On the road in South Moravia

It rained at night. Still in the morning. I’m in no hurry to get up, not even breakfast and packing. Luckily I rented a “hut” here, actually more of a boarded room with a tent roof made of truck tarpaulin and a mattress. But the “additional costs” of about € 1.60 were worth it: I don’t have to take down a tent in the rain and pack it wet. I still have to go out sometime. And as I’m about to leave, another of the guys from the windsurfer group I joined last night (campfire, guitars and young wine!) talks to me and gives me tips on how to continue to Mikulov, including the best café in the Czech Republic that lies on a mountain. To be honest, I don’t feel like detours in this weather, but maybe it’s on the route anyway, then I’ll gladly take it.

Of course it’s not! I’ll have to wait a little longer for my coffee. But first I notice that the braking effect of my bike is considerably worse in this weather than in dry conditions. In addition to the wetness the total weight is added! I just have to remember to brake downhill in time and more often, even if I prefer to let it run – after all, braking is energy destruction! Well, the next bicycle has disc brakes.

What’s been bugging me since yesterday is the constant banging. At first I thought someone was shooting. Meanwhile it has become clear to me that especially in the wine plantations, through which I now drive more and more beside corn and pumpkin fields, automatic firecrackers are installed to prevent the birds from early harvesting! The increase comes to light just before Mikulov, when buzzard and falcon cries are heard from loudspeakers!

Shortly before Mikulov the Eurovelo 9 runs together with the Eurovelo 13, the Iron Curtain Trail, the longest and certainly most ambitious Eurovelo. Initiated by Berlin MEP Michael Cramer, he winds his way around 9,500 km from the Barents Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south along the former Iron Curtain and makes the division of Europe during the Cold War literally tangible. Probably the most interesting experience report comes from a Stuttgart couple who cycled their way in three stages from 2012 – 2014 and recorded their experiences in a blog: iron-curtain.blogspot.com/

There is a wine festival in Mikulov. The main thing here is to bring the young wine to the people. Otherwise, the sun shines for a moment and the castle for which the place is known brightens up. Next, Valtice and Lednice are still waiting for me, registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the most extensive complexes of historical landscape architecture: two castles, connected by a 200 square kilometre park and pond landscape.

I cannot really appreciate the latter today. There’s a thunderstorm on my back, it’s raining cats and dogs and it’s dark as night at half past seven. And it’s only four o’clock in the afternoon. But I would like to visit Lednice Castle, which is said to be open only until 5 pm. When I arrive from all my clothes dripping, no running, it is quarter to five. Fortunately my information is not quite correct: At five o’clock the last tour starts, which I can then also take part in. It is an impressive splendour that you get to see there, but what fascinates me most are the wooden coffered ceilings and above all the spiral stairs in the library carved from an oak trunk.

For the night I put a pension room under water, for camping I have now really no desire, particularly since it rains and thunders further and further!

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

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