Day 7: Cheb to Beroun ... er ... Karlstejn

Day 7: Cheb to Beroun
Today hasn’t been a very interesting day blog wise. Point A to C with B in-between. We left Cheb about 9.30am and headed southeast for route 36 (and about half the kicks). Today’s leg was a mix of quieter minor roads, forest tracks and cycle tracks. There were a number of climbs again. Some were deceptive in that they looked relatively flat but after several kms the legs were feeling some pressure. 

Day 7, Marker #1

Stan and I had lost Hank after a long gentle climb. We stopped at Palic to wait for Hank to catch up but  … no Hank. We’d been separated. What happened? Well, good detective work found the answer. Hank took the right turn off. We didn’t. A bus went past and in our anxiety to avoid it, we also missed the turn off sign. However, by the time we’d caught up , the beer was good. We did get to look at a ruined church in restoration mode though, so culturally, this mishap was not a waste of time. We radioed ahead and caught him for a break and lunch in Dolni Zandov. due to circumstances, here's today's first marker at the Putyka Pod Kostelem (Pub Beneath The Church) in Dolni Zandov.


Over the course of this trip the days have been getting warmer and it has been noticeable with the amount of water being drunk during the day. Thankfully, it’s cheap. Today it was ~NZ$0.35 for 1.5l. And it can be fizzy.

After lunch we continued our route cycle towards Mariánské Lázně, another spa town. We had a look around but it was a bit over populated and inflated. The jazz band along one of the promenades would have been nice to have a longer listen to but we are on a mission. The old building lining the main street through the older part were quite lavish and ornate but a little run down. We opted for plan A and headed to the railway station to catch the train to Beroun filling in the wait with beer and pizza.

Ban Nadvedouci
Honza Kavacs

Ah, the train system. When you buy a ticket and ask for a seat and your bike onboard you’d expect the ticket agent to give you all the right ticketing. Then you get the bored conductor with the whistle telling you that you need to reserve seats and he shouldn’t let you on because it’s more than his job’s worth (my Czech is improving). After much haggling  about it being someone else’s problem, there seems a disconnect between the ticket issuer and the ticket validator. It’s like two separate companies. Finally, he acquiesced but grudgingly. Then just when we thought everything was good, he had another go when he validated the tickets. We thought of taking his whistle off him. Here he is. Ban Nadvedouci Honza Kavacs.

Serious Writer at Work

I decided to kill some time on the train and draft today's blog entry. Whilst engrossed in my own imagination I became the subject of artistic intent.

to put things in perspective, the train ride from Mariánské Lázně to Beroun took just over two hours and we headed west to wards Prague.

Today’s distance cycled was ~55kms with a top speed of ~51kph. Here’s the map between Cheb and Marianske Lazne.

But wait ... there's more.

Day 7, Marker #2

We arrived in Beroun just after 7pm and couldn't find any accommodation. Enter plan A-1. Cycle on to Karlstejn about 15kms further downstream. After trying a few hotel sand pensions along the way it seemed there might be not accommodation available. One last try. Up the hill towards Hrad Karlstejn and along numerous closed restaurants and hotels. But finally success. We set up rooms with the landlady and then headed to the eatery next door before it closed. After being well hosted for dinner, we decided it was worth a second marker. Now we're ready for our final push to Prague in the morning. 

The revised distance is ~70kms and here's a map of the second leg.