2018-10-19 Day 38 Fri

Found a turn off that did not seem to be a farmers track and drove a long it for a while, then popped out on a sealed track. Drove further along the track to the end. By now it was just a gravel muddy track. A few roads had headed off to the lake so we walked down one and there was a hut and people so walked out again. Just parked 10m off the road in a clearing. Although we heard a few gun-shots from the fisherman it was a quiet night.

During cooking a soup for dinner the stove overheated. Two pots and on high…. When I tried to restart flashed yellow – glow plug problem. Ha! we had the solution - a new glow plug! It was duly installed when the stove was cool enough to touch and yes it started… Got dinner in the end but the beans were a little underdone.

175km

2018-10-18 Day 37 Thu

Another undisturbed night, although a car driving by woke john at 5am this morning.

The diskStation was not happy so John pulled the fridge out and plugged into it, but had difficulty talking to it. At the same time I cleaned out the hot tap filter again… Blocked after the vinegar wash out with small bits of calcium.

Some small trucks arrived so decided it was time to move on. Down the other side of the pine forest.

Many of the towns still have speakers attached to light poles on the streets. In one town there was a females voice coming over it but had no idea what was being said.

The towns here are not as contained as in Germany, there seems to be a few houses between the towns… I am surprised at the size of the old houses, often two stories and quiet large I had imagined that Czech Republic was poorer in days gone by, but the houses I find really big. Everywhere is neat and tidy with flowers...Flowers in the garden and in the window boxes. We spent some time by a little lake with WiFi.

Some people came up to the truck to look at the maps but when they heard us or we engaged in greetings they turned away. One guy had a chat about fishing (we think). We applied online for a Ukraine Evisa for 10 days time ( the soonest we can apply for) so we’ll see. It cost US$65 each. I was having all sorts of problems uploading a passport photo so were late leaving.

60km on we found a campsite up in the pines again. Just starting dinner and a car came to visit. John spoke to the driver and although he was not happy – no good for tourists he said- he left. Actually he tried to leave and could not back up the dirt road so had to roll back down, turn around and drive up

forwards. We are on a little track in a pine forest but it is sealed!!!

208km

2018-10-17 Day 36 Wed

Leaving the car park, our journey continued eastward.

Our mission today was to fill with water. We stopped at a number of gas stations to find they did not have any outside taps. One lady spoke English and no, No water available. At a Shell station I asked with the aid of google translate and we could get 100 liters for a cost. I then wrote down 50 litres of diesel so water then became free. We put 70lt of diesel on board and drove round the back for water. The lady came to check ensuring we would only take 100 litres.

Stopping in a car park in a small town we used internet. John had an hour on the bed as he had been up since 3am. I manage to get a lot of photos uploaded…

We walked across the road to the museum but it was shut.

The houses outside of the cities have big VERY neat piles of wood. Ready for the winter I guess. It sounds like snow falls are common here but only stays on the hills.

Dirt road at last!! Only lasted a few km’s just to the top of the hill and a camp site.

191km

2018-10-16 Day 35 Tue

Whatever he was, was still grumbling from the same direction when we up and about so assume he is in a pen or small paddock.

We left early and pulled over at the first time that we had H+ internet connection. We parked next to a small lake and a circus setting up. Spoke to June and John and finally got some photos uploaded and a blog entry up so that is happening…..

A group of school children and teachers came down to the park to play. All in their bright colored safety vests.

It was very easy and straight forward putting the gps location on the photos.

Leaving we turned into a Penny supermarket our first shop here. A pretty normal supermarket, a large section of beer and spirits. Even bottles of alcohol on the check out desk among the lollies….

We managed a total of about 60km and parked at a ski field car park with a restaurant which we visited for dinner.

John had wild boar and very heavy dumplings and I had beef cheek on mash, great food if you'd been skiing all day!!! The menu was in German as there are lots of Germans and Polish pop over their borders....

85km

2018-10-15 Day 34 Mon

A group of 5 women walked by along one of the many well used and sign posted tracks for walking in these countries.

Arrived at the border, our good yellow road was blocked so we were forced to run parallel with it through the farms and past farm houses we were still on a sealed road even if only just wide enough for us!

The border went past unnoticed no signs at all! Into Czech Republic and a new country for us. We again traveled off the high ways and stuck to orange yellow or white. We have not encountered a gravel road yet.

We traveled north-east following just south of the German border. We stopped for a short while but could not do much with the edge connection.

Lots of different buildings belonging to an era past, but most are well cared for with lots of flowers, generally geraniums, hanging out the windows and well tended gardens. For the last 4 days we have been traveling through lots of forested areas, some fir, oak, elm and birch. The autumn colors are fantastic.

The roads are narrow windy sealed and covered in yellow leaves….

Drove up another little track and found a cleared area for a camp. There was a bull?? up the hill that kept grumbling at us. A nice quiet night (except for the grumbling).

264km