Kotlina Klodzka and Czech

Another trip with my brave F800R, 26.07-02.08.2022, 1350 km

26.07 Tue, 236 km

Difficult start

On the first day, the weather was unpleasant already. I got caught by some heavy rain. So the rain suit came in handy from the start. While I was putting it on, I met another motorcyclist doing the same. He was from Tomaszow. He told me he once travelled alone to Albania and Czarnogora and recommended it, since in Albania, there are no highways.

I arrived in Wielun after 4 hours. Completely exhausted. I wouldn't have made it straight from Warsaw to Kotlina. 8 hours with side roads. Nope. And highways, extremely boring and using my tyres.

As for Wielun, there is nothing there. A typical drive-thru city. It does look like someone is trying to take care of it, but the atmosphere is unpleasant and there are many bums. The prices in the restaurant at the town square almost knocked me over. I took just a smoothie. Only my hotel was nice in there. Clean, smelled like raspberries, I believe. No kettle to make a tea though.

 

27.07 Wed, 251 km

Encounter with the police

Took off without a rush after the breakfast at the hotel. I needed to make a few stops to rest a little.

In Kluczbork I visited the museum of Jan Dzierzon, the "father of modern apiculture".

After I left Kluczbork, I got caught by the police. It was a typical trap, where you could already practically overtake a slower vehicle, although the sign "end of municipality" was a few meters further. I was going 76 km/h and the fine would be 400 pln. The policeman was with the bike too, it was a BMW with a boxer engine. He asked whether the sticker "look, admire but don't touch" referred to me or my bike. Kinda creepy when I recall it now, although I think he didn't mean it in a bad way. He didn't punish me, I shaked his hand (was I supposed to do that?) and took off. This was the first time I got pulled over for speeding, I wasn't sure how to behave. He noticed I was nervous.

I ate at Chorwackie smaki. The waiter was talking to me in Italian, I believe.

I made it just in time to visit the gold mine in Zloty Stok. The female guide was making so many jokes as though she was doing a stand-up there.

Arrived at my accomodation in the evening. They didn't expect a motorcycle, so nobody greeted me, but I managed to open the gate myself. The bed was surprisingly small and I didn't really sleep well, I felt quite homesick and stressed, I guess.

28.07 Thu, 88 km

Dolni Morava and Miedzygorze

Took off early to reach the Dolni Morava before the crowd. 9:00 am there were a lot of people already, but no lines yet. I had an online ticket, just scanned it and went through, nice and easy. I met some Polish tourists. They invited me for vodka. I thought they were joking, but they did pull out vodka. Did I want to drink vodka in some bushes with five strange men I just met? Nope. Sad how they couldn't really enjoy the experience, they just went quickly through the bridge to keep on drinking. I spent a lot of time there, enjoying the views. Some nice Czech lady offered to take a picture of me. The Sky walk tower was also pretty cool, with great views. 

Then I drove to Penzion u Cmelaku to grab a bite to eat. 

 

There was a Polish menu. I totally didn't understand the Czech language. On top of that, it turned out that my internet in roaming was so slow, on both phones, that I couldn't check where I could go next. So I returned to Poland and headed to Miedzygorze. The nature there was amazing. I took a walk from Zapora to the Waterfall Wilczki and it was magical. 

 

29.07 Friday, 76 km

Kletno

There was a risk of storm today in the evening, so I took off early again. The internet and reception were terribly slow in my accommodation, so I went to the nearest city - Bystrzyca Klodzka. On entering the city, you enjoy the beautiful panoramic view of the city.

I went to the Filumenistic Museum. It's the only museum in Poland where exhibits on fire are collected. What a charming interesting museum. The history of matches, lighters etc. I spent a lot of time there. 

I booked online a ticket to the Uranium Mine and headed there. The road was difficult. The mine is in the mountain Zmijowiec. There were difficult steep narrow u-turns. 

The tour in the mine was short, but interesting. 

Then I walked to the Museum of Earth in Kletno. Small but nice, with interesting minerals and fossils. However, the price seemed high and the guide seemed bored and as though he wanted to get over with the tour as fast as possible. He even switched off the light while I was still looking at the exhibits.

