Modesty prevents me claimimg expertise in navigation and orientation but if getting disarmingly disorientated is a rude teacher, then I am surely a possible pedagogue? In short as Mr Micawber might say, “I shall give my two penneth worth.

I have an iPhone 5 – incidentally as of yesterday, superseded, and a Garmin 500. That’s it! The Garmin does not navigate, but simply serves to give instant data on speed and distance. Helps with distances between 2 points, although of course Google Maps does the same and is more visual.

It provides retrospective data of where I travelled and hence how, when and where I ended up in the middle of a Sherwood Forest.

The battery life of the iPhone is notoriously dreadful. One must carrying an external power pack sufficient to provide enough juice for TWO full recharges. This is imperative if one uses the iPhone to navigate as the location services chew up the power, big time!

Of course I could do away with the Garmin altogether and use an app such as Strava as well as Google maps. Incidentally Google Maps wins over the Apple Maps, not the least reason of which is that the former has a Cycle option!

All my blogs have been created with one finger typing using the simple “notes” app on the iPhone and backed up to the “cloud”.

SIM cards.

Remove your Australian SIM card as soon as your Emirates Airbus leaves Australian soil. I suggest you tape it somewhere safe for the duration – in my case to my inner thigh.

Buy a local SIM card for each country. I usually specify that I mainly want it for “data” – if that provokes a blank or startled response, do a quick Google translate check on the word “data” in the local language, then try explaining its mostly for “Internet”! This sets things straight especially if “data” has lewd connotations in Czech.

I purchased a Czech SIM card with 1GB data valid a month for 600 Kr and in Austria a card with 2GB in a month for Euro 25. Simple! I will always use a free WiFi, if available naturally!

Breaking news! The EU are proposing that roaming charges be abolished across the EU…

Wardrobe.

A pair of walking shoes are mandatory. One can’t do with only one pair of SPD recessed cleat shoes as your universal footwear.

For a cycle holiday, only one or two pairs of underpants required – for formal occasions. The rest of the time I wear NICS and wash then out each night….well OK every second night! They dry quickly usually. I have two pairs.

Pack worn out clothes and once holiday is past half way mark, discard dirty clothes rather than wash! I am up to discarding!

That is the question. I was pleasantly surprised by this billboard just outside Gmunden. Those of you who have been faithfully reading my blogs, will recall the delight I had in immersing myself in the remarkable baroque classical music and choral culture in Prague. The civic fathers have embraced the great tradition of Bach and Beethoven and it provides uplifting experiences for the millions of local and international tourists. This billboard seems to indicate that the tradition continues in Salzburg.

I do claim a modest and moderate knowledge of classical music and I am sure almost every one can recognise Beethoven’s Third Symphony – the Erotic, but for the life of me I have no idea who composed the Erotic Mass. Salzburg of course was Mozart’ stamping ground, but even Google can’t confirm it.

Today was a very satisfying autumnal day! Like a new seasons Granny Smith apple – beautifully proportioned, green skin, moist white flesh with a crunchy zing to the taste and a slightly tart finish on the palate! What provoked that analogy is that all along the country roads that I traverse apple and pear trees form a pungent avenue of ripening fruit.

The cycle path R4, from Linz to Gmunden , I have discovered, is part of the European Camino Trail! I am back on the way of St James. It was but 12 months ago I was on my spanish cycle pilgrimage. Praise the Lord! I suspected this when I began to see the universal blue and yellow nautilus emblem along with the R4 signs.

For most of the day along the R4 I seemed to cycle between fields of ripe corn on one side and sunflowers or cows on the other. By about 1 pm the austrian alps also become more obvious in the distance. Disturbed two deer in the forest. As I was startled by motor vehicles on my cycle path, so the deer were startled by a cyclist in their deer park!

For the cycle tragics, lets get the stats of the day out of the way:

4 hours 40 minutes in the saddle for a distance of 81.71 km, which
averages out at 17.5km/hr. total ascent 600m, total descent 414.

Never, well hardly ever, did I feel under duress and the glorious part was my perception that I was always gently climbing and despite the extra load, and again, hardly ever needed to engage the lowest gears.

A comment on the bike, it is a delight to ride but a Tiagra group set is definitely not Ultegra! They do not take kindly to dropping gears under stress and complain noisily and long, ultimately spitting the dummy and dropping the chain. Has happened once to me, once bitten twice shy. So “anticipation” is my second name.

Gmunden is about 60 Km by main road from Linz. It sits at one end of Lake Traunsee. It has that general look and feel of Victor Harbor as a holiday and naughty weekend retreat for randy South Australians in the 1930s , but on a grander scale. The Landhotel by the edge of the water, has that same nostalgic feel of days gone by. “No vacancies” on weekends routinely.

