Valtice to Mikulov - June 22

June 22

The flu, or whatever it is, had progressed its grip on me overnight, but I felt well enough to do maybe 50km, weather permitting, as the forecast was for some rain.
After a good breakfast at our penzion I had a rest while Tracey, who is feeling better every day, and Rod went for a short ride to explore the chateau and its gardens, as I had done on foot the previous evening.
When they returned at around 9.30 we headed off.
The forecast looked right, with heavy overcast skies and a bit of misty rain early on.
Our first brief stop was just off the track back near the border to have a look at the Rajstna Colonnade, a huge structure built by a Liechtenstein prince 200 years ago as a tribute to his late father and brothers.

The Rajstna Colonnade.

We then followed the Greenways cycle route towards Mikulov along quiet narrow roads, once sealed but in various stages of deterioration. Beautiful rolling countryside, with the numerous wildflowers glowing in the grey day beside the roads.

Bad roads and grey weather.

But very pretty.

Although not far down the track, we headed into Mikulov in the hope of finding somewhere to buy some Czech sims for our phones. After a deliciously rich hot chocolate we spent some time looking around this interesting town with a baroque chateau built on a rocky outcrop in the middle of it.

The hot chocolate was thick and rich and big!

Central Mikulov.

Looking towards the chateau on the hill.

The entrance to the chateau grounds.

We found a mobile phone shop, but the man spoke no English, and we had no confidence in getting what we needed there.
By that time it was raining fairly steadily, so we consulted Lonely Planet for accommodation options. At the first pension we tried the door was eventually opened by a young man who spoke no English. After he showed us the room there seemed to be a problem that the zero common language made it impossible to figure out. After showing him passports, money, and him seeming to indicate in writing that the price would be 400 per person but 1600 for the three of us, we took our bikes back out into the rain to try somewhere else.
At Pension Prima we had better luck. Once again the girl doing reception at the bar/restaurant downstairs spoke no English, but it's not that hard with a bit of sign language and a few words of German. It is very cheap here (dbl 800czk, pasta lunch for two 243czk).
We had made the right decision to stop as it continued to rain all afternoon and into the night.
We met two English cycle touring girls who were doing the Greenways from Prague to Vienna. They had been thoroughly drenched riding today.