Routes - Day 5 Rally to Brno

Currently, Day 5 is the Sunday that the Rally ends and everyone sets off for home. I had planned to go back across the Czech Republic and head for Schloss Colditz.

But I got to thinking.

I will have ridden 800 plus miles across Europe to the rally, so it seems odd that I miss out going to see my friends in Brno. Doesn't it?

I am sure I can add a day to the trip and from Vernířovice go south and visit them near Brno. After all. At my age, 66,  I have no idea when I will get to go there again. Probably not by motorcycle. 

I guess Jiří might be able to get to the UK again for a trip but maybe (Claire and) I will be too old to go there?

So I am changing the end of the trip and making Popůvky to visit Lilka and family, and Jiří and family in Ostrovačice my goal for Day 5! 

It does say across the top of the Blog that this is MY trip. 

This means cancelling the bookings at Colditz by email and the Hagen date on booking.com.  The latter sorted quickly and efficiently. The other waiting for a reply.

I suppose I should let them know at some stage that I am going to drop on their doorsteps! Maybe in their Christmas cards? 

The route is pretty straightforward and only around 105 miles via Olomouc.  

Routes - Day 5 Part 1 - Vernířovice to Schloss Colditz (B)

As I have been on the tour at Colditz before I am not in any hurry to get from the rally in Vernířovice to the castle, so since the original post for Day 5 was posted, I am looking at alternative places to stop enroute.

Firstly I saw a post on the "Visit Czech Republic"  Facebook page for some troglodyte houses to the north of Prague. These are in a small town of Lhotka near Mělník - https://www.muzeum-melnik.cz/rock-dwelling-lhotka-near-melnik/

I had a look on Google maps and then on My RouteApp to see where it is situated and whether it would form a reasonable stop on the way to Colditz. In Czech the site can be found as Skalní Byty Kokořínsko.

I added it to the Day 5 route in MyRouteApp.  It has extended the day a little but as the route planner doesn't account for stopped time (although I can add that later!) it looks like the day's riding will be around six hours and 282 miles.

From there is it plain sailing up the E55 to the German border and towards Dresden.  There are bound to be a few photo opportunities on the way!

Such as the lookout tower at Kostelní Hlavno, just a few metres off the route for the day.

Routes - Day 6 Part 1 - Schloss Colditz to Mittelbau-Dora

This is planned as the first stop for me. Once again, a revisit to a place that needs to be seen to remember the horrors of the Holocaust. This is technically not a death camp, but that doesn't mean that hundreds of captive workers died as slave labour for the Nazis.

Once on the motorway it is a quite run westwards from Colditz.

Routes - Day 5 Part 1 - Vernířovice to Schloss Colditz

The rally traditionally starts on Friday and ends on Sunday before lunchtime.  I have already booked an overnight stop at the Youth Hostel in Colditz Castle. I stayed there with Claire way back in 2011 and we had two nights and did the tour on the morning of the full day we were local. 

The tour takes a couple of hours and is in English, but seems at the moment only on Sundays and Mondays. See the website for more details. 

Having done the tour a decade ago I am not all that worried about doing it again.  The current route (below) takes me back towards Prague on pretty much the same route that I went on.

As I am not that bothered with the Colditz tour I will look at some alternative stops on the way. Dresden maybe?

Overnights booked so far

I have booked two overnights on the way out and two on the way back.  With two overnights at the rally this gives a total of 6 nights in hotels/hostels.

Currently the plan is to leave on May 25th AM and return May 31st PM.

• May 25th - https://www.booking.com/hotel/de/b-amp-b-koln-troisdorf.en-gb.html
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• May 26th - https://www.booking.com/hotel/de/gasthof-reif.en-gb.html
  
  
  
  
  
• May 27/28th - Rally. Booking to be made with organisers
  
  
• May 29th - https://www.jugendherberge.de/en/youth-hostels/colditz-schloss-698/portrait/
  
  
  
  
  
• May 30th - https://www.booking.com/hotel/de/jugendherberge-hagen.en-gb.html

All those booked through booking.com can be booked with free cancellation and no prepayment options. I have chosen hotels on the way out where there is either a bar/restaurant on site or nearby. Saves having to ride the bikes if we want a snifter or two.... Would be a shame to miss out of the local brew/distillations....

The most complicated one will be the Schloss Colditz.  This is booked through the German Youth Hostels website.  The link above takes you to the Colditz page. You need to click on "check availability" and then complete the form.

Fill in the selection boxes at the top and it takes you to the bed/room options.  These are a bit tricky as it won't let you move forward until all bits are completed.

Once you have entered the personal details and submit, it sends the request to the hostel and they reply with a booking reference. 

They then reply with a booking form they want signed. This will need to be printed and scanned in and returned ASAP.

Nothing to pay until you arrive.  The only caveat is that we have to arrive before 6pm.  We should be able to do that from Vernířovice.

Schloss Colditz DJH

Another day another update.  Whilst on leave from work across the summer it gives me something to do when the weather outside is less that wonderful.  One minute heavy rain, the next bright sunshine.

It also takes my mind off having to go to DFS and buy a new living room sofa and chairs....

