European Adventure
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Tuesday Day 32 - Stara Lesna, Slovakia to Oswiecim (Auschwitz), Poland
Mileage: 189km
Slovakia really is a lovely place and waking in the mountains is great! We decided we would stick to the small roads and try to get a little higher to get some more views of the mountains. This would probably not happen until we crossed the border into Poland and we planned an initial destination of Zakopane. This turned out to be a mistake as this seemed to be the destination of every Pole who was on holiday! We got there, got some cash and left again......no photos taken and the viewpoint did not appear.
We then decided to make our way to Oswiecim as we had booked into visit the Auschwitz extermination camp at 16.00 and wanted to get accommodation sorted first. It was at this point the that the rain started again and it was obvious that my route planning for this leg was not the best. We were on a main trucking route and in the wet as well. Time to just "get on with it"! We arrived in Oswiecim, passing the barbed wire camp on the way to our intended camp site. Soaking wet and cold, we had pretty much already made up our minds that we did not really want to camp and luckily the same place was also a hotel. Not the cheapest but warm and convenient. We quickly checked in, showered, changed and head to Auschwitz for our booking.
We were soon in the camp and trying to get our heads around the place and its history. This is really not easy! It is not really a place you can describe with words and photos on a forum......you really need to visit for yourself to understand the scale of the mass murder that happened here. The museum walks you through various blocks showing you pictures and artifacts that were found. They really are shocking! This place is very sobering and you tend to walk around in genuine shock not really talking. We then realised that this in only the 1st site and there is another site to be viewed and that is much bigger. Having spent 3 hours on the first site, we only just caught the last shuttle bus to the 2nd site, knowing that we would not be able to get a return trip and we would have to walk back to the hotel. On arrival you realise that this site feels a lot more open but this is because a lot of the blocks were destroyed as the war was ending. This helps a little to comprehend the size of the site. You can visit the sheds that are still standing. I think sheds is the best description of the blocks on this site. "Living" conditions at the time would have been horrific. You can also visit the area where people arrive at the site via train before being sorted and then the harrowing site of the gas chambers and crematoriums. Absolutely shocking!
As mentioned already you really need to visit yourself to start to get an understanding.
Mileage: 189km
Slovakia really is a lovely place and waking in the mountains is great! We decided we would stick to the small roads and try to get a little higher to get some more views of the mountains. This would probably not happen until we crossed the border into Poland and we planned an initial destination of Zakopane. This turned out to be a mistake as this seemed to be the destination of every Pole who was on holiday! We got there, got some cash and left again......no photos taken and the viewpoint did not appear.
We then decided to make our way to Oswiecim as we had booked into visit the Auschwitz extermination camp at 16.00 and wanted to get accommodation sorted first. It was at this point the that the rain started again and it was obvious that my route planning for this leg was not the best. We were on a main trucking route and in the wet as well. Time to just "get on with it"! We arrived in Oswiecim, passing the barbed wire camp on the way to our intended camp site. Soaking wet and cold, we had pretty much already made up our minds that we did not really want to camp and luckily the same place was also a hotel. Not the cheapest but warm and convenient. We quickly checked in, showered, changed and head to Auschwitz for our booking.
We were soon in the camp and trying to get our heads around the place and its history. This is really not easy! It is not really a place you can describe with words and photos on a forum......you really need to visit for yourself to understand the scale of the mass murder that happened here. The museum walks you through various blocks showing you pictures and artifacts that were found. They really are shocking! This place is very sobering and you tend to walk around in genuine shock not really talking. We then realised that this in only the 1st site and there is another site to be viewed and that is much bigger. Having spent 3 hours on the first site, we only just caught the last shuttle bus to the 2nd site, knowing that we would not be able to get a return trip and we would have to walk back to the hotel. On arrival you realise that this site feels a lot more open but this is because a lot of the blocks were destroyed as the war was ending. This helps a little to comprehend the size of the site. You can visit the sheds that are still standing. I think sheds is the best description of the blocks on this site. "Living" conditions at the time would have been horrific. You can also visit the area where people arrive at the site via train before being sorted and then the harrowing site of the gas chambers and crematoriums. Absolutely shocking!
