Another terrible night. I wouldn’t wish long-term seafood poisoning on too many people (although I can think of a few populist politicians). Breakfast was only apple juice and water. I clearly wasn’t going to be cycling all the way to our target of Frýdek-Místek today, our penultimate day. But I managed half or so in the generous and sunny heat, and had to take the train for the rest.
It was slow going, even along the flat, quiet riverside path out of Olomouc. And once things got hilly beyond that, I couldn’t remotely keep up with Nigel, so he went on and I snailed my way to the nearest train station.
I went past vineyards. We think of Czechia as a beer country but Moravia does wine big time, supplying over 95% of the country’s bottled stuff. All those sunny hillsides, as I was discovering by grinding my way up them. I’d only known about the red but it does white, too: all of them fruity and crisp and drinkable, though I wasn’t in the mood for anything stronger than water just now.
In the village of Zákřov I stopped at a memorial to read its sober story: the massacre of Czech civilians here by the Nazis in 1945, in revenge for them allegedly harbouring resistance fighters. Nobody knows how many died, but it was a big proportion of the village. This was ethnic border country: mainly Czechs round here, but mainly Germans to the north. My heavy mood didn’t lighten.
But things got better. I had a long downhill after Zákřov to the side of the Bečva River, and felt re-energised, a bit anyway. I followed the excellent flat smooth path along with lots of cyclists, dog walkers, joggers and skaters, stopping off for snacks here and there at the covered benches with bins and toilets.
At Hranice I was happy to finish cycling for the day.
The town has a pleasant historic centre and is home to the Hranice Abyss, a mighty flooded cave, but I was most interested to find an ice cream shop well patronised by afternoon mums with toddlers. This was something I could definitely stomach.
And then, gratefully, a train from there to the functional little double town of Frýdek-Místek, and our hotel. There was a sports bar round the corner with cheap beer and live ice hockey from the World Champs, but I was too feeble to countenance that. It was another evening of bland pot noodles and an early night.
Miles today: 35
Miles since Cheb: 373