With the panniers only half full due to the amount of clothing that we’re both now wearing it wasn’t the most enjoyable ride that I’ve had and despite following the fastest rubbish truck in the world at unbelievable speeds (surely on a job and knock) on a deserted country lane the main focus was a finding a proper hot stodgy meal having not had breakfast in Český Krumlov. A quick pull over to pick up a few bags of rubbish later and I was past but fearing a re-enactment from the Stephen King film ‘The Duel’ I wound on the throttle for the rapidly nearing border with Austria. Only just across the border and one of those ‘did I really see that?’ moments happened. After a near lock up of the brakes we turned around and read the chalked up sign saying ‘English Breakfast’ outside what looked like a pub, talk about an oasis! Once inside and finally unmasked we were greeted with an English accent as we ordered our breakfast in the warm.
In one of those TV type programmes where two Brits sell up and relocate abroad (except not on TV) Colin and Patricia did just that and refurbished the huge Gasthof zum Kastanienbaum (Chestnut Guesthouse) climbing over the multiple planning hurdles along the way. What was indeed a proper English breakfast (perhaps only missing a drop of HP or Heinz?) then followed and our stories of how we got here were given over a couple of hot coffees. Time to go though and after a quick photo and farewells it was time to go, or maybe not? Having got a little fed up with some of our longer days riding the week before we decided to shelve Venice for another weekend and banked two days to be used as when and as necessary. The lure of sitting in a warm pub all day, drinking beer, eating nice food and for me to catch upon this blog was too much to turn down and so back in we went and to book a room for the night. Of course despite the 10-12 hours with my computer I didn’t get to do any typing as instead we enjoyed the wonderful company of Colin and Patricia. I rarely plug on here but have to say to any of my fellow travellers that should you be passing the area then this place comes highly recommended. Great food, good prices, Wifi and clean you’d do a lot worse than to spend some time here. Another bonus is that Colin has safe parking a huge garage too. For more details click on the link from the guesthose name above. After more thanks and goodbyes finally then at the second attempt we actually started the bike and prepared to head east towards Vienna.
As for Vienna, we opted not to stay the night and instead push on to the nearby Bratislava. Parked up within the city we then got hold of a map and went on a stroll around. After a few hours we were both of the opinion that had we come straight off the plane for a weekend then we’d be impressed but having seen so much before we were a little underwhelmed.
Also odd was that the place seemed very quite but on our way back to Soul we stumbled upon a demonstration about the current global economic problems. Ten minutes or so laughing at the usual students and freaks was the last real action of our time in Austria as we tried to beat the sunset for our unusual accommodation in Slovakia...
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