Rest day in Krakow. The day dawned hot and sunny again, bit of theme developing here.....
Today we had elected to take a side trip to the Auschwitz memorial museum and concentration camps.
Those that have been will know what a harrowing experience it is and how difficult putting this into word is.
Suffice to say, it is very difficult to comprehend the extent of mans' inhumanity to man and this all happened within a generation.
We spent most of the day at Auschwitz I and Auschwitz Birkenau where the majority of the prisoners were kept (read 'processed').
On our return to Krakow, we had a very nice meal at an Argentinean restaurant which we rounded off with Argentinean Pancakes. Be assured, these are just like normal pancakes and nary a mention of the Malvinas!
A very enjoyable day off. Back to the grind tomorrow.
No miles ridden and no height gained. He he.
Tuesday 29 July 2008
Today is our last full day in Poland. Our plan is to ride approx. 60 miles south from Krakow to Zakopane on the Polish/Slovakian border.
After a humoungous Ibis breakfast we winched our straining bellies onto Disharmony II and set off at the sprightly hour of 09:00....straight into the Krakow rush.
The day was set in the now familiar pattern of very hot and very sunny.
Throughout we were accompanied by the three H's; Hills, Heat and Horrible Traffic.
We dodged the traffic along the main E77-7 and subsequently Route 47 only stopping for lolly and bum breaks every hour and a half or so.
Today was the hilliest so far and this plus the heat knocked the stuffing out of us. Fortunately, we were fresh from our rest day so were able to still make our planned destination.
As a testament to steepness of the ups and downs, we recorded another trip highest speed today; 46mph!!
We arrived at Zakopane at around 16:30, called into Tourist Info to find where the camp site was and cycled a couple of extra miles to our preferred choice.
YES! We are back in the tent tonight (by choice). Campsite quite busy but large enough to absorb the numbers booked in.
Miles did a bit of tandem fettling whilst Tracey showered. He then spent 45 minutes removing all the post fettling tandem filth.
Dinner was eaten at the site café (quite nice) followed by blogs, notes and an earlyish night.
Tatra's tomorrow, we can feel our collies wobbling......
Today was a real grind with the horrendous traffic, heat and hills. We knocked out a total of 67 miles and 1425m of ascent! Total trip 2070 miles.
More Southerly ramblings to follow.
Back soon. Miles & Tracey.