As mentioned already you really need to visit yourself to start to get an understanding.
Wednesday Day 33 - Auschwitz to Wroclaw
Mileage :222km
As we left out hotel the mist of the night had just dispersed and we were again heading past the camp. A sober thought to start the day with.
We are heading to Wroclaw today with the intention of showing Laura a place I had visited a few times with work. This city has always been a great host on my previous visits and though it would be nice to give Laura an insight to the city. My route planning had been a little better today and we're were getting some better roads although it seemed that a lot of trucks were using these "red" roads rather than the motorways.....not sure why. We managed to find a great little roadside restaurant for some lunch. Having no English menus and the staff not really speaking English we had a comical menu check and conversation eventually getting to a word we both understood....gulasch! That will do nicely! 26zloty for 2 meals and drinks...about £5. It turned out that we has 2 full meals including the gulasch, potatoes and salad! A feast and a tasty one at that!
This fueled the rest of the journey into the city negotiating the tram lines and cobbles to get to our hotel. Again we checked in showered and hit the city. A quick tour of the old market square gave a feel for the place with loads of people visiting, the atmosphere was lovely! We decided the best way to really soak up this atmosphere would be to take part in a bit of people watching and this could only be completed whilst drinking a beer or 2! We then thought a meal would be best to soak up the beer and decided on polish cuisine again....this time trying Pierogi and Cabbage parcels- delicious.
A quick circle of the square, taking in the buskers (good and bad!) and we headed back to the hotel for some route planning and campsite spotting.
Mileage :222km
As we left out hotel the mist of the night had just dispersed and we were again heading past the camp. A sober thought to start the day with.
We are heading to Wroclaw today with the intention of showing Laura a place I had visited a few times with work. This city has always been a great host on my previous visits and though it would be nice to give Laura an insight to the city. My route planning had been a little better today and we're were getting some better roads although it seemed that a lot of trucks were using these "red" roads rather than the motorways.....not sure why. We managed to find a great little roadside restaurant for some lunch. Having no English menus and the staff not really speaking English we had a comical menu check and conversation eventually getting to a word we both understood....gulasch! That will do nicely! 26zloty for 2 meals and drinks...about £5. It turned out that we has 2 full meals including the gulasch, potatoes and salad! A feast and a tasty one at that!
This fueled the rest of the journey into the city negotiating the tram lines and cobbles to get to our hotel. Again we checked in showered and hit the city. A quick tour of the old market square gave a feel for the place with loads of people visiting, the atmosphere was lovely! We decided the best way to really soak up this atmosphere would be to take part in a bit of people watching and this could only be completed whilst drinking a beer or 2! We then thought a meal would be best to soak up the beer and decided on polish cuisine again....this time trying Pierogi and Cabbage parcels- delicious.
A quick circle of the square, taking in the buskers (good and bad!) and we headed back to the hotel for some route planning and campsite spotting.
transalper44
Registered user
Great account of your trip so far, keep them coming, but what's with the shoes on the quayside ?
Fantastic reports - keep on moving 
It's a memorial to those shot into the Danube by the Hungarian Nazis. They were told to take off their shoes before being shot. Very real and thought provoking.
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Gossy
Registered user
Budapest has lots of thought provoking history, the Shoes and House of Terror very sinister, great report though!!
transalper44
Registered user
Thanks you for the explanation regarding the boots. Enjoy reading your reports, hope to do a similar trip next year. Safe riding.
Thursday Day 34 - Wroclaw to Czech Republic
Mileage:
Today we are heading for Czech Republic but not heading for Prague. We decided that we had seen a few cities and we would visit Prague in the future. We were heading in the direction of the city, taking in some twisties we had been recommended and then heading south with our goal over the next few days to get to Frankfurt to meet with a friend.
