Safe Return Doubtful

32 miles (51 km) – Total so far: 1,408 miles (2,266 km)

It’s a cool and damp morning with heavy rain on its way later – but I’ve fortunately got a short day.

Leaving Město Albrechtice after a pretty dreadful Pension stay; overpriced, dirty and in bad need of modernisation.

Caught by the speed gun heading gently uphill into the Jeseníky mountains.

It’s just about a 400 metre climb, but for the first 20 km it’s very gradual.
With the weather there is hardly any traffic on the road. Just the odd car carrying bikes.

This is the Opavice River valley, and the town of Holčovice and its neighbours have much better places to stay than where I was last night.

After the village of Heřmanovice what little traffic there was turns off as the road or track becomes a cycle path, and climbs much more steeply, to the Pass at 790 metre.
Some wet hikers took my photo, note their Shetland Sheepdog in the background; pretty rare over here I would have thought.

Then downhill pretty quickly to the tiny village of Horní Údolí at 500 metres.
It’s a still, cloudy and wet morning and I could here the strains of ‘We Are The Champions’ getting gradually louder.
There was a fairly large MTB event on. The men’s race was aboy to start, and the music because they were awarding the Junior prizes.

It’s a twin Pass day, after Horní Údolí there’s a climb back up to 800 metres.
This was a banana stop on the way up. Heavier rain now, and any sniff of a view has gone.

The monument is Odpočívadlo U Hříbku and built when the road, between Zlaté Hory and Jesenik was constructed in 1926-7 to help defend Poland against the rising Nazi armies, This was then, the border. The idea was to rest here (perhaps with banana) before continuing to the top at Rejvíz.
Apparently… there’s a really good view..

There’s a plateau at the pass, and Rejvíz is a few attractive looking Pensions, Hotels and restaurants, with just a few hardy hikers around, seeming like they’ve cut short their day as tha rain gets heavier.

It’s on and off bike tracks all day. Some really good riding in what are, as far as I am concerned at least, good conditions. There’s no view unfortunately, but also no wind, and pleasantly cool.

Into Jesenik town on a Saturday lunchtime with a real autumnal feel to it.

Grotty accommodation last night, but really good tonight, and the same price.
This is a couple of km out of Jesenik. I had a good lunch, and will spend the wet afternoon reading and with the sport, and relax with a beer later tonight.
It seems expensive after Ukraine and even Poland, but the beer is less than £1, and the accommodation less than £25. The Czechs are fiercely defensive of their own beer, which of course, is loved by many. Just not me. My year in Prague I managed to find alternatives, but that was a big city. It’s much harder here.