Gasthaus.  Next day, to Czechia.

Coming back to last time's missing information, in Eisenach after the excellent Bach museum - really recommended - we went to the Wartburg castle which was what a castle was from a l,ong time ago and is up a very steep hill.  Pushed our bikes up and enjoyed the descent!  Finally, we ran into an excvellent cheese shop and there we also discovered Thuringian wine. Next day, we took a trainsto where we had left EV13 and continued along it.  We were still in the Werra valley, and this took us to a museum about the potash mining there.  There are two quite enormous waste heaps of white mine spoil that are growing, but that leach out ordinary salt that then pollutes the river.  We went via the town of Vacha, notable for its "friendship bridge" which was about anything but friendship at the time of the border - the bridge was closed off.  The town is one of those charming places with lovely old timber houses etc. And it seems dead; in the large Markt there are hardly any shops and we got our lunch in a supermarket cafe; it was reminiscent of communist times.  Back on the route, and now up a tributary valley, the Ulster Valley.  This took us to Point Alpha, an American base during the cold war, on top of a hill and driectly facing the border fence. They said the soldiers of both sides could see each other's eyeballs.  It now poured with rain.  We got on as fast as we could, back into the valley and on to our B&B further on, just beyond Hilders.

Normal service will be resumed as as soon as possible

....   which may not be quite true.  It is to my embarrasment that I wrote no more back in May.  We continued for about 3 more weeks, arriving in Hof, close to the Czech border, at the end of May.  Then returned to London, spending a day in Leipzig on the way with some exposure to wonderful church singing (Bach of course!)

Now we are in Nuremberg, about to go by train to Hof and resume the Iron Curtain Trail, which has incidentally been magnificently renamed as Euro Velo 13.  (There are Eurio Velo routes in the UK; will withdrawing from this network feature in Brexit?).  We got to Nuremberg by train also, and Deutsch Bahn showed they are fully up to delayed arrival, though I did not find out if being 35 minutes late qualifies for compensation, as it does in Britain!  We visited the "Dokumentation" exhibition about the rise and fall of the 3rd Reich; this was fascinating history and gave much food for thought as to how a demagogue can feed on "make our country great" to go, well, a long way; it included a bit on the Nuremberg trials, though we did not have time to visit the courtroom, in another part of town.  We saw the rallying field with the rostrum where Hitler stood before the immense multitudes, on the Zeppelin plain.  The whole complex there, unfinished when the war started and staying that way is fascinating.  And,of course, it all led in the end to the iron curtain.

Going back to May, after Oebisfeltd and Wolfsburg, we continued South coming to the Harz mountains, where we had a nice train ride to the top on the "Harzerschmalspurbahn" (narrow gauge railway) with wonderful old steam engines, some of them apparently more than 100 years old.  The top, the Brocken, at about 1300 metres was a high security radio listening post in communist days, but is open, and cold, now.  We crossed the mountains by bike the next day, went to a spa, camped in glorous surroundings up a steep hill and continued via Duderstadt into the Werra valley, where there is glorious cycling on good cycle tracks.  Another border museum, another spa (we like these) and a diversion to Eisenach where Luther translated the New Testament (and apparently founded modern German in the process) and Bach was born.  More of this all in the next blog.

Abbendorf to Oebisfelt; a day in Wolfsburg

A good breakfast, then off.  We re-joined the Iron Curtain Trail in a few kilometers, and continued Southwards. The weather was OK, not brilliant, and the surroundings very rural and agricultural.  Through several villages until we came to one called Brome, where we had excellent soup and visited the museum in a castle. This had an excellent display of crafts and trades, though we did not have enough time to see it properly.  In Brome we also found a cafeteria in a butcher's shop that did a really good and copious, thick soup - important to keep up the nutrition!

The continued route started off clearly on ordinary roads, then veered off into woodland and a very muddy section that had to be walked.  This did not last long, and became a reasonable track on very flat land.  It ended up on a not-too-busy main road to Oebisfelt, where we found Peter's guesthouse and they could have us for two nights.

The next day, a break from cycling.  We took a train to Wolfsburg where VW make cars.  There is a great interactive science museum called the Phaeno, near the railway station, with a whole series of interactive individual displays.  I recall in particular a terrific marble run, and a device where you put on a headband that picks up your brain wave patterns and in particular estimates your degree of relaxation.  But it does not tell you this; you sit opposite someone else who does the same, and a marker on a table between you moves in accordance with who is more relaxed.  The aim is to win, which might seem rather contradictory in the context.  Anyway, Katherine was always more relaxed than I am.  I think I always knew this, but was slightly miffed to have it confirmed!

There is much, much more in the Phaeno.  The Amsterdam-Berlin trains call at Wolfsburg, so next time you are doing that journey, take a break there.

We then went to the Art Gallery and saw a most extraordinary display by a Belgian artist, Hans op de Beek, called "out of the ordinary".  Quite extraordinary - not really ordinary at all -  and quite moving.  No attempt here at explanation.

