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 6 Part 2 - Mittelbau-Dora to DJH Hagen

Whilst I am in the area I thought about checking out some other sights.  

I had, with my brother Neill, a trip planned for the beginning of August 2021 on the path of the Dambusters with visits to the three main dams, Möhne, Eder and Sorpe.  Incorporating some of the crash sites and memorials to the aircrews of the downed Lancasters. That got scrapped due to Covid when Germany closed the borders to us from the UK.

All three dams are not that far off the A44 run between Dora and Hagen. So I have added a loop to visit all three.

It will be a long old day and plenty of sights to visit, but what else am I  going to do?

Routes - Day 7 - DJH Hagen to Home

Just a simple get up, have breakfast, pack up and go. A straight run to Eurotunnel and home.

MyRouteApp reckons on four and half hours, but we all know that Antwerp is a bottleneck and it can take up to an hour to thread through the traffic and the tunnels to get through it.  

Maybe I'll look to see if there is a way around Antwerp but not via Brussels as that too is a motorists' nightmare too.

So I reckon with fuel stops and lunch it will be more like six and a half. Plus of course that all important chocolate and beer shopping on Belgium!

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.

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.