Safe Return Doubtful

32 miles (51 km) – Total so far: 1,440 miles (2,317 km)

Leaving Jesenik on a cool and wet morning, it’s just 9C.

My mind is switching to jobs to be done back home…such as getting prepared for winter, can’t imagine having such tidy stacks as this though.

It was a short day on distance, but some really good cycling. The first part was on the road through a series of villages, this one Lipová-lázně. A climb of a couple of hundred metres, then a long gradual downhill.

Through the town of Žulová which had the German name Fryderg and was part of the Sudetenland 1938-45.

The rain has eased, but it’s certainly not warm at 12C.
Agricultural scenery and very little traffic makes for an enjoyable and fast ride to Javorník.

Javorník. I’ve dropped as low as 290 metres.

This is the Lądek pass, a very important historical road that for much of it forms the border between Poland and Czech Republic.

I tried to follow the road that was known as the Trail to Freedom, about half on road, half on track, and great riding.

It’s importance is quite recent also. It was a key smuggling area during the years 1987 to 89 before the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
The smuggling was of Samizdat materials; often hand-produced censored and underground publications passed the documents from reader to reader.

Between 1987 and 1989 the Lądek group in Wroclaw corresponded with the Zlin group in Czech. The smuggling technique was based on the use of four identical rucksacks, two for each group. They were left by the border. When challenged by the Czech Secret Police on occasions, the courier simply said they had taken the rucksack by mistake. The plan was very effective and safe.

The Lądek Pass, at 665 metres, and the border between Poland and Czech Republic.
Also the border between the Jesenicky National Park in Czech and the Śnieżnik Landscape Park in Poland.

Tonight’s base at Lądek Zdrój.

Lądek Zdrój. Warming up after that chilly downhill in the wonderful Dom Klahra cafe with a cup of Earl Grey, some apple cake, to a background of classical guitar.