I asked a local how to get to the old quarry and she advised me to go up the forest path. It was worth it. I enjoyed a lonesome quite viewpoint at the querry, lake and mountains. 

Then I went for a fish. They had only trouts which they breeded themselves. The trouts however could be ordered made in differents ways. Then I took a walk around the ponds on premises. Cool place. 

The road home was amazing. Me and my bike, the local road, empty space around me and the mountains in the distance.

30.07 Sut, 0 km

Rainy day

Sat home and planned the rest of my journey. I discovered that the internet works better downstairs. I made friends with a cat. 

 

 

 

I also learned that the building I was staying in was registered as antiquity. The house was in fact quite old. I was cold during night. The windows and doors were old and uninsulated. There were also some interesting items in this house.

 

 

 

31.07 Sun, 206 km

Teplické skály

Today there was a late start, since the morning was cold. I took a road along the border, but it was in poor condition. But the views were nice sometimes.

I arrived at Teplicke Skaly around 11 am and I had to stand one hour in the line in full sun. Something I hate, but I waited, since I already got there and they didn't charge me for parking. I spent over two hours there. It's true the experience is outstanding, can be hardly described and pictures won't show the magic of it. The so called Siberia was enchanting. The narrow pathway between the cold, high rocks, covered with vividly green moss, and between them the subtle sunlight and sparkling mist.

 

I climbed onto the rock castle too. Everyone praised it, but I didn't think that the view was worth the struggle. 

After that, I drove to the restaurant near the border, but it was too crowded so I left. I went down the road of 100 curves. The views were nice, but the road was mostly in terrible shape. Finally, around 5 pm in Kudowa- Zdroj I could eat something. Then I bought something for breakfast and headed back home. I could tell I spent four hours on bike today. It's a limit for me. My wrist and buttock hurt.

01.08 Mon, 122 km

Moving on

Time to take off to another location. I'll have my own bathroom there, so I won't have to worry about people who don't know how to use a toilet brush. The cat was waiting for me in front of the garage as though he wanted to make sure I wouldn't leave without saying goodbye. 

Annoyingly, my water pump seems to be weeping again. And I already replaced it. Is it time to admit that this bike just likes to weep some coolant?

 

I stopped at the viewpoint, right at the border. I asked someone to take a picture of me with my bike.

I went through Czech right to my next accommodation. It seemed like many things were closed on Monday, so I couldn't really visit anything.

It was supposed to rain, so I left my bike at the hotel and went to search for a restaurant. At one they told me I could get a dessert but not lunch before 2 pm. Weird. Then I found some place with fish. You could even rent a fishing rod and catch a lunch yourself. They had goats too, but I believed they didn't eat them.

 

 

 

Then I took a nap and when the weather got better, went to the city to eat a supper and buy groceries.

02.08 Tue, 370 km

The abrupt end of the vacation

It turned out that I was sharing the accommodation with some unpleasant people who acted as though they were alone. At 10 pm, they started shouting and playing music outside. I tried to sleep with my earplugs, but I was quite stressed. When they got back into their room, next to mine, they kept on talking and playing music. I gotta admit though, the walls were like made of papier, you could hear every little noise. At some point I lost it and gave them a piece of my mind. I know I was quite impolite, but politeness never works with such people. Actually, nothing ever works with such people, since they are egoists. Police helps, but I had no reception there. I couldn't contact the owner either. Even though these people shut up after my slam, I couldn't calm down. I slept just a little and woke up again. I've seen plenty of situations like this. It only works short term and I bet they would keep on being loud for the rest of my stay. And what if they maliciously do something to my bike? My mood and morale were maxed out. My mental resources were exhausted. At 3:00 am I just packed my stuff and left. Driving the bike in the dark isn't the wisest thing, but I felt like I had no other choice. Perhaps a lone, one-week vacation is a maximum for me. Perhaps I chose bad accommodations. Perhaps it was bad time - July and August might be the time when you're bound to meet frustrated, uncivil families. I never met such people when I was travelling in low season. Luckily, the proprietor agreed to reimburse me for the remaining nights.

It was such a relief to be back in my own flat and in my own bed. And to see my love again.