Here I shall stay for 2 nights surrounded by tall blonde young men in Lederhosen.

On second thoughts I may stay the whole week.

Excellent signage although at some intersections and In the towns, the signage was inconspicuous. I am following R4.

For most if the day along the R4 I seemed to cycle between fields of ripe corn on one side and sunflowers or cows on the other. By about 1 pm the alps also become more obvious in the distance

Just an ornate building! In Lambach.

Another “Schloss” outside Lambach.

Late lunch on the way to Gmunden. The beer is fantastic. A touch of lime! I could almost become addicted to it!

8 km from Gmunden. What a sight it was about 17.30 hours a little crisp but I could have cycled for another 2 hours if that view stayed with me all that time!

View from my room at the Landhotel, Gmunden.

I don’t have any pics of Linz! There was nothing out if the ordinary and being the second largest city in the upper Austrian region, it has the feel of a thriving European metropolis. It has its own medieval town square with a very tall monument, specifically in memory of those that died on the great plague.

The day dawned with fog, sun and crisp air. Again I started on Route 160 – this is beginning to read like a Route 66 story! Over the next 8 km I ascended at a manageable incline, given the extra weight of the panniers. Not the sort of effort where one has to keep one’s head down and pump iron and puff! Almost! The Austrian border was abandoned! No check point “graham”. Cycled gaily through disused and broken barriers. Within minutes, as if by magic, the scenery changed, I kid you not.

The first Austrian town was Bad Leonfelden. From here I at last turned off Route 160 onto a quiet country road and had the road to myself. I gently reached an altitude of about 900m and for the next several kilometres cycled through undulating green, sweet smelling grassy pastures, cows and carefully maintained homes. Actually the cows were also carefully maintained! To some extent it reminded me of the day we cycled up the mountains and onto the plateau above Meiringen in Switzerland, a few years back.

The trip today was about 40 km – a delightful 20 km ascent followed by an exhilarating descent. The only slightly apprehensive time was that for the last 8 km into Linz I had to return to Route 160. As I could get up reasonable speed, the polite Austrian drivers did not hassle me too much!

Tonight it has turned cold, wet and windy! The forecast is for it to clear tomorrow. I will now head toward the Salzkammergut region, staying overnight at Wels then heading to Gmunden. From there Plans open. There is a great map with more than 30 – yes that is thirty – cycle paths in upper Austria. My plan is to do as much as I can of cycle path R2

Have lost a little weight, so had this for breakfast without feeling guilty!

The Czech Austrian border mark

Three pictures showing the Austrian countryside at about 900m above sea level

The tomatoes are very red and tasty

Went into Linz this afternoon and this evening. Happy that I have a feel for the place and relaxed about not spending another day tomorrow.

There is no doubt that riding is so satisfying on a bright crisp sunny day and a quiet traffic free road!

Vissy Brod is yet another quaint Czech village, which like those before, nestles into a bend on the river Moldau and which centuries ago the natives tirelessly toiled to construct a castle and a church, for the rulers and bishops, whilst living in abject poverty themselves.

The main religious buildings at Vissy Brod are all part of a Cistercian Monastery – a part of the Benedict order – not that I am an expert in things catholic. The creed of the Bendicts was “work and pray”….. No comment needed other than to observe that inside the church there were wall to wall confessional boxes. Did I misread their slogan? Perhaps it was “work and play”?

Anyway here follows pictures from the Cistercian monastery at Vissy Brod

This is the Bishop’s summer residence.

The view from the balcony of the Penzion. Very crisp morning! Autumnal in the extreme

The day dawned overcast and threatened rain, with a brisk breeze. Rather than face the slight risk of disorientation and frustration on a wet, chilly cycle track, I opted to follow one of the roads. Simple!

Yet a day of eternal frustration! What should have been a ride of about 28 km became 51 km! Twice the distance! How could this be? All I had to do was follow route 160. I even had the iPhone GPS set up.

Well it all started when I was SO confident that I knew where I was that I ignored the iPhone and at a T intersection turned left rather than right!

My neurological colleagues are well aware of an unusual constellation of signs that comprise Gerstmann syndrome!

To save you Googling, here is the definition:

Dysgraphia/agraphia: deficiency in the ability to write

Dyscalculia/acalculia: difficulty in learning or comprehending mathematics

Finger agnosia: inability to distinguish the fingers on the hand

Left-right disorientation.

I have this syndrome in “spades”!

Now the actual ride was in truth, not a big deal. Pleasant, smooth new bitumen, reminiscent of the roads we ride in the Adelaide Hills, with gorgeous scenery and ups and downs. Those cars that I met or passed were universally courteous – wide berth and slowed down. It’s just that when I had calculated that I was about 5 km from Vissy Brod, it failed to materialize around the next bend or at the crest of the next hill.