We found some lovely roads around the Jelenia Gora area with lunch in Trutnov and a walk around the square in Jicin. Not quite mountainous but hilly with an outdoor activity feeling. Our kind of place! As we passed through this area we also skipped over the border into Czech Republic (not that you would know it's there!). Another country, another currency and exchange rate we had to work out.
We then head south through Kolin and started the campsite hunt. We checked out what was available in the Garmin. Loads were showing up and so we thought this would be easy....... The 1st had closed down, the 2nd looked like a concentration camp and un-inviting, the 3rd existed and did not look too bad with a riverside location. We checked in and only after paying the 105koruna (about£3) did the man on the desk/bar tell us that they did not have showers...... They did serve beer though! (Only 68p a pint!)
Mileage:
Today we are heading for Czech Republic but not heading for Prague. We decided that we had seen a few cities and we would visit Prague in the future. We were heading in the direction of the city, taking in some twisties we had been recommended and then heading south with our goal over the next few days to get to Frankfurt to meet with a friend.
We found some lovely roads around the Jelenia Gora area with lunch in Trutnov and a walk around the square in Jicin. Not quite mountainous but hilly with an outdoor activity feeling. Our kind of place! As we passed through this area we also skipped over the border into Czech Republic (not that you would know it's there!). Another country, another currency and exchange rate we had to work out.
We then head south through Kolin and started the campsite hunt. We checked out what was available in the Garmin. Loads were showing up and so we thought this would be easy....... The 1st had closed down, the 2nd looked like a concentration camp and un-inviting, the 3rd existed and did not look too bad with a riverside location. We checked in and only after paying the 105koruna (about£3) did the man on the desk/bar tell us that they did not have showers...... They did serve beer though! (Only 68p a pint!)
Friday Day 35 - Taboriste na brekarne, Czech Republic to Bamburg, Germany
Mileage: 493km
We knew we had a big day ahead of us so woke up pretty early - not as early as our neighbour who was well into his fishing by then! Although he did very kindly share his homemade cake with us for breakfast. Top bloke even though we did not understand each other.
We headed for the German border and then we head north along a couple of "white" roads which were recommended as Michelin "scenic" routes. They were right. The roads were great surface and had the views to match. This route kept us in the hills for a little longer before heading across country through to Bamburg.
On arriving at the campsite we were shocked as to how busy it was. The Germans love to camp! We checked in and went to setup camp. the place was busy but we managed to setup between 2 permanent camps that were not occupied. Nice and quiet. We then went to use the showers.......they were just having a refit and these were definitely the best showers we have experienced so far.....better than the hotels even!
As we had such good experience of the campsite (and after a long day on the bike) we decided to check out the restaurant. A daily special of schnitzel accompanied with a local smokey beer, sat alongside the river.
This is a place we could visit again!
Mileage: 493km
We knew we had a big day ahead of us so woke up pretty early - not as early as our neighbour who was well into his fishing by then! Although he did very kindly share his homemade cake with us for breakfast. Top bloke even though we did not understand each other.
We headed for the German border and then we head north along a couple of "white" roads which were recommended as Michelin "scenic" routes. They were right. The roads were great surface and had the views to match. This route kept us in the hills for a little longer before heading across country through to Bamburg.
On arriving at the campsite we were shocked as to how busy it was. The Germans love to camp! We checked in and went to setup camp. the place was busy but we managed to setup between 2 permanent camps that were not occupied. Nice and quiet. We then went to use the showers.......they were just having a refit and these were definitely the best showers we have experienced so far.....better than the hotels even!
As we had such good experience of the campsite (and after a long day on the bike) we decided to check out the restaurant. A daily special of schnitzel accompanied with a local smokey beer, sat alongside the river.
This is a place we could visit again!
