It’s been a strange day today, I awoke to grey skies that
gave a sense of foreboding which has stayed with me all day. The skies
lightened but my spirits just wouldn’t lift! It’s not that it’s been a bad day,
indeed, I’ve covered quite a few miles, far more than I had intended
I left my little cabin at about 8am heading west towards
Benesov at the suggestion of friend Jez, who had suggested that whilst I was in
the general area a visit to the Jawa/CZ Motocycle Museum was worthwhile and
also the Konopiste Castle alongside it. I checked it out on the GPS and as I was only about 45 km away off I went. It
was a pleasant ride, if rather colder that I was used to of late, in fact the
Thermal Vest was dug out from the bottom of my clothes bag along with my heavy,
waterproof gloves; I guess the days of jeans and t-shirt are at an end for this
trip at least!
Arriving at the museum at 9.50am I was the fist customer so
the young receptionist unlocked the doors and left me to it. Although fairly
small, it was a fascinating collection, especially the gold plated Harley look
alike ordered by a fraudster in no less a place than the Vatican! To any
speedway fanatic, of which I am one, the name Jawa is synonymous with the
sport, winning countless trophies and grand prix over the decades. Indeed right
up to today many of speedways top stars still use Jawa engines. It was
interesting to see Greg Hancock’s picture on the wall of fame looking somewhat
younger than he does today, a mark of the man’s talent that he is still riding
and winning on the World Speedway Grand Prix series.
Walking up the hill to the castle was more of a chore than
it should have been, it was certainly picturesque but I just didn’t fancy
trolling around the hundreds of rooms, so instead went for a walk around the
park, took a few photographs, although not of the long eared bear that was
supposed to be in residence!. Walked back to the bike and headed for Prague.
One of the many things that Joel and I always agreed upon whilst travelling was
that we don’t really “do” cities. We both also agree that we miss out on a lot
by not doing them. So it was that I came to be in Prague. However, whether it
was my state of mind or the weather (which was still rather grey!) I don’t
know, but I got there, rode through it and, well, just sort of kept going. I
simply couldn’t face it today, maybe on the next trip I’ll feel differently but
my head certainly wasn’t in the right place for it today, so on I went…
Now people who know me well and have ridden with me know
that I have a “thing” about daytime use of headlights and running lights. Put
simply my belief is that firstly they diminish a drivers ability to judge the
speed of the oncoming vehicle and in the case of a bike, to see if it is a slow
moving moped or scooter, or a fast moving bigger bike. More importantly
however, I believe that most accident of the “sorry mate I didn’t see you” type
are due to the driver simply not looking. Today I had a perfect illustration of
that belief! Unusually for me I actually had my head light on as the day was rather
gray and dismal with visibility not too brilliant. Today also, I came as close
as I ever want to come to being squashed by a bloody great tractor towing an
even bigger trailer! The side road came out at an angle to the main road and
the driver didn’t even glance in my direction, didn’t slow by one single kph,
didn’t even know if there was an eighteen wheeler bearing down on him! Yes, I
missed him, but only because I was travelling at a sensible speed and was
concentrating on my riding and yes, I like to thing that 46 years of experience
and various advanced riding courses may also have added to the luck that was
mine today. I could have had a flashing light on top of my head, he still
wouldn’t have seen me… I rest my case m’lud!
So here I am tonight, all thankfully In one piece, in a cold
and dark German forest, not hidden well enough from the road really, but it is
only a small road and the rush hour of 6 cars seems to have passed, however I’m
glad to be back to wild camping once more. Tomorrow I have another long day, as
I would like to get to Hanno’s, as I don’t really want to be riding on
Saturday, Sam’s birthday, particularly after today as I don’t think my mind or
my heart will quite be in it.
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