Day 1: Groningen - Hall

In the week before leaving I had to say goodbye to all the friends I made, connected with the promise to do everything to get back soon again. And on the evening of 25. august everything stood ready to be packed either into the car or on the bike. In the morning of the 26. august we stand up very early for clearing my room and enabling my parents to arrive home again at a convenient time. My lessor told me to put the keys onto the table in my room when I leave. But still it is a strange feeling to see the room clear of my stuff and to leave the flat without any key...

Fully packed the bike stands at the road. It's not even 7:00. I lead my parents to the main road where our ways split again. From there on I take the way I used to take every sunday to get to the meeting point of the Huneliggers sunday trip. In the evening before I asked Peter from Assen if he wants to join me for a few kilometres. So now I cycle to the meeting point, along the Groene Dijk. The weather is not the best, grey with some drizzle. Therefore and surely because it's a weekday, too, only a few cyclists are on my way, most of them at a slightly lower cruising speed. Shortly before the meeting point with Peter I notice an upright cyclist in my mirror who comes closer and closer. When he has almost reached me I recognise him. It's David who I learnt to know two days before during the Huneliggers sunday trip. In the same moment Peter appears in front of me and suddenly there's a meeting of three recumbent cyclists. Nice coincidence.

Together with Peter I continue along the N371 which follows a channel all the way to Meppel. A few kilometers before Meppel we have a break. Until there we still have the grey sky, drizzle in various intensities and headwind. I see, this region doesn't want to let me go.
Peter decides to return home after the break. Me too, although the difference is that for the time of these vacations I consider the road as home. I keep on enlarging the distance to the town that I learnt to value and love during the past half year. Through Meppel and along the railway line to Zwolle.
A trip from Groningen to Zwolle was one of my first longer distances I cycled on my Flevobike when I came to the Netherlands. I had to manage some paperwork there and decided to take the bicycle instead of the train. It's approximately 100km to there. At that time I returned to Groningen again on the same day and had made a day trip of more than 200km.
This time I continue southwards. In order to not have to follow the main road I try to find the Apeldoorns Kanaal, a channel that starts in Hattem, runs through Apeldoorn which gives it the name, to Dieren. It was finished in 1868 for supporting the economical development of Apeldoorn and should give an alternative to the route via the river IJssel.
Nowadays you don't see any ship on this channel anymore. But as one of the information boards next to the cycle path said: It's still nice. And this is absolutely right. With its reeds swayed by the (head-)wind and the still grey sky it gives the right mood for falling into thoughts while monotonously cycling. At this point I've already cycled through and in the Dutch provinces Groningen, Drenthe, Overijssel and Gelderland. When I reach Apeldoorn I feel hungry. Therefore I try to get into the centre of the town to get me some food. The centre is totally different from the town centre of Groningen. It's not as wide, worse for cycling and the average age might be the same but composed by more older and younger people. But errr... I wanted to get me some food. I decide for some "patat", potato chips thus.
Afterwards I try to get out of the town. Navigating in a city without the help of the sun is more difficult than one could imagine. So I do some extra kilometres in the peripherals of Apeldoorn until I manage to find the channel again. Some kilometres south of Apeldoorn I find a camping site next to the Apeldoorns Kanaal near the village Hall. It is quiet, clean and offers much space. Even a roof for the bike can be found. But it's post season, it would be nice to meet other (cycling) people at the camping. But no, it's only a place to stay for the night.

Day 2: Hall - Roggel

But at least this enables me to go sleeping very early and to wake up early again, too. I have slept very well there and in the morning the tent is barely wet. This makes it easy to pack it. A few minutes after 7:00 I start at the camping site. The drizzle starts again. I leave the camping site and get back to the Apeldoorns Kanaal. The wind still didn't turn and so I slowly cycle to Dieren and from there to Arnhem and further to Nijmegen. The town is situated at a hill and on the way to there from time to time there are some waves I have to cycle up and down. In Arnhem I see trolley buses, in Nijmegen I enjoy the nice city centre. But before that I have a break at "Martin's place". I want to check the map, eat something. But when I unpack a few things, three coaches stop and dump an undefined number of elderly people who virtually all have to remark that first they would need to stretch their legs. Some of them start taking me the air by lighting cigarettes. Some of them notice me, ask questions I'm not in the mood in to answer. Therefore I pack all the stuff again and want to cycle away from there. While crawling through the masses some very smart participants of this journey remark that the "fietspad" (cycling path) is over there, next to the road. Guess where I just wanted to go...?