Saturday Day 36 - Bamburg to Grunburg
Mileage: 266km
We were very reluctant to get up this morning and therefore had a late rise and a relaxed breakfast.
We were originally going to head for Frankfurt today to meet with a friend but changed plans for him meant we were not heading into the city.
We decided to stick to cross country routes, picking up routes there were recommend by Michelin as being scenic- they didn't let us down. We spotted that there looked to be a lot of motorcycle friendly roads in the area north east of Frankfurt (Hessen) and spent plenty of time enjoying the sweeping smooth roads, lovely villages and great scenery.
We found a nice, simple campsite on the outskirts Grunburg, again it was full of semi-permanent pitches, with us being the only tent. After checking out a local leaflet, and agin not feeling like cooking, we decided to walk into the town. 10 minutes later we were in a small market square, and after a walk around the small town we found a very popular beer garden and settled here for burgers and beer. Of course topped off with ice cream to fuel the walk back to the campsite!
Mileage: 266km
We were very reluctant to get up this morning and therefore had a late rise and a relaxed breakfast.
We were originally going to head for Frankfurt today to meet with a friend but changed plans for him meant we were not heading into the city.
We decided to stick to cross country routes, picking up routes there were recommend by Michelin as being scenic- they didn't let us down. We spotted that there looked to be a lot of motorcycle friendly roads in the area north east of Frankfurt (Hessen) and spent plenty of time enjoying the sweeping smooth roads, lovely villages and great scenery.
We found a nice, simple campsite on the outskirts Grunburg, again it was full of semi-permanent pitches, with us being the only tent. After checking out a local leaflet, and agin not feeling like cooking, we decided to walk into the town. 10 minutes later we were in a small market square, and after a walk around the small town we found a very popular beer garden and settled here for burgers and beer. Of course topped off with ice cream to fuel the walk back to the campsite!
Sunday Day 37 - Grunburg to Kyllburg
Mileage: 281km
We were suddenly woken this morning when the camper next to us moved ..... Suddenly the sunlight and heat flooded in and we were soon baking in the tent. We were both feeling pretty shattered after all the traveling and found it quite difficult to get going. We sat, topping up our vitamin D levels in the sunshine, contemplating should we move on or spend the day in the pool complex next to the campsite. We decided to move on as we wanted to have a couple of lazy days on the French coast before a heading back to the UK.
Koblenz was the first major waypoint, a lovely city that Laura had visited whilst at school. Unfortunately the city seemed to be on lock down, with police and blocked roads everywhere. We ground to a standstill, which in 33 degree heat was horrible. We abandoned all hope of reaching the city and headed on our way.
Happy to be on the lovely German open roads again, we started to look for a lunch stop. We found a lovely pull in with some shade and set about cooking lunch- dehydrated chicken curry.... Sounds awful but was lovely and much needed.
We stopped off a little way down the road for cold drinks (we'd used up all our water, which was warm anyway) and a sneaky ice cream.
We headed towards the Nurburgring, to try and soak up some of those atmosphere whilst trying to catch up with a mate who was over for a driving weekend. All hopes of getting close the track and having a sneaky peak at the cars were squashed by the sheer volume of people. Due to the increasing temperatures it was too hot to hang around, esp to get off and walk, so we carried on leaving the roaring of engines behind us.
Kyllburg was to be home for the evening on a campsite run by a Dutch couple. Word has clearly got out as it was almost entirely full of Dutch caravans, and they were impressive! Tourer vans, with permanent wooden extensions and then covered seating areas with candles, log burners and scatter cushions! Better than our garden at home!
We enjoyed another culinary delight cooked on the trangia, of course followed by some cold glasses of Bitburger. Well we were just down the road from Bitburg and it's important to support local business!