Our final visit was to Autostadt.  Saw lots of cars in a series of very plush buildings.  But not an expose of our motor civilisation at all, with absolutely nothing about the growth of the industry or the domination of the car or about how it has changed life-styles in the modern era.  Or about the growth of motorway networks or the impact on urban design, or global warming and not a squeak about hybrid or electric cars.  Well, it is VW sponsored, so what do you expect?

Back in the train to Oebisfelt.

From Gartow to Abbendorf

These are just place names, but Gartow is close to the river Elbe, on the West side, and Abbendorf is, well, about 80km on. It was a day of good weather, sometimes sunny with the wind unusually behind us.

Our first task in Gartow was to get a bolt that had fallen out, replaced in Katherine's bike. Then coffee and cake, then off. We had deviated from the iron curtain route the previous day in going to Gartow; on the way back to it we crossed the former border, where an observation tower and the service road were still there; otherwise everything had gone. It a village a bit further, where we rejoined the ICT, a former border post.

We were close to where the border left to Elbe, heading South, and our route followed it a few km on the East side. We then diverted from the route at Arendsee (where the border turns West), going on the South side of the lake. The route guide mentioned an establishment called the Haselnusshof, run by some ecologically enthusiastic people and we planned to see it. It was supposed to be in a village further on, but no sign of it; where it was supposed to be, a fully commercial garden shop. Presumably they had succumbed to commercial pressure. We also wanted to go via the town of Salzwedel, which was after this village and off the main route so we took this other way at this stage.

We stopped for a picnic lunch off the road, finding a pile of logs next to a small wood, to sit on. A pleasant lunch and as we finished, a large truck turned up to take the logs away. They very kindly waited while we got our bikes clear of the logs before a grab lifted them (the logs) on to the truck. So it all worked out fine.

Salzwedel is an old place, a former Hanseatic town that made its fortune in years gone by from salt. It has lovely half-timbered houses in abundance and is just worth seeing.

We stopped for coffee and cake in a nice cafe in the centre, then continued. We were aiming at a campsite about 25km further on. In the last few km we missed a turning and after about 8km on the wrong road, a straight main road through a wonderful forest, arrived in Diesdorf, the wrong place. Found a B&B there; it was closed but the woman, who was very sympathetic, phoned another in the neighbouring village who had room. This turned out to be pub/restaurant as well and we had a large and excellent supper.

The day had been 80km, a lot for us early on in the holiday as we have not really got fit! There was a bit of anxiety when we found we had missed the campsite, so a beer and the meal were most welcome.

Hitzacker and along the Elbe

It was a windy day, and as is so often the case when one is cycling, the wind was strongly against us.

We started by buying a bike light - do we expect darkness? - and then crossing on a little ferry over the Elbe river.  It is wide, very wide, and in a fair flow at this time of year.  It was a cold day, but the ferry had a warm cabin.  On the other side, we continued along the Iron Curtain Trail, from the point we left of last year.  This took us along the former East German side of the river, past various houses - here is a place where they had a thought for the storks,

the next special thing of note was the following

The village of Rutenberg is close to the river and the river then was the border that no-one was allowed near.  So the village was surrounded by a fence with one gate, and everyone had to show a pass when going or coming.  This picture shows a reconstruction of a bit of the fence, plus the gate.  In fact, very near the end of the DDR, the village people got permission to hold a meeting about their situation and they voted to create their own republic.  The next day, the Berlin Wall came down (co-incidence) and their vote now had much less meaning.  However,  the "Dorfrepublik Rutenberg" was duly constituted!

We next crossed the river on the new bridge.  In the cold war, there were no intact bridges, so this one marks the new area from 1989.

Things like views from bridges do not always come out well

Anyway, we continued on the other (Southern) side.  |We saw the remains of what had been the longest railway bridge in Germany, and used to carry the main line from Berlin to Hamburg.  It was bombed in WW II and never repaired, during the DDR for obvious reasons.  This took us in the end to another ferry, to re-cross.  It was still cold, but this ferry had no passenger cabin.

We went to Lenzen, a small town a few km from the ferry, which had been recommended as having an old-world look, full of half-timbered houses.  It did.  We had not eaten so went to a cafe and had hot meals.

By this time it was getting latish.  Originally, we had planned to go to Schnackenburg, which is where the border leaves the Elbe.  But it was a fair bit further, and the town of Gartow was closer.  This was the other side; we re-crossed.  Birdsong had been wonderful all day, but the sound of blackbird as we left the ferry was especially good.  In Gartow, we were trying to find out how to attract attention at the hotel, when a woman walking her dog offered us accommodation for the night at a very good price.  We accepted and walked across the road to her place and had a very good night. 

