Day 7 Stats :
Distance = 122.09 MilesTime = 09:47:10 hrs
Ave Speed = 12.5 mph
Elevation = 6555 feet
Calories = 6040
Max Speed = 39.6 mph
Max Height = 2303 feet
Min Elevation = 984 feet
Tour Stats
Total Distance = 693.64 Miles
Total Time = 57:32:47 hrs
Ave Speed = 12.05 mph
Total Elevation Gain = 25178 feet
Total Calories = 37424
Day 7 started well with a nice big continental breakfast and I was off early because today was going to be a big BIG day. With over 120 miles to ride and a mountain range over 2300 feet to get over ... AND ... what really worried me it was across scarcely populated land, so I didn't really have a Plan B ..there were no onvious bail outs ... and I was enetering the Czech republic p the first time I had ever been to a former Communist country - I didn't even know what the currency was let alone have any or know the exchange rate .. a fact I was to regret Tonight !!
A gentle first 20 miles were relatively flat and my only problem was a puncture picked up after 5 miles - not what you want on a day when you have 125 to do. I stopped at a petrol station and as ever it was the back wheel that was flat, after a tube change & the tyre reinflated I was away but it had cost me nearly 30 minutes.
I reached Lauf an der Pegnitz after 10 miles and pused briefly for photographs but today the pace had to remain high .. very High. Continuing East at 24 miles I had to stop as I had passed something - something I hadn't seen since .. well yesterday .. but yesterday was the first I'd ever seen ... YES it was another decorated massive tree. But this time it was on the ground with a crew of young men all ready and prepared to erect it - there were police on duty stopping traffic and I thought - this will be good to watch ... however after 20 minutes of no activity and a long day's riding ahead I had to press on.
Ahead of me lay a 500 feet climb to Sulzbach Rosenberg and I passed some lovely countryside on the way - the village of Pommelsbrun was especially pretty with a church sitting beneath a large pointy tree covered hill.
When I reached Sulzbach there was a quite a surprise in store .. the place was absolutley crammed packed with cyclists - there appeared to be a major race going on through the hilly forests surrounding the town and the start/finish line was in the main square ... and on my route. After a brief stop - Remember the schedule ! I was off and I actually cycled through the start line heading the opposite was .. which was .... EAST !!
I had completed 35 miles and another 90 lay ahead of me so I was off East and only Villages now lay between me & the Czech republic - afetr 44 miles I was to stop briefely again in the Village of Gebenbach and the reason... well it was another massive decorated tree but still no where near as pretty as the foirst I had seen yesterday. After 50 miles I had an 800 feet climb and then I had a relatively flat 20 miles across quiet fields to the Czech Republic which was a bit of a culture shock. I passed some windmills in Germany and cycled parellel with the A6 Autobahn until I reached the last village in Germany which was Waidhaus. The road then climbed 200 feet in the next 3 miles as I eventually reached the border going past abandoned check points which now looked eery since the CR had joined the EU.
Anyway another half a mile and I was at what I would consider to be the seediest looking border I have ever seen and I have seen a few. A large banner adorned the road which had now become very pitted and had ridges melted in it so big I had to be war as they could easily bring down a cyclist if you hit one. Th Banner ? well it was advertising various Casinos and Lap Dancing clubs which had sprung up in the villages just across the border - other than the banner there were large posters with pictures of scantily clad girls advertising their clubs..... Very Tacky - What sort of country have I entered here ?
At 80 miles just over the border I was faced with another 800 feet climb, the dodgy road continued to get worse and it entered a dark forest - as it was now late afternoon it was very dark and riding wide to avoid all the pot holes and melted road I felt especially unsecure - although the traffic was very light the odd Truck did have me concerned.
I reached the top of the climb at a height of 2300 feet and emerged from the forest near the town of Primda where suddenly a vast plain opened up ahead of me and a thrilling descent where I reached 40mph - I still had 40 miles to ride so I didn't hold back.
At the bottom of the fast descent lay the town of Bor and near Bor I stopped as I passed a lake beside the road - time was pressing and after almost 100 miles I still had another 2 - 3 hours riding and nearly 30 miles to go. But I had to stop & take some pictures as the lake was just stunningly beautiful - unspoiled, natural landscape that was truly beautiful and the lake was like a millpond - without a ripple.
Photos taken and I pressed on but I was to stop again before I reached 100 miles at the town of Benesovice where a chruch and a huge Abbey dominated the landscape as you approached the village - more photographs ! ... But as I approached the village I was disappointed as the Abbey from the sidee was very run down and even worse my route turned left up a majorly steep hill which climbed 300 feet in half a mile and after 105 miles this was not what I wanted to see.
This proved to be the final hill and from here the last 20 miles was down hill through Nyrany and on to Pilzen -I arrived about 1 hour before darkness but it was getting dull and I had a few problems finding my hotel - adopting the ever decreasing circles technique to home in on it
Route :
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Photographs :
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| 1 Mile : An old bridge at Nuremburg |
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| 13 Miles : The town of Lauf an der Pegnitz and this is the bridge over the Pegnitz. |
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| 21 Miles : The little Village of Altensittenbach about to erect their tree - unfortunatley they took too long for me to hang about and witness it. |
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| 24 Miles ; the lovely little village of Pommelsbrun with its church framed below the forest lined hill that sits above the town. |
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| 24 Miles : A closer look at Pommelsbrun Church and the Hill. |
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| 35 Miles : Sulzbach Rosenberg and the hundreds of bikes taking part in a forest criterion - although tempted I did not join in ! |
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| 35 Miles : Cyclists gathering - the start / finish line was just to the right of the building in the background. |
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| 35 Miles : The town square in Sulzbach Rosenburg. |
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| 43 Miles : Another tree at Gebensbach but still nowhere near as good as the one I saw yesterday. |
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| 73 Miles : Windmills near the Czech border just in Germany at Lohma |
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| 77 Miles : 1 kilometer away from the Czech border ahven cycled right across Germany in the last 3 days from Strasbourg |
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| 78 Miles : Czech republic at last |
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| 79 Miles : The incredibly tacky border as you enter the Czech Republic advertising Casinos etc. |
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| 84 Miles : The beautiful Vaclavsky Rybnik |
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| 84 Miles : And another view of the mirror like lake at Vaclavsky Rybnik. |
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| 84 Miles a closer look at the odd trees on the far bank of the lake - they seemed to have had their lower branches stripped which made them look like silver birches. |
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| 100 Miles : On the road just after Benesovice |
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