Mileage: 281km
We were suddenly woken this morning when the camper next to us moved ..... Suddenly the sunlight and heat flooded in and we were soon baking in the tent. We were both feeling pretty shattered after all the traveling and found it quite difficult to get going. We sat, topping up our vitamin D levels in the sunshine, contemplating should we move on or spend the day in the pool complex next to the campsite. We decided to move on as we wanted to have a couple of lazy days on the French coast before a heading back to the UK.
Koblenz was the first major waypoint, a lovely city that Laura had visited whilst at school. Unfortunately the city seemed to be on lock down, with police and blocked roads everywhere. We ground to a standstill, which in 33 degree heat was horrible. We abandoned all hope of reaching the city and headed on our way.
Happy to be on the lovely German open roads again, we started to look for a lunch stop. We found a lovely pull in with some shade and set about cooking lunch- dehydrated chicken curry.... Sounds awful but was lovely and much needed.
We stopped off a little way down the road for cold drinks (we'd used up all our water, which was warm anyway) and a sneaky ice cream.
We headed towards the Nurburgring, to try and soak up some of those atmosphere whilst trying to catch up with a mate who was over for a driving weekend. All hopes of getting close the track and having a sneaky peak at the cars were squashed by the sheer volume of people. Due to the increasing temperatures it was too hot to hang around, esp to get off and walk, so we carried on leaving the roaring of engines behind us.
Kyllburg was to be home for the evening on a campsite run by a Dutch couple. Word has clearly got out as it was almost entirely full of Dutch caravans, and they were impressive! Tourer vans, with permanent wooden extensions and then covered seating areas with candles, log burners and scatter cushions! Better than our garden at home!
We enjoyed another culinary delight cooked on the trangia, of course followed by some cold glasses of Bitburger. Well we were just down the road from Bitburg and it's important to support local business!
Monday Day 38 - Kyllburg to Chimay (Belgium)
Mileage: 234km
Today we chose the destination of Chimay in Belgium for no other reason than it was in the correct direction and we had heard of the beer.
We programmed the sat nav and let that do the work of the route planning. We stopped in a lovely riverside town and were determined to find french fries for lunch. We were in luck as there was a Friterie. This was a new experience for us so we decided to check it out. A house special was ordered and we were served with fries and mayo, curry ketchup and raw onions to top it off. Went down a treat!
We then continued on our way to Chimay arriving at about 3pm. A relatively early finish for us but we were both exhausted and it had also started to rain. What better an excuse for an afternoon nap! Awaking refreshed we showered, changed and head into the town to explore a little and get some dinner. The town itself was a little disappointing as there was not a lot around and it was very quiet.
We found a restaurant in the town square and they were serving Chimay and what looked like good food.
Another burger sampled, accompanied by all 3 varieties of the local beer (Red, white and blue). We even went for the beer and cheese dish as a desert. This is meant to have a cheese that compliments each of the beers. Not sure I was so convinced as cheese was not great. Topped off the day nicely though.
Mileage: 234km
Today we chose the destination of Chimay in Belgium for no other reason than it was in the correct direction and we had heard of the beer.
We programmed the sat nav and let that do the work of the route planning. We stopped in a lovely riverside town and were determined to find french fries for lunch. We were in luck as there was a Friterie. This was a new experience for us so we decided to check it out. A house special was ordered and we were served with fries and mayo, curry ketchup and raw onions to top it off. Went down a treat!
We then continued on our way to Chimay arriving at about 3pm. A relatively early finish for us but we were both exhausted and it had also started to rain. What better an excuse for an afternoon nap! Awaking refreshed we showered, changed and head into the town to explore a little and get some dinner. The town itself was a little disappointing as there was not a lot around and it was very quiet.
We found a restaurant in the town square and they were serving Chimay and what looked like good food.
Another burger sampled, accompanied by all 3 varieties of the local beer (Red, white and blue). We even went for the beer and cheese dish as a desert. This is meant to have a cheese that compliments each of the beers. Not sure I was so convinced as cheese was not great. Topped off the day nicely though.
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