THE IRON SIDE RIDE 2018-Day 01

“LEAVING HOME”

After a long time of planning this ride along the former Iron Curtain, Чернотa and I finally started our trip. Now the route, which was planned on the PC with open source tools, will show if it stands the test …

Like always, my black beauty Чернотa and I started our ride in Vienna. First we rode on to the entrance point of the Iron Curtain near the three country corner Austria/Czechia/Germany. From this entrance point, we followed the former Iron Curtain, as close as possible eastwards.

After saying goodbye to my better half, Чернотa and I left around 0700 in the morning. We passed …

Vienna along its southern border and rode on in direction…

northwest until …

we reached the village Krems at the Danube. There we took the bridge over the similar named river. While having a break there …

I recognized that there has grown an organic spoke on Чернотas back wheel. ^-^

We went on and passed the “Dürnstein Castle“. It´s located in one of the most known landscapes of Austria called …

Wachau“. Besides the …

great roads through the hills and …

plains in Upper Austria, I`ve also seen …

some for me interesting stuff like this old and real simple designed digger, a …

Five Star Delux Hotel for Insects, …

an impressive bridge, …

an idyllic pond and …

a medieval fortress in good shape. I took the opportunity and bought nearby some food and beer for the evening. After that …

rain caught Чернотa and me. Sometimes this day more …

and sometimes in a less heavy kind. Short after …

crossing the border to Germany (Border crossing point: Lackenhäuser) and after we’ve done about …

300 km or 190 mi this day, we arrived at the entrance point of the planned route along the Iron Curtain. Now my black beauty and I tried to follow as close as possible the former dead strip on its “communist side” further eastwards.

Near the entrance point, the tracks have been easy to ride, but …

they got quickly …

worse/overgrown. No Problem so far, but …

it got more technical the more …

we rode along it. Whilst I was planning this part of the route between the Bavarian Forest and the city area of Budweis I even wasn’t sure if it’s doable. Here at this place I reached this unsure-feared point, where I wasn’t able to lift the front wheel over the old logs. But backtracking wasn’t an option! Hence, Чернотa and I fought our way through the …

narrow woods on the sides of the dead strip. This detour was real hard work for both of us. For about only 5 km or 3 mi we needed more than two hours for bypassing those fallen big logs. What an agony! Чернотa you really need to lose some weight! ^_^°

After that technical part, the surrounding …

flattened and we followed some easy gravel through the woods, …

or seldom used …

field tracks …

along the nice scenery.

We passed a few rotten building on our way through Czechia.

“Here comes the rain again, …

falling on my …

helmet like a memory ,,, *whistle”

Under proper wet conditions we followed …

the calm hills …

until a …

old railway siding was found near the track. I’ve no idea for what reason these carriages stood there and obviously they haven’t been moved for a long time. After lurking a bit around Чернотa and I continued our ride.

“Moo!”

Along the planned track sometimes a few great tarmac parts have been crept in. I really enjoyed the mix between tarmac roads, …

riverside gravel tracks, …

slippery wooden bridges, …

dirt tracks, …

nearly forgotten paths and …

wide open meadows, where no track was visible.

After a few interesting …

buildings and a little …

dam, a nice …

place for camping was found at the edge of a meadow. There I …

built up the shelter. When that was done it was time to threw …

a few nice nuggets of beef into the pan. The result was a great dinner. The meal would have been perfect with a draught of beer. Sadly the can, which I bought at midday before, hadn’t survived the ride through the narrow woods. Sometimes a branch or small tree was hitting the luggage bags, so the can of beer was damaged.

Luckily the can was stowed in the “gear bag” and not in the “cloth section” of my luggage bags. Sleeping in a “beer bag” would have been surely another adventure, but I was very happy to miss that one. ^^

With a full belly, I crawled into my tent and read some Hard-Scifi. After a few pages I was very tired. It didn’t take long til I fall asleep, *zzz zzZ ZZZ*

Covered distance this day: 453 km or 280 mi.