Salzburg to Plzen

Wow, so the last proper post was over a week ago. This post covers riding from Salzburg, Austria past some lakes to the city of Linz, then on into the Czech Republic through Cesky Krumlov and Budweis to Plzen.

One of the reasons I was loitering in Salzburg (I spent 4 nights there) was that I was waiting for my friend Andy to arrive. He happened to be passing through the area doing some travel of his own. His sister Nikki flew in for the weekend too. He was the first person I knew that I’d seen in 4 weeks!

We went to a great beergarden- the Augustiner brewery. They had pretty cheap beer and a food hall upstairs. It was a nice night so we sat outside drinking for a while.

The next day it was back on the bike for some riding through nice hilly countryside.

In case you’re wondering, this is part of my view for a lot of the day- my handlebars… In this photo I’ve also got the GoPro mounted on the bars recording a timelapse..

It was good riding along cycle paths with big mountains alongside.

And beside lakes.

At one point the road went through a tunnel. So they built another tunnel beside it just for cyclists and pedestrians! Awesome.

As the day went on the clouds got thicker.. Eventually it started raining, hard, with thunder and lightning overhead. Luckily it wasn’t too steep a descent, so I didn’t wear through my brakes.
Here’s a photo from before the rain started.

The rain stopped just as I arrived at a big lake that I was going to follow (and camp beside).

It was great riding- all the cars went through big tunnels, and the cycle route followed the old road around the lake.

I made it to a campground just before another thunderstorm hit.. I foolishly thought now would be a good time to set up my tent (n the hail), so it all got quite wet.. Luckily the sun came out soon after so everything was able to be dried out.

The next day dawned nice, and I rode on towards Linz. It was all on cycle routes still, and followed a river.

As I rode along I met a really nice American couple living in Austria who were out for a dayride. They were really interested in my trip and even bought me a beer!
Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of them, but here’s one of the town we stopped in, Weis.

From there it was a short ride to Linz. I had arranged to stay with some Warmshowers hosts, Mirko and Daniella, but they were in Vienna for the weekend, so I loitered in parks etc for a few hours until they arrived home. Haha.
They were great hosts, and I had their garden-house to myself. Here’s a photo of my tent drying outside.

I stayed for a night in Linz, and then took the train to Vienna for a night, leaving my gear at the house. I did a photo post about that trip separately which you can look at here. I returned to Linz for another night and had a quick look around the Linz city centre.

Then it was back on the bike and riding towards the border.

It was a bit hillier, which I later learnt was a bit of a warmup for the short steep hills of the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic doesn’t use the Euro, and the currency feels like it’s missing a decimal point.

As soon as I crossed the border it felt a bit different. You could sort of tell that you had crossed the old Iron Curtain. Some of the roads were of much poorer quality. It turns out it was mainly around the border, but it had me a little concerned.

But everything’s pretty cheap in the Czech Republic, especially the beer, which makes me happy. I stopped in Cesky Krumlov for the night. This town is pretty famous for having such a big castle for a small town. It’s definitely picturesque.

On one of the maps for the castle I saw a “Bear moat”. I thought, wow, that’s cool, back in the day they used to keep bears in the moat to keep people out. Or maybe that the moat was to stop the beers from invading the castle! It turns out there are still bears in the moat!

It appears to be an ornate castle, until you realise all the bricks are painted on!

The next day it was on through little villages and past fields of yellow Rape plants (what do they do with all the rapeseed oil?)

Just past Budweis I passed a purpose built canoe/kayak slalom course. It was pretty cool. If only we’d had this at Paddles Up.. (That’s an obscure reference only Southland kayakers will probably get)

It’s been pretty hot the last few days- in the mid-twenties with no wind.. So the fact that the Czech beer is so cheap has been awesome. Here’s a little pub I stopped at for a drink (and to pat the cute dog).

I had a fair bit of trouble finding a campsite that night- I tried 4 places that all said they were closed before I found a great one for 2 euro!
The next day I started following the cycle path along the river, but it was unsealed and rough, which isn’t fun on a fully laden bike.

I rode on and stopped about lunchtime for a beer. At the pub I met an American couple who were visiting family here. They were also on a dayride. Here’s a photo of them when they overtook me later.

They kindly took a photo of me too!

So I made it to Plzen- the home of Pilsner beer, which is my favourite type of beer. This is the closest to a pilgrimage I can get.
Here’s the town square.

I’m staying in a hostel, and the other guy in my room is also a cycle tourist! A Korean who’s riding around Europe for 4-5 months. From here he’s heading south and east to Istanbul, whereas I’m going north and west towards Amsterdam.

Today I did a tour of the beer museum and the Pilsner Urquell brewery. It was pretty interesting and they gave us a decent tasting at the end..

From here it’s off towards Prague then up to Dresden and Berlin.. Wow, hard to believe I’ve made it this far! I’ve clocked up over 2700km now through Europe, and I’ve been going over 2 months. I’m over halfway through my time in continental Europe, and am looking forward to the weeks and months ahead!