Today's update is the the entire DJH network is now reserve-able online.  What is also superb is that it is a reservation system with payment on arrival.  

I should be able to get from Vernířovice to Colditz by 6pm when the reservation expires.  Although I am sure payment can be made in advance to make sure it is not lost.

Flickr gallery from our 2011 stay.

Czech Republic Centre SOC - Invader Rally 2022

Well, here we are. Another update on the trip to the Czech Invader Rally in Vernířovice and only a few days after the last post.

This is Plan C Outwards!!

How things can change. I was using Google Maps rather than MyRouteApp to try and chop the journey into three more equal parts.  This is not as easy as you might think considering accommodation and doing the trip on a budget.

I start all the routes from Calais Eurotunnel's "Avenue to France" and there is a waypoint that's clickable in Google Maps.  From there to the Vernířovice Rally site in the Hotel Reoneo is around 835.35 miles.  

Having a fuzzy brain after months of working from home, I used the calculator on the laptop to chop it up into three parts.... it comes out at 278.45 miles.

AACZ - Invader - Vernířovice OUT Plan C

So using Google Maps I tried to find somewhere around that distance for the first hotel stop. I chose the B&B Hotel in Troisdorf. It has parking and a restaurant on site.  I don't know if I really want to overlook the railway though!

Apart from the rally itself, I am booking single or double rooms (if they are the same price) with private bathroom! I don't mind sharing if I have to but given my health problems being solo or with my wife id best all round.

It's maybe a little short at 268 miles. But there was nothing further on in my price range. Or rather what I was interested in paying. 

I have kept the second stop at Hotel Reif  in Königstein in der Oberpfalz, I just had to change the date to a day later. This is another with restaurant attached.  Food and beer and no walking or need to ride the bike.

The Prague stopover is gone. A shame but it does mean I will be away from my family a day less.

The third day is a little over the 278 average. That is simply because hotels nearer the Czech border are more expensive or if comparable in price,  don't have food and drink nearby.

Plan C could easily be Plan D though...

Homeward Plan A

No changes here except that I have managed to book the DJH Hostel at Hagen for the second night after we leave Vernířovice.

AACZ - Invader HOME Plan A

I have emailed the DJH Schloss Colditz to see when they are open to take booking and they have yet to reply.

I saw on the main DJH.de website that there was a relaxation in Germany due in August, but that may be up in the air as they have had killer floods in the Rhein/Ruhr and Covid is on the increase as well. 

Czech Republic Centre SOC - Invader Rally 2022

I have been looking at the route back.  For the route out I will stick (I think) with Plan B and the southern route via Frankfurt and Nuremburg.

The return looks like this. 

Two nights and both at Youth Hostels.  The main event being the Colditz Castle Hostel (2) and then at Hagen in the Ruhr (3) on the way back. Three days on the road and each about 250-275 miles. Easily and comfortably do-able on a modern bike.  Plus allowing time to stop on the way and look at something!

AACZ - Czech Invader - Home Plan A

There's plenty of time to refine and book.

Czech Republic Centre SOC - Invader Rally 2022 - Plan A & B

Now that Vera has joined the Devall Family (or at least will have in time for this event) I have been looking at my (tentative) plans for the trip across to the Czech Invader in May 2022.

I had been looking at taking the newly rebuilt Kettle aka Suzi Triplo but even after all the time (and not to mention money!) spent to bring her back to life, a 2000 miles trip might be a journey too far.

I have a couple of Plan A's. I checked with the new secretary of the Czech Centre and he has confirmed the dates of the rally as May 27-29th 2022.  In fact that is the traditional date. That's what I had gambled on when I began to plan earlier in the year.

Those plans are on Suzi Triplo's Blog site.

With Vera taking over the long distance and more arduous trips from Suzi, all updates will be here. With a modern bike I have been able to plan for longer days in the saddle.

I have so far stuck with the Plan A outwards from the UK. Although there is already a Plan B!!!

Plan A is what I call the "A4 Route" and goes across the top of the Ruhr and a first stop at the DJH Hostel in Kassel (2 on the map). The second stop on Prague  (3). The shorter distance between Prague and Vernířovice would allow me to maybe make a short stop in Hradec Kralove and call in at my friend and former student's house.  I've not seen Rosta since 2011 when Claire and I were in the car.

AACZ - Invader - Vernířovice OUT Plan A

Plan B OUT has shorter days on the way to Vernířovice, with stops at Bingen (2) and Königstein in der Oberpfalz (3) with a final stop in Prague (4).  This gives fewer hours on the road and most of that will autobahn, and maybe give me time to "see" something".  In the end I could of course reduce the overnights to two from three. The overnights are all (cheap) hotels.

AACZ - Invader - Vernířovice OUT Plan B

Plan A HOME is still to be decided, but I would love to stay in the YH at Colditz Castle again just as a reminder of the 2011 trip we did in the car. But that is still to be decided.

The current problems with both Plan A's is that they both take the former East Germany route and much of it is retracing steps. 

Both outward routes share the same Prague Hostel Plus in Holešovice which is cheap and comes with off road parking at a small cost