But as I've said, Nijmegen has a nice city centre with historic buildings. A group of joung people obviously has a quiz about the town with some tasks to fulfill. One of them is creating a line of pedestrians. I'm allowed to hold the bike while they were busy with still letting grow this line and taking photos of successfully fulfilling the given task.
Following the more and more hilly roads I reach Roggel, the place where the next camping site waited for me. Being a family camping the receptionist apologised that actually they don't have to offer anything for single tent users. Therefore I get a nice discount, still a ticket for their indoor swimming pool and a quiet place in one corner of the camping site. From there I can watch the rabbits in the evening and a few children come along to ask that strange guy with the strange bike. I find their questions strange, too. They ask me if I don't miss TV...

Day 3: Roggel - Membach (B)

In the next morning I start around 7:00 again. It's not far to the Belgian border anymore. I cycle through Belgium for a few kilometres. It is the Flemish part of the country where people speak a kind of Dutch, roads have something that they call cycle paths next to them and both the roads and the cycle paths are in bad conditions quite often. When I crossed the river Maas back to the Netherlands the cycle path is much better again. My destination for today is the border triangle of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. It is situated near the German town Aachen on top of the Vaalserberg which is the highest natural elevation of the Netherlands with an altitude of 322m above the sea level.
Between the Belgian border and Aachen there is a densely populated area which makes it difficult to navigate. This surely earns me some extra kilometers again and I am happy when finally I find the way to Vaals. From there it's steep uphill to the Vaalserberg. Something that you wouldn't expect if you know the Netherlands from stereotypes only. On top of the mountain (or hill?) there are many possibilities to spend money. I can resist, take some photos and try to find the real border triangle. After looking around there and taking some pictures I sit down on the bike, cycle around the point once and head to the road that leads to Belgium. The road is much worse than the Dutch one that led up and it has some strange corners one wouldn't expect, especially as it is relatively steep downhill.
Then suddenly I am in the first town after the border, Gemmenich. It looks exactly how I imagine France. Everything written in French of course and houses that are totally different from the uniform Dutch style. I enter the first supermarket and get myself a baguette. Typical French.
I got myself some other food, too, and so I am busy with eating a little bit when a man starts talking to me. He lives there and saw my bicycle and as he's a cyclist himself, too, he is interested in how traveling is with such a bike. We talk a little bit and his Dutch is really wonderful. The French accent and the totally different pronunciation of the letter "g" are just nice. He tells me that talking to Belgians in Dutch usually works quite well in the region I want to cycle through as long as I don't use too many modern words and maybe speak slowly. But German is okay, too. As long as they don't insist on French.
I continue to a camping site with the name "Wesertal" in the west of Eupen in the village Membach. The camping site is not really cheap but at least quiet. And for the first time I'm not the only one with bike and tent. A couple from Leiden (NL) puts up its tent next to mine and invites me for tea and salad in the evening. Thank you for that!
But before that I use the time to visit Eupen. In my opinion it's a nice town with nice houses and its position in the mountians but with absolutely too much traffic running through it. Furthermore I don't get rid of the feeling to be in an old German town. People speak German with a dialect that I haven't heard until now. Therefore and because I didn't use my German quite often in the last time it is somewhat difficult to order food. But finally I am successful.
Afterwards I cycle back to the camping site, take the invitation and then I go sleeping.

Day 4: Membach - Weiswampach (L)

Today I start with a ramp of many kilometers which I have to climb up. Afterwards it's a fast change between first and last gear which gives me a maximum speed of 75km/h. Shortly after I've reached that speed I have to brake to 0. Something like that should happen several times still. Obviously, Belgians have a strange sense of building roads. If you aren't on the main road and therefore have to look for the main road then usually the road you are on becomes steeper and more narrow. Sometimes there's still a corner in the road. That means that quite often you have to destroy all the nice speed you have won and that you could have used for climbing up the next hill again just by braking. I begin to love my disk brakes... And I pass the Formula 1 circuit near Spa which is really embedded into an enormously hilly landscape. Quite impressive if you only know it from TV or computer games.

