Day 6: Bad Elster to Cheb

Deutsch/Czech border
at Bad Elster

Today should be a short ride. That's an ominous start. After a later the usual breakfast it was off on today's ride, the memory lane section. Not long out of Bad Elster we were at the German/Czech border. In this part of the country, the border is always close by. We crossed just over a km out of the town. no much further on were the ruins of a castle from ~11th century so we had a look around it. The ground also had those intensely flavoured strawberries so we had a snack on those as well. Must have been a day for enjoying the bounty of the land. We also had a nibble on wide blueberries.

Wild Fruit

As usual we began the ride, following a river but this soon turned into hillier country. It was a bit of a shock to the body to have to do this so soon. Our first destination was Aš. This town is where Hank spent a few early years and Stan was born. After a quick look around, it was morning tea time.

Rooftop Ballerina

While there were some sights to see, the most interesting for me was watching the worker on top of a 5-6 story building installing lightning earth cables. No scaffolding, no roof barriers, no harness, no additional taxes in the form of compliance costs. Never in NZ. A ballerina of his trade. 

From Aš, it was on the Cheb. Our trail was to take us through old border roads through forests. That was nice but there were some nice hill climbs as well and welcome relief on the downhill. We didn't need to worry about food as there were enough flies around that you just had to keep your mouth open to catch one of the little buggers. We enjoyed the border trails so much that we did some twice. Today must have been a day for wildlife. On today's journey we saw a hare, a deer and a snake that nearly didn't get to cross the road.

Františkovy Lázně Promenade

Eventually, we left the forest and the road levelled out. We stopped for a lunch break and some shade in Liba before heading on to Františkovy Lázně. This is spa town and not that old in comparison to others. However, it was a lovely looking town, clean and well kept. For a weekday, there were people everywhere. Must be something in the water. We stopped to see František who is reputed to be a symbol of fertility. Folklore has it that if a woman rubs his left foot, she will get pregnant. Our question is, why are there other shiny parts. After a traditional wafer the size of a discus but very tasty, we headed to Cheb. 

František

As the remainder of the trip is flexible in terms of travel and stops, Cheb was to be our final destination of the day. On the way into town, we stopped at Hrad Cheb. This castle had a long history from the early ~10th century. It was a residence of Fredrich Barbarossa in the 12th century, parts destroyed in the 30 year war in the 17th century, parts of it were burnt down and it eventually feel into disrepair. However, some interesting parts have been preserved such as the chapel and the tower. Part of the tower housed implements of coercion and punishment. sure to say, some wouldn't have been a pleasant experience and the chopping block and guillotine would have been the most humane instruments displayed.

Looking over Cheb from
the tower at Hrad Cheb

Day 6 Marker

Off to find accommodation. That we did after the first option being rejected as it was run by Russian prostitutes and did look a bit seedy. Then it was time for the usual dinner, refreshments and games of cards, finishing up with a couple of slivovitz. Whilst enjoying these we placed today's marker.

After a wander around the centre of town, it was bedtime. 

Todays distance was ~55kms and a top speed of ~62kph down a slightly dodgy border track. Here's the map.