In a hurry

In the morning we had 3 riding days and 1800 km to home. Now, almost according to schedule, 2 days and just over 1200 km. But it will get faster now in transit, this morning we were still enjoying the last piece of the Alps, and then made a quick tour of Vienna's fancy buildings. Forgot to take photos with the old ones, here is one from the modern district across Donau.

Nocky mountains

Thanks to a roadside info display seen yesterday, we today found Nockalmstrasse, also called Nocky mountains (pic). Smaller and quieter, but also very nice. Even smaller, and with some roadworks, was Sölkpass. Choosing this road was especially fortunate since we found a dream place to stay on the other side: Zickhof. An absolutely wonderful farm on the hillside with fun people and the best food we've had this trip. They were grilling with friends when we arrived, and invited us to join. I still can't believe our luck. Norman got an opportunity to practice English with kids of the family (he has completely forgotten his German).

Grossglockner

Yesterday, started back from the conference in Ljubljana. The forecast was awful, but actually we hardly got any rain at all. Only Grossglockner was hidden in clouds again, as I guess it has been every time I've been on that road.

Industry

The Bran castle is a tourist attraction. Don't go there (unless you are a tourist of course). Even as a tourist, do not buy the extra ticket for the "time tunnel", costing as much as the castle entry itself. That's a one-minute elevator ride with movies shown on the walls, and you have to queue 40 minutes for it (see the people on the pic), while shouting angry employees repeatedly push waiting guests aside to ride the elevator themselves. The castle is best viewed from the road riding by, especially since the density of tourists gives you the queueing experience already there. With the Dracula character the castle has no real connection anyway. 

 

Discussing the day with Norman, we realised we both liked even groceries shopping better than the castle, not to mention the villages and mountains. It was such a relief to get on the bike again, and mountain roads to the SW of Bran were just great. We had pancakes for lunch and icecream for dinner, as a sort of compensation for contact with the tourist industry.

Omens

On Friday the 13th, the destination for the day was Dracula's castle. One of the first persons we met in the morning was carrying a scythe. Then a black cat crossed the road just before us. Then we passed a town called Târgu Mureș ('rightly worried' in Estonian). And then a roadsign specified that who is worried is Raul, my father. But I'm writing this on Saturday, so we were fine, thanks everybody for being worried.

Ukraine 2, or optimal stopping

Yesterday in the Ukraine, having seen multiple roadside ads for hot springs and spas, we decided to find one. The dream was a nice log house on a mountainside with a view of the sunset. We searched for 3 hours. This included a 20-km detour on a road that was a strong contender in our internal competition for the worst road of the trip. Norman said it was parkour, not riding. But all the places were closed, fully booked, didn't exist, or differed significantly from what was advertised. When exhausted, we finally settled in a grandmother-style guesthouse down in the valley with this view (the window was so small and near the floor I had to kneel to take the picture):

Today however, we stopped early at the first sign including the words "sauna" and "pool", and here I am on our balcony enjoying the sunset after the sauna and swim. Yes, it's a log house.

Ukraine 1

In between some very nice riding in the Karpathian mountains, waiting for the rain cloud to move out of the way and writing slides for the conference next week.

Poland

Yesterday was spent elbowing our way through Polish traffic on totally uninteresting roads. And the border crossing to Ukraine that I've already complained about here. Jumped the queue, drove right to the passport control booth, passing people who looked like they had spent days there. And still the border crossing procedure itself took 2.5 (yes two and a half) hours. Difficult to understand why do governments get away with this.

But now the waiting (on straight roads and cruise control) is over, roads in the Ukraine are interesting. Speed determined by road conditions and my abilities, rather than the mental world of legislators.

Lithuania

Starting from Võru provided an opportunity to avoid the all too familiar direct road to Poland, and go through Daugavpils and Vilnius instead. There are national parks and nice small towns like Trakai or Alytus. The road between these two was the dessert of the riding day - could finally switch off cruise control and tilt the bike a bit. But the biggest surprise was Ignalina. Expectation: nuclear power. Reality: ski resort. The pics are from central Vilnius where we had a picnic on the riverside. The writing on the wall reads "Let's have a moment of silence for all those who are stuck in traffic on their way to the gym to ride stationary bicycles". Since I didn't bring a bicycle or skates, I ended the day with a 11 km run in Alytus. Norman preferred his phone.

To Slovenia with Norman

The pretext for the trip this time is Euralex in Ljubljana. Going by bike with Norman. First stop Võru Folk.