Today I cycle to the border triangle of Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. A nice spot in a nice valley, not really a touristic hotspot. When entering Luxembourg I suddenly have to exit this valley and the road doesn't offer a better option than doing this as straight as possible. I find a camping site in Weiswampach which actually is very nice. If there wasn't that grandpa-father-son-daughter combo from Germany with some questionable pedagogical methods from the father's side. Otherwise it is a nice spot, directly at a lake. I wash my clothes because the shower time is much too long anyway and walk to a supermarket there in the town.

Day 5: Weiswampach - Schwebsange

In the next morning everything is extremely wet which has to do with the near lake. Also my clothes that I had washed the day before are still or again very wet so that I try to dry them on the toilet of the camping site. Of course that's not absolutely successful but at least they are not wet and cold when I put them on.
During the day it's hilly again. But now it's already less than in the days before. I have some difficulties finding a supermarket. So I ask someone at the side of the road. He explains the way to the next bigger supermarket, everything in English. And when he's finished he asks where I am from. I tell him that I started in the Netherlands. So he continues that we actually could have talked in Dutch as he is from there, too. Okay, why did I ask him in English anyway?
I pass Luxembourg City in the east where I become the victim of a Honda Goldwing meeting. That means that for 10 minutes or more all the traffic in the opposite direction consists of motorcycles which in the beginning is quite funny as they wave at me, too. But after having waved back to the 100th motorbike it's only annoying.
I find a camping site at the river Moselle and near the town Schengen which became famous for the Schengen Agreement which - in short words - allows people to travel without any border controls within the area of application of this Agreement.
After having had a shower and a soup I take the bike to Schengen and a few kilometres further to Contz-les-Bains in France. I return to the camping site in Luxembourg via Germany. In that way I've managed to make a trip around the border triangle there, too.

Day 6: Schwebsange - Asbacherhütte (D)

Although the camping site is situated in direct neighbourhood to the river Moselle, the tent is almost dry in the morning. Today I will leave the Benelux countries and continue in Germany. This means that after having passed the Ardennes, I will have to climb some parts of the Hunsrück, a low mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Although I'm only in the foothills of the Hunsrück there are some inclines that challenge me more than the hills in the Ardennes. Some of them almost make my front wheel slip through. And the most direct road I can find has the picturesque name "Hunsrück Höhenstraße", thus Hunsrück high road. That means cycling up again and again and rushing into the valleys if necessary. Exhausting but it rewards me with nice panoramas.
Nevertheless, after about 110 km I'm happy to reach a camping site, the Harfenmühle Camping in Asbacherhütte. It is the most expensive one on my whole journey with the worst ground for tent nails, still extra fees for the showers and no chance of getting cold water from the tap. This is something that I would enjoy when arriving at a camping site in hot weather conditions and after having cycled uphill all the time to get to that place.
The owners of the camping site have an uncomplicated way how to deal with criticism. They just put the 14 Euro onto the table and tell me that I could also go and find another camping site. Very "kind" anyway to take 9(!!!) Euro for a tent place where others put their caravan.
I try to make the best out of it and to make the tent as stable as possible. This will be necessary for the upcoming rain in the night...
All in all especially the camping site destroyed my day and I absolutely cannot recommend it for tent users.

Day 7: Asbacherhütte - Griesheim

Because the tent couldn't stand as good as possible during the wet night, some water managed to get inside it, too. I try to get all the stuff as dry as possible before I start. From there on it's all the way downhill, passing Idar-Oberstein. It's mostly downhill today anyway with still some inclines of course. I come into the valley of the river Rhine. There I take the ferry. The man taking the 2 Euro for ferrying across the river jests that actually I would have to pay twice that because these recumbent bikes would cost twice as much. Soso...
At one of the traffic lights something strange, but also funny happens:
It's red, I stand at the first position. Some cars gather behind me. It's still red. Suddenly cars start honking. Okay, as a cyclist in Germany you are used to this primitive kind of communication, thus don't worry. Another car continues with honking. Okay, maybe they know each other and don't have any other way to say hello. But when other cars behind me startet honking, too, the situation becomes suspicious, I look around a little bit and notice that I have looked at the wrong traffic light all the time. What a pitty, I'm sorry and try to get away as soon as possible. But what can we learn from this? If horns weren't used so inflationary I would surely have noticed my mistake somewhat earlier.
However, in the region where I am now I don't see any camping sites on the map. So I think about two options: Looking for a place in the rarely existing wilderness in the area south of Frankfurt am Main or finding people who I know and ask them for a spontaneous possibility to sleep at their place. I decide for the second option as it is a good possibility to learn to know people in real life that until now I only know from the internet and from photos.
The evening is nice with chats about bikes, philosophy, the mixture of both and more. Definitely better than another evening in a caravan ghost town... thank you Ralf & family, and also Urs!

