Journey

Stuttgart and a return to cycle touring

by Nathan Molyneaux on Jul 23, 2022 category Journey

A short train journey and I arrive into Stuttgart. I was suggested a couple of museums to attend. Namely the Mercedes car museum; unfortunately I chose not to do this but a bit more admin. I had tax returns and paperwork to do. You can never really leave life behind!

However, my visit to Stuttgart was to meet my friend Christina and her partner Jan. I met Christina whilst working in Denmark and hadn’t met for over 3 or 4 years. It was nice to see how they were getting on and their plans for the future. The final night before I left for Switzerland and them off towards the Austrian mountains, they took me to the local restaurant. It happened to be located at the bottom of the apartment block.

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Nürnberg – a reminder of the Nazi preoccupation with themselves.

by Nathan Molyneaux on Jul 22, 2022 category Journey

My final journey into Nürnberg was only 40km and relatively flat along the river Pegnitz. The journey takes you through some of the small and picturesque old towns of Germany, the ones not ravaged by the war, and retain their old charm.

Life carries on…

I arrive into Nürnberg before lunch and head for the hostel to start the admin I need to do. Taxes, laundry and bike maintenance. The glamorous life of a cycle tourist! The hostel is rather bland, more of the commercial types where they squeeze as many in as possible. This unfortunately means services and atmosphere suffer. Not easy to meet people and a kitchen which is practically unusable. Whilst it is possible to wash the clothes it is not possible to dry (machine broken). I head off to find a Laundromat; it works out cheaper as well! Lesson learned!

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Calming down on the distance leads to a happier journey.

by Nathan Molyneaux on Jul 20, 2022 category Journey, Wild Camping

Getting out of Prague was a challenge though, there are a lot of road works happening on the cycle ways! Following the Eurovelo 3/4 initally along the river made for a fairly easy first day. That and adding a rehydration tablet to the water bottle for the first litre of the day. It seems to make a considerable difference. The original plan was to cook dinner around 6 and then continue onwards until 9 and then set up camp. Following the usual three rules of wild camping:

Arrive late
Leave early
Leave no trace

The weather; however had other plans and with a torrential downpour from 5.30 until about 7.00 I decided to head to a local restaurant and have dinner there whilst waiting for the storm to pass over. Prague is cheap, but a local restaurant in a village not expecting a tourist to pop in is even cheaper and my eyes are on stalks at how cheap! If these prices remain I could go round the World in gourmet style!

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Prague – the city of architecture

by Nathan Molyneaux on Jul 16, 2022 category Journey

Using the trains again, I managed to catch a direct train from Krakow to Prague. The gruelling 6 hour train journey passes through some amazing countryside and quite a few post-Soviet towns. I was joined on the first part by two Danish people who oddly enough spent most of the time talking in English. They met in English class and have continued speaking English to each other ever since! The second half was spent writing a blog and attempting to catch-up with how far I am behind! For example I am writing this blog in Blonay, Switzerland!

I was staying in Sir Toby’s hostel just beyond the edge of the main city across the river. It is a non-commercial hostel with the décor based on an old English stately home. These are the best hostels to meet people and are usually run by people who like to travel. I met a large group of Australians and British inter-railing through Europe. There was a party atmosphere in this hostel, but luckily the bar was in the basement!

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Krakow and the horrors of the Nazis

by Nathan Molyneaux on Jul 13, 2022 category Journey

Krakow is a different kind of beast to Wrocław. Namely in size and less of the city was destroyed by The second world war. The city was deemed too difficult to defend, meaning the buildings are in their original state. This is clearly shown in the main square which is stunning along with the cathedral and its trumpeter. Yes there are a team of people employed to play the trumpet every hour.

Much of the medieval parts of the city were destroyed, not through war but because the locals thought they were ugly. However, part of the outer wall and some gates were saved by Professor Feliks Radwański. The Professor convinced the city leaders that the demolition would cause drafts, exposing the inhabitants to diseases!

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