Travels with Joan and Lou: Pedal Part Starts

We connected with the bike tour group after breakfast on Sunday. There are 13 of us from various parts of the US (NYC, Ohio, Arizona, Hawaii, Alaska San Diego and us) as well as Canada and a couple from Australia along with two guides Martina and Tomas and our upbeat and competent bus driver Ondrej (pronounced Ond-jay) After a transfer by bus we started biking. It became evident pretty quickly that we had a group that varied greatly in speed. The rabbits were a bunch of women triathletes and just plain fitness people accompanied by a couple of young guys whose egos wouldn't let them get left behind. Lou and I were in the middle and then there were two couples behind us. The men in each couple were amazingly fit and included a triathlete who just came off an Ironman the week before. The women had to go slower and their partners chose to ride with them. Right off we began will a hilly ride through beautiful countryside and passing through small villages. The fields on either side of us went on forever with acres of rapeseed, winter wheat and corn. The villages look like variations on a theme: stucco-like houses all painted ocher with red tile roofs. Every time we enter a village there is a sign that names it - something unpronounceable like Lounovice pod Blaniken, Naceradec and Salacova Lhota. With the accent marks I can't reproduce here, it's hard to know how to say the name. We had a wonderful picnic lunch with a big salad, fruit, cheeses, sliced meats and breads. We ended the 40 mile day by riding into the main square of Telc, a UNESCO Heritage site. Here we were able to stay two nights in a charming hotel on the main square. Telc used to be surrounded by a wall and when viewed from above is surrounded by water on three sides. The castle was closed the day we were there but we walked around to get a feel.

The next days' rides was a big 25 mile loop with a stop for a barbecue lunch at the Rostejn Castle. REI arranged for this very small castle to be open when it was normally closed. It is mostly notable for its tower where we climbed to get a wonderful view of the countryside. Ondjay our driver extraordinaire had gotten here first and built a fire on which he roasted small rounds of Brie or Camembert type cheese wrapped in foil paper. The cheese melted fondue-like and we smeared it on bread he also roasted local sausages after he foraged for sticks in the forest. It was a feast with a huge fresh salad and fruit. This day too was a bit hilly with winding roads through villages and field after field of crops. The roads do not have a lot of traffic and often there are trees lining them providing a bit of shade. We stayed for our second night in Telc and had dinner on our own at a restaurant outside the walled city under umbrellas sheltering us from some evening rain, getting to know some of our fellow bikers.