Day 8: Griesheim - Neustadt

After the breakfast I accompany Ralf, my host for the last night, on his way to work as it is the same direction. A bus driver in Darmstadt wants me to take the sidewalk and after refusing to follow his order he calls me a "Hurensohn" (son of a bitch). I am very happy to be back in Germany again...
I continue via Aschaffenburg to Heimbuchenthal where there is a special bicycle museum. As I know the owner, too, I don't only look at the very nice and special bikes but also chat with him quite long which is also very interesting. Afterwards I still continue for a few kilometers down into the valley of the river Main where I find a camping site near Neustadt. Not expensive, nice location, only the Bundesstraße (German main road) next to it is somewhat annoying. But at least during the night it's okay so far.

Day 9: Neustadt - Hofheim/Unterfranken

In the next morning an older couple from the region around Cologne starts talking to me. They have spent one night there with their caravan and they invite me for a tea. I take the offer as in the meantime the tent can still dry somewhat. We talk about different topics until it becomes obvious that he is interested in recumbent bikes and trikes, too. His not really cheap mountainbike proofs that he isn't kidding...
So I leave the camping site at around 10 and cycle against the river Main. When the first road signs with the city name "Schweinfurt" appear I follow them. These signs are especially for cyclists and follow surprisingly good ways, mostly in valleys and thus as even as possible with some few hills.
At around 12:00 I stop at a bakery in Eußenheim to get myself some food. The salesgirl, probably the apprentice seems to like the somewhat sweaty cyclist who has some trouble finding the right names for the wished pastries. This becomes especially obvious when "the business" was made and I say bye and totally shy a "bye" comes back, with a very kind smile and another "bye" as she seems uncertain if I have heard the first one. I smile back and leave the shop, pack some of the pastries into my bags and then sit down on a wall near the bakery to eat the rest. It seems like in the bakery it looks like I was sitting in their pavement café and so she has to come out to check if I want to order something. She just looks around the corner, sees that I'm only sitting at that wall, smiles shyly again and returns into the shop. What a pitty she had some other customers and "supervisors" in there, too...
The weather is quite okay during the whole day. But it's again warm so that I prefer having a shower before going to sleep. Therefore I check the map for camping sites again. The only one close to my wished route is in Hofheim/Unterfranken. The owner is friendly, the prices, too, especially as I get the shower coin for free. The place, however, is the one with the least life that I have had during the whole trip. From time to time there are some other people "living" there. But as usual I am the only one with a tent. I still manage to get to a supermarket before the rain starts falling. This doesn't really ease eating because my tent doesn't have an apse. So I crawl into the tent, try to make the best out of it and hope that it will stop raining.

