On the Road Again!

Pepe is ready to roll, only needing a top up of petrol before heading off to the Shuttle on Wednesday morning. Before then I have a day at work,  a day work from home and a visit to the hospital to see about a hearing aid. Then I need to pack. The weather forecast looks pretty good so I'll need to get out the sun screen. And the insect repellant. Clothes? I like the idea I read about in a magazine of simply taking old stuff and binning it rather than carrying it about.  I'm sure I have pants and socks that could fill that role! The Saddlemen bag is pretty huge for one person so the panniers can be used to carry heavier low down stuff.  Our Czech hosts like wine and live in a wine producing area. So taking English eine might seem like selling sand to Saudi but I am sure with enough bubble wrap I can get a few bottles safely 800 miles across Europe. It might need a few days or weeks to settle before drinking. What else?

This Flickr album contains about 103 of the pix taken on the trip. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pauldevall/sets/72157625772506567/ Favourite beer Cerna Hora......

Not all of this trip will be about eating and drinking and watching bike racing.  There will be local sights, folklore and culture!!! On the way home from Brno we have a stop in Prague . As it is really about 160 miles that day we have a stop in Prague . I have two cultural stops on the way back. The first at Žďár nad Sázavou to pay a visit to the Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk on Zelena hora Hill. This was built in the shape of a star in 1719. More info on the Church  - http://www.santini.cz/zdar-nad-sazavou-en.html The other place on the Brno-Prague route is the Church of Bones at Kutna Hora.  I first saw it in a travel book many years ago and then it was featured in the "Long Way Round" TV series with celeb actor luvvies Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman. This is a bizarre church where skeletons of the long deceased are used as decorative materials!  It must be worth a half hour to visit. More info on Church of Bones - http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...