Hitzacker; 1 may 2017

A day off in Hitzacker.  Actually, in out B&B about 6km from Hitzacker, and a lot of that day asleep.  After plenty of sleep, we went in, say the archeological centre, which had a lot of reconstructions of living a long ago, but also some of the local finds.  Then to the restaurant where we had fish soup last year to finish that stage on the Iron Curtain Trail, and fish soup was still on the menu, so we ritually consumed some to denote picking up where we left off.  Then a wander round this very small and charming town, which is started as a small settlement on an island on the edge of the Elbe river, and back for more sleep and tidy up.  Tomorrow is starting day

Here is a metal pig and a model labyrinth in the archeological centre

 

to Hitzacker

We left our campsite in Delft quite early, cycling to Rotterdam to catch the 10.05 train, connecting at Amersfoort on to another train to Hannover. The cycle ride was about 22km. A lovely day with quite strong wind against. So, with yesterday's ride, a suitable beginning to a cycling holiday. In Rotterdam, I managed to get both of us lost, but we recovered the way to the station. There, there are ticket gates like we have in London, but with the difference of no staff anywhere. Our German tickets would not activate them. How to get in? Well, one had to press button to notify an emergency call, and then the man who answered said he would open one of the gates remotely. So that is how to get into a Dutch railway station when you do not have a ticket that activates the gates, in case you wanted to know. Next was finding the platform. They do not have a big overall indicator of departures; you have to know what line you are traveling on to look it up. I had an idea of this.  Our platform was right on the other side. Up in the lift. There was the train, with the guard all ready to wave it off. Just got our bikes on, with us as well. Then settle down for a very comfortable journey.

At Amersfoort, got the bikes off. The next train had a proper bike compartment with numbered gibbets - sorry, hooks - for hanging bikes from. These are high up and I was not strong enough, so we left the bikes standing with luggage attached. Again, found our seats and had a very comfortable journey. At Hannover, we changed again on to a train to Luneburg. Here, the bike compartment was quite full, with several lean and muscular cyclists milling around, who were helpful in getting our laden bikes on. In all these changes, we found the trains had several steps from the platform; there are some things British trains do better, and not having so far up is one of them. Getting our bikes with all the bags for a month traveling on and off was hard work! Several times, generous and strong people, men and women, were very helpful.

From Luneburg, a very local train to Hitzacker. A modern train, with a low floor easy to get bikes on and off. Got there a bit after 18.30, having eaten a very varied snack-based diet along the way. . Our B&B had been selected by me using booking.com, and I had not fully appreciated how far it is from the station, nor how many hills there are in between. But we got there to a good welcome and a comfortable room and sleep came very easily.

re-appearance ??

One one more year. It is now 2017 (as you will know) and the plan is to get to Hungary, in two stages. The first, in Germany from Hitzacker to Hof near the Czech frontier, and the second on to Bratislava and a bit into Hungary. Return to London in between, so plenty of train travel! We are trying to cover more each year, and if possible to finish next year. This is partly because of feeling older - will we last out? - and partly because we are wondering if visa-free travel for UK people may come to an end soon. We have European passports now, and more to the point European Health Insurance Cards (EHIC's), but for how long? Mind you, when it comes to Brexit and our travels in the rest of the EU so far, we have experienced sympathy more than anything else. As we get older the the EHIC will almost certainly matter more as we can expect other travel insurance becoming harder to get and much more expensive.

Anyway, now it is the one month on the first sector. This is being written in Delft on the way to Hitzacker. We booked train tickets for the journey out months ago, at Munich railway station for the sector from Hook of Holland to Hitzacker. No problem then, but I then booked the return journey from Hof sometime later by phone from German railways in London and they could not book us as far as Hook of Holland, but only to Rotterdam. I did not smell a rat at this stage, but went on to enquire of Dutch railways who told me that the railway to Hook from Rotterdam had been closed, to re-do it as part of the Rotterdam tram system. When I remarked about booking the outward journey with DB (German railways) she said they probably were not informed of this until later. Somehow, it seemed a very casual, very Dutch reply. There is now only a bus, and that does not take bikes. We would not have time to cycle from the ferry at the Hook to Rotterdam to make the connection, so we rescheduled to a day earlier from London and for the ferry, and reckoned to spend a night in the Netherlands.

And that is why traveled through Delft.. We left home the previous night after the usual efforts at home to get various other jobs that would have waited a month, done. Some success, but not everything! We took a train to Harwich, had a night on the ferry and then cycled to Delft, a distance of about 22km, and put up our tent in a campsite there. We saw an excellent museum with an exhibition of re-assembled broken pottery excavated an Jingdezhen in China, where anything made for the Emperor he did not like was trashed, and they are now doing archeology to recover it. Then a bit about the connection of Chinese and Delft pottery. Then a two-church crawl and remembering some of the history around William the Silent, as we Poms call him. In between, I had a bit of a bike wreck, in the form of (a) the chain snapping, twice, (b) replacing it with a another and (c) since the new chain continually jumped (as one expects) getting the gear cassette changed at very efficient, somewhat expensive, establishment. Better to have this happen in a town in the Netherlands than in remote parts of central Germany. Better still to spot the trouble before starting the journey .... Oh well.

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The last three paragraphs were written in the Netherlands, in a campsite in Delft. We had been given a limited amount of internet capacity, but just as I finished it, and some of the more to come, the limit came to an end and it will have to wait until I next get internet access. Whenever this gets sent, it will probably be followed by another post.

In Delft, we got my (Tom's) bike repaired, after a chain failure, though only one of these, saw the place, saw interesting stuff in the prinshof museum.  I have little photographic evidence for this, though something about a shoe repairer who seemed to have given up