Day 10: Hofheim/Unterfranken - Posseck

My hopes were for nothing. The night was cold and wet and so the morning continues. The outer tent is wet from the out- and inside but fortunately the inner tent stayed relatively dry. As I cannot expect better weather I pack in the wet tent and leave the camping site in monotonous drizzle. The motivation to continue in these conditions doesn't really rise. So I check the map. How far can it be to my brother's place? Well... short enough to reach it today but surely not so short that I could be there in the early afternoon. Thus perfect. After having called my brother it becomes even better as especially today he began his work somewhat earlier and could be at home approximately at the right time. And for tomorrow he's even going to take a day off.
He managed to get my motivation up again and with the perspective of a dry place for bike, tent and (last but not least) cyclist it's much easier to continue. I pass Coburg and get angry about cycling paths that begin friendly next to the road but end in a step hill with bad surface and with the task to get on the road again at a confusing place within a village. So I'm quite happy when I find the cycling route along the river Wilde Rodach. Obviously it is possible to follow this route without any big trouble. Even the road signs are clear and when the rain becomes less and less and even a tailwind supports my cycling my mood is up again.
I meet a racing cyclist who fights to keep up with me and then starts talking. After he heard where I want to go to he describes the route to me and tells me that this is already "drüben", "over there" thus. This is a reference to the fact that the village Posseck is already in the former German Democratic Republic, Eastern Germany thus. He adds that the people there don't like to hear that anymore and I tell him that I can understand that. I know, he didn't mean harm, but anyway... 18 years after the reunification it is odd to find people still having some borders in their minds.
I reach the town Hof and enjoy the impossibility to use their cycling paths by ignoring them. At least these paths seem to be so bad that even car drivers don't care about me not taking them. After asking only one guy which was the best way to escape the town into the direction of Regnitzlosau I find the way without any problems. The only bad thing: I didn't care about supermarkets which I notice when I pass the city limit of Hof. But I'm not in the mood of returning into the valley of the river Saale where the town is situated and rely on other smaller towns having a supermarket or a shop at least. Until Regnitzlosau this is false hope. But in that town by asking a woman I find a supermarket that I wouldn't have recognised as one. And I'm there 5 minutes before closing. So absolutely perfect. Then I continue to Posseck which works without any trouble. I see places where I've been years ago for the last time as other relatives live in this region, too. And then I pass the border between Bavaria and Saxony where there is also a monument for having been the border between Germany and Germany. From there it's still around 2 kilometres - if not less.
And so I reach my brothers house where I can put some stuff for drying, wash clothes and do other things that become possible with the "luxury" of a flat and a day of rest.

Day 11: Rest day

My day of rest consisted of cycling "only" 70km to the federal states triangle of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia. From there we continue to the Grenzmuseum in Mödlareuth, a museum that tells the story of a village separated by the inner German border. Although usually (and luckily) the former border isn't really visible anymore, the region still has something interesting.
Via a big bow we go back to Posseck via Hof and Nentschau.

Day 12: Posseck - Stanoviště (CZ)

Because I noticed that I would still need some braking pads my brother and I don't take the direct way in the next morning but go via Oelsnitz. Pro Bike is a competent bicycle dealer who sells me the right braking pads with a little discount just for being there as traveling cyclist and hands me a tool for tensioning the chain. A very nice bicycle shop.
After this nice experience we continue on the Bundesstraße to the Czech Republic. Unfortunately from Oelsnitz there's no good alternative to this big main road. But all in all it's survivable and shortly after the border I choose small roads that have a rather good quality nevertheless. My brother leaves me after about 50km as he has to cycle all the way back home again against the wind.
Even if I have to take a bigger E-road there's mostly a wide kerb which allows safe cycling next to the faster traffic. This is convenient for cycling and no comparison with most of the German Bundesstraßen. Although it's a quite hilly region I manage to get to Stanoviště, a small village south of Mariánské Lázně‎. The camping site is really nice with very dedicated personnel. The "head" of the camping site speaks English and German and has an interesting way of making advertisment for the region.
As I want something nice for dinner I order some kind of pasta which is delicious. When I'm finished, the good weather is finished, too, and it starts raining. Before that a Dutch caravan user comes along at my tent because she saw that I tried to dry my towel by hanging it over the tent. She tries to talk to me in English but has some obvious difficulties. So I just say "Nederlands is goed, hoor." and she is happy to be able to use her mother tongue. She offers me to put my towel on her clothesline that she has at her caravan. I take the offer.

Day 13: Stanoviště - Plíškovice

But as I've said: It started raining and therefore in the next morning the towel was even more wet than it was before. Never mind. The tent is wet again, too. So once more next to the tent I pack in a lot of water. The whole day is full of some rain clouds. And so in Starý Plzenec on the wet road I enter the town at a speed of 70km/h. Downhill of course and without any supporting pedaling. I see a left turn coming closer. How was it with effective braking? Brake late and hard. Okay, let's have a look at the turn, maybe it isn't that sharp.
Well... it is sharp enough and I decide to brake. But hey... why don't the brakes do what they should? Let's pull the levers somewhat stronger. Oh... now the water seems to be off the disks and they react powerfully. What a pitty that now it's somewhat too much. The front wheel starts lurching somewhat, so I release the brake a little bit to get the bike stable again. Hm... but the left turn didn't disappear in the meantime. It's quite close now and somehow I will have to get the bike around the corner there. I don't know if only the tyres gave a strange feeling but anyway: The bike seems to slide through the corner on both wheels and I am very happy when the corner is over and I'm still on the bike instead of next to it. I definitely have learnt something about braking strategies.
I find a camping site/guest house in Plíškovice. The boss of it is Dutch and comes from *the* town: Groningen. What a big surprise for both sides. Also on the camping site: An Italian camper. While I wait for the rain to stop for allowing me to put up my tent, 5 or 6 racing cyclists arrive at the camping, too. They belong to the camper. All of us get a shower and then they start a big dinner in the barn that belongs to the camping site. I get there to sit under the roof, too. And they invite me to their dinner. In the chat with the only English-speaking Italian I hear that they come from Venice and every year they make a supported bicycle trip to one of Europe's capitals. Last year they have been to Budapest, this year it's Prague they want to reach by bike. They have cycled 250km today and tomorrow will be their last day. Therefore they are quite happy of course. The boss of the camping site comes along to sit and talk later, too. So all in all it becomes one of the best evenings that I had during my whole trip. When I get to the tent the rain has stopped and only the cold, clear sky shows up. Also the road next to the camping site becomes rather quiet.

