A glorious day of windless sunshine, blue skies, and the snowy peaks of the High Tatras as backdrop. I was lucky, and just to prove it, I even saw a sign for it. (It’s pronounced more like ‘looch-key’.)
I scooted out early on quiet country lanes from my rural guesthouse and bought provisions from one of the frequent potraviny, grocery. Even the little villages seem to have one. It makes on-the-go catering easy, especially if you’re developing a taste for cheap Slovakian energy drinks. I found a place to have brunch at a picnic table overlooking a reservoir. Doh. I’d forgotten to fill my water bottle this morning. All that water down there and not a drop to drink.
The only big town I went through was Liptovský Mikuláš, where they’ve installed another of their high-quality riverside bike paths. This one is another delight, though it did mean I avoided the shops.
I filled my water bottle up at a vet’s, who kindly took time off from spaying a cat or something to give me some orange juice too. Slovakians are a helpful and positive bunch, I must say. Well, so long as you avoid the ones stumbling around with a half-empty bottle of lager.
The scenery just kept getting better, and – once off the longish but not unpleasant stretch of main road, made copable by the wide shoulder – the roads got hillier. In the last sequence of villages before my target of Štrba, west of Poprad, I kept having to stop to ‘admire the view’, ie get my breath back.
Not too much to write about; no particularly amusing incidents or anecdotes. Today was just a lovely, lovely day of scenic cycling in Slovakia’s mountains and villages. Which is what I’m here for, of course.
Miles today: 46
Miles since Záhorská Ves: 252