I wake up when the birds start singing at 6AM. While Jo is still asleep I start packing a bit and then go look for the wifi signal to update some image captions and prepare a blogpost. The early morning sunshine is a nice plus.
Around 7, Jo gets out of his sleeping bag and we start packing. We manage to get some breakfast from the nice lady at the camp site and around 9.45 AM, we are ready to hit the road.
First stop is the castle at Lednice just down the road. That is a bit of a disappointment although in hindsight I think we missed the main event there…
The next castle on the menu is Valtice and that is a bit more impressive. I get up for some pictures. Apparently this is also the spot for the annual school pictures of the local primary school. The kids seem to be well trained too.
We head back to the original route and do some grocery shopping along the way. Picknick is pretty uneventful just before the Slovakian border. We pass the border around 2PM. The landscape clearly becomes more hilly and green.
Right after the border, Jo turns off the main road into a small road throught the woods. Our first gravel.
We get onto an open spot, and then there’s a sign we cannot continue. Bummer!
We head back from where we came and then have to stick to the main roads. They are not really fun though, busy, hot, and with a lot of trucks.
We stop for some fuel, drinks and cash in Nitrianske Pravno and we decide to follow the route towards Dolny Kubin. As we head more into the mountains though, the skies become darker and darker. We decide to stick to the main road instead of taking the planned smaller road detour. The ventilation of the suits is zipped closed and then we ride into the thunderstorm.
Around 5.30 PM we stop briefly for some shopping in Ruzomberok and then start looking for the camp site at Dolny Kubin. This is clearly indicated and we find it without problems.
We have been riding east for 4 days now and this is clearly visible in the amount of daylight left in the evening. The sun sets almost an hour earlier than at home. So we do not dwindle. The tent is set up, followed by a quick semi-cold shower and then dinner. The MSR stove is not functioning as it should, so we are left with some very sooty dishes afterwards.
Lights out at 10.