Day 14: Plíškovice - Staré Hobzí

With the night being cloudless it is very cold. Nevertheless I slept very well. Obviously I succeeded in putting the tent on a spot where it gets some sun in the morning. And so it becomes dry again in the morning. The cycling part of the Italian guys doesn't have to wait for the camper becoming dry. Therefore they start earlier than me while I leave the place just before the supporting camper. Yesterday I had a look at the map and I saw a nice route next to the bigger roads but still running rather straight. It crosses the river Lužnice, a feeder of the Vltava near the town Stádlec with a beautiful old bridge, the Stádlecký Most. It is really worth going there over some broken roads with bad asphalt. The bridge has been restored in the last few years. After the bridge, up to the village Dobřejice there is a steep road running in a few serpentines which are still wet. This even makes the front wheel of Racertje slip but I manage to get up there by cycling.
The weather is nice today. But still I manage to catch the only black cloud today. I cycle in the hardest rain of the whole journey and look around and everywhere there is blue sky - except above me. But therefore I avoid putting on the rain clothes because I expect to get dry again afterwards anyway. The camping site Letni Den (Czech for "summer day") in... or let's better say *near* Staré Hobzí is run by a Dutch family, too. The owner can't believe that I had rain today as it was a perfect day there. The place is situated in a quiet valley, a very nice spot. But because of valley position the sunset comes early and with it cold temperatures. So after having eaten something it's so cold that I decide to crawl into the tent and the sleeping bag. Hopefully the morning will be sunny...

Day 15: Staré Hobzí - Dubňany

It takes some time but then the sun finally has made the way up over the tree tops. But then it is so strong that not only my tent gets dry but also the towel that I had to wash as obviously it fell down in the shower room and it got surprisingly dirty. It dries with clearly visible steam above it, wow. At about 10:00 I start the way up from the valley to the village and the road again. Up there I have reached operating temperature, it was really steep...
I looked it up on the map: Actually it's still far enough for taking two days to Dubňany. There the Czech recumbent bike meeting should take place, beginning tomorrow. My camping guide shows a camping site in a convenient distance to Dubňany, so this is the goal for today.
The region is hilly with many vineyards and the perfect climate for them: Hot and dry. Perfect for vine but not for cyclists like me. But still it runs quite well. After climbing for a few kilometers there is a long downhill part again where I reach speeds above 60km/h. With the hot climate I'm happy to come close to the aimed camping site. But the only thing that I can find is one road sign pointing to an imaginary intersection. I don't really like the look-and-feel of the spot there anyway. So I decide to continue, maybe one of the next camping sites looks better.
But I can't find any of them and because of the heat I'm not in the mood for camping in the wilderness. So I check the map for getting an idea about how far it would still be to the camping site of the recumbent bike meeting. The map makes me rather optimistic and I speed up.
The area around the place Hodonín is known as even, not hilly anymore. I try to tie in with my speeds in the Netherlands where it was even, too. And after chasing some tractors for some kilometers I find the first road signs showing the town Hodonín. I put my focus on reaching the camping site instead of getting something to eat at a supermarket. Surely the camping site has a restaurant in the neighbourhood, maybe also a supermarket that is opened longer than until 6pm.
I arrive at the camping site around quarter past 6 after not finding any evidence of existence of this place in the village Dubňany. After enjoying the shower (the women's shower by the way, as the only men's shower was occupied already) I check the menu and somehow I regret not having stopped at a supermarket. But okay, two "Lángos" make up a nice dinner, too.
The first guests and helpers of the recumbent bike meeting are there already and therefore the meeting actually has begun already, too.