After another hour of riding I suddenly arrived at a major T intersection with what can only be described as a Czech Autobahn!

At this stage I rescued my iPhone from its pocket and it faithfully calculated that it was 23 km to Vissy Brod. In terms of distance I had not left Cesky Krumlov! The answer to where I actually rode this day, remains an unfathomable mystery, and will need to wait till I return home and interrogate the Garmin!

Today for the first time I cycled passed several hitchhikers. I did feel sorry for them on many levels. Firstly they were all girls, indeed somewhat young and with not much luggage and surprisingly given the weather, rather scantily clothed. I remember thinking after passing the fourth or fifth, “golly they must be feeling the cold, I hope they get a ride soon”.

The Moldau river is a paradise for water sports and especially kayaking.

This is the route 160 that I followed – you will see that it was a pleasure to cycle.

This is a memorable World Heritage Listed town, justifiably so. Put it on your list of places to visit. The inevitable consequence is, as with Prague that

It is seething with tourists

It has a significant number of 5 star hotels out of proportion to the population

Expensive craft shops alternate with food shops and ice creameries and clothing stores.

Restaurants specializing in “genuine” bohemian food and finally and most impressively the tourist office have produced its own app – in the Apple store.

But why is it that in all of these heritage towns, alongside the usual cultural museums and performing arts venues, there is around the corner a

Museum of medieval torture
Museum of sex toys
A Wax Museum.

I had roast pork, cabbage and ham and “dumplings” for dinner. Now here I face a dilemma. My mother’s dumplings were flour, water, a knob of butter and a pinch of salt, all kneaded into dough and then rolled into balls and dropped into the gravy of the casserole at the right time, so to cook in the gravy.

The Czech version is so different that I can’t believe it’s the same animal! Whilst it may have a knob of butter, it’s definitely not a ball but a soft, doughy, chewy white log. This log is cut onto 1 – 2 cm thick circles. How it is cooked I have no idea! It certainly has never been anywhere near gravy, although its consistency – a cross between tofu and Wettex, is quite appropriate to mop up the plate at the end of the meal. In summary this alleged traditional Bohemian food is left wanting! In my case , just “left”!

The highlight of this town is the castle and its grounds as well as the entire ancient village. I was there on a Saturday and at about 3pm about 50 bikies and their molls, roared up the hill and took a group photo shoot – men, bikes and Sheila’s!

The 3 pictures above are of the Cesky Krumlov Palace/Castle complex from the other side of the river

Part of the gardens of the Castle

The L-Club hotel at Hluboka was quite a find, thanks to Trip Adviser. A ground floor bar/hotel with rooms on the first floor! The ambience was distinctly 1968 – if I described lots of dark varnished wood, amber coloured beveled glass window treatments and vases of plastic coloured floral arrangements, you would get the picture?

But the rooms were as I have come to expect, clean, airy with fresh linen and hot shower. But there were nice touches by the attentive Madame de hotel! She had class and was genuinely caring. Breakfast was above average.

Did she have “Wi-Fi” I asked? Of course was the reply but the “signal may be a little weak in the rooms.” In reality it did not connect at all and one had to venture down stairs to sit within 2m of the modem to connect!

The next morning as she puffed on a fag at about 8am, (it was not her first for the day) she chatted on and eventually bemoaned the fact that working 7 days a week from 7 am till 11 pm, she had only last year had her first holiday in 12 years! I commiserated and said that in Australia, I had colleagues who had a holiday every 12 weeks. This only aggravated the situation, she puffed vigorously on her cigarette, exhaling in my general direction so I modestly explained that I sat somewhere between 12 years and 12 weeks in terms of the holiday time line.

It has dawned on me that Japanese tourists can now be readily identified by the camera they tout. They are the world experts of miniaturization, they are addicted to their iPhones, yet they eschew Apple or “small” when it comes to taking pictures. Invariably they snap anything and everything with the latest Nikon or Canon SLR! This of course only applies to Japanese younger than 28. The rest have an iPad which I have described in a previous blog.

Some pictures of the cycle day from Hluboka to Cesky Krumlov. Today I did not get lost except mildy so in a large town on the way! It was route 12 all the time and other than about 3 km on a main road, the rest of the 45km was on quiet country lanes or dedicated cycle ways.

However the universal “no cars or motor bikes” sign – stylized car and bike on a blue background with red circumference and bold red line through the centre, occasionally is ignored! This leads to the sudden and totally unexpected appearance of a small, clunky car careering around a bend, startling the cyclist and driven by an equally startled elderly woman who gives the definite appearance of not exactly knowing how she actually ended up on this narrow lane anyway!

My room in the Penzion Delanta Cesky Krumlov