Well... one of the big goals is reached. I wanted to cycle from Groningen to the Czech recumbent bike meeting near Hodonín. This is accomplished now. 2013km since Groningen, 6 countries: The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Germany, Czech Republic. What a journey. The following days are rather relaxing. No long distances, no real big hills, friends, family and other nice people around. Some of my photos can be found in the gallery of the meeting.

Day 20: Dubňany - Olbersdorf (D)

After the meeting I want to do the last step, cycling home. Although my parents were at the meeting with the van I wanted to end the chapter of the journey by cycling. But during the meeting the weather has turned from summer temperatures to typical autumn conditions with cold temperatures and wind. Therefore and because traveling alone for several days again is not what I want I decide to try the whole trip at once. At about 10am after having said goodbye to many of the other recumbent cyclists and to good friends there I start the way to the north west. It is still windy but at least it's not a headwind. I cycle through Brno following the cycle paths number 1 and 4, just like Jirka described it to me. That works perfectly and I don't get any navigation problems although it's a big town. Before leaving it I still get myself some stuff for surviving the following about 330km. And then it's just pedalling. It's strange to look at the bicycle computer and think: "Oh, 100km. 1/4 is done already."
On a cobbled road I notice a strange noise at the rear part of the bike. First I think it's one of the tools I have with me. So after reorganising the luggage at that place I think it's gone. At the next cobbled road the noise is there again. I begin to check the bike and yes, there's a screw that is almost falling off. And it's no screw less than the one that holds the brake... "Motivated" by this I check all the important screws at the bike but fortunately this one is the only loose one.
At around 130 kilometres I must have slept or something similar. Because suddenly I stand at an intersection with a big road that I should have crossed coming from the south. But instead of that I stand there coming from the north. According to the map I must have missed the first intersection with this really big road and have made a big bow of at least 10 kilometres. Later in a map service I see that the missed intersection is not an intersection but a bridge running over the road that I have taken. However, strange...
The weather isn't friendly today. It doesn't develop the wish to extend the trip but to go home. At least it's not raining. But all the day the sky is grey and it looks as if it was getting dark within the next half hour. At least it's not shocking when it really gets dark in the south of Chrudim. There it's a nice cycling, too. The hills are soft, mostly downhill as a big hilly region seems to be done already. And so it rolls quite well to Pardubice where it is really dark then already. On the main road running through the town bicycles are forbidden and I have to take the bicycle path next to the main road. This is not as safe as the main road at that time of the day but at least it's better than expected. As soon as the prohibition doesn't apply anymore I change back to the road again. The cycle path ends there anyway. Hradec Kralove stays next to my route and I take the route in the west of the town.
Via my mobile phone I get the warning that I should cycle very, very carefully because of the traffic especially in the darkness. Well... after having left the bigger roads near Pardubice I almost don't see any car anymore. Deers and other more or less wild animals are the real danger if they run in front of the bike. Cats are the most common animals around me at that time.
Rather small roads lead me further to the north. Jičín is the next bigger town. From there I want to go to Jablonec nad Nisou which means that after around 300km I have to go through a very hilly landscape. At the road number 10 I get a feeling of psychic tiredness combined with a strange feeling in my stomach, maybe caused by not drinking enough. I stop, put the bike on the ground and myself next to it. It is cold and I know that staying there wouldn't be clever. So when I notice that my back becomes cold I stand up again. The short time of relaxing there on the ground has slightly improved the situation. I get back onto the bike and continue cycling uphill. Finally I reach Jablonec where the busy life of monday morning begins already. From there on it's almost only downhill, always following the river Nisa or Neiße as it is called in German. It runs smoothly downhill. Only the beginning rain in Hradek nad Nisou, a few kilometres before Zittau is not nice. Almost exactly at 6am I cross the border to Germany after having cycled through Poland for about 1-2 kilometres. Still a half hour and I'm at home. Finally, 21 hours and 393 kilometres after I left the camping site in Dubňany and around 3 weeks and more than 2500 kilometres after I left Groningen, my home for a half year.

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