To escape the heat in Budapest, we headed north, towards our ultimate goal of Sweden, and meandered through Slovakia, a corner of the Czech Republic, up through western Poland and then into Germany. Here’s our highlights…
Wrocław, Poland
Can anyone outside Poland pronounce the name of this fantastic city properly? It’s not ‘rock-claw’. Something like ‘Vrosh-wav’. Anyway, we stayed in a car park right in the centre and had a fantastic time. Trundled around the islands, couldn’t do the Botanic Garden with the dogs, but we saw the cathedral, stopped for beer and pancakes, saw the main square, checked out some bars, and some gnomes. I went to see the Taylor Moore band at the Vertigo jazz club – great band, great venue! Next morning, Bev went round the Botanic Garden, then – our 24hrs up – we moved on. Loads more to see I’m sure, I’d happily return.
Kamenná brána rock window, Bosanov, Czech Republic
The Broumovsko Protected Landscape Area is a reserve full of natural sandstone rock sculptures. A typically askew adventure – we went hiking with the dogs, and of course took Marra’s wheels for when he got tired. Passed a Dutch couple on the way who said, “Turn back, you won’t make it.” One thing about this trip – we really don’t like going back on ourselves. Only done it about 3 times in 4000 miles! And, of course, we have that stubborn, plucky, can-do attitude and a large dose of “I think I know what’s best for me”. So, 16.7km and various scrapes and increasingly bizarre challenges later, we made it back to the site with just 6 minutes before the site bar stopped serving. Ice cold beers and a dip in the natural swimming pond to celebrate. This route was not wheelchair friendly, but it is an amazing place!
Mecklenburg lake district, Germany
The land of a thousand lakes lived up to its name, unlike the land of a thousand storks in Slovenia! We wild camped, swam, paddleboarded and ate by the lakeside. The dogs loved roaming free, tramping down the grass to make a nest to doze in the sun. Idyllic. We will definitely be back.
High Tatras, Slovakia
The mountains looked amazing, but we could only get so far with old Marra. There were a few wheelchair friendly walks – we did one to the mid station ski lift up the mountain of Lomnický štít, one of the highest peaks in Slovakia. We managed to avoid the wheeled toboggans careering downhill on the same path! We also did a gentler trundle around Štrbské Pleso, very picturesque with stunning views of the mountains beyond.
Travel notes…
We’d heard stories about rural Slovakia – along the lines of ‘they send kids out into the road and pretend you’ve run them over, then rob you when you stop’. There was nothing like that. Some scrappier towns in the borderlands maybe – Bev says Stephen King calls it ‘slippage’ – but that’s true of most places.
Crap signal for data in Czech Republic and the German lakes, while Poland we had good 4G coverage.
Big generalisation but we think Dutch-run campsites are cool – Stayed at a few (Brezno, Czech Republic and Uciechów, Poland), nice atmosphere, good facilities, etc.
We passed two convoys on mad driving challenges: The Barrel Challenge, a Dutch competition where teams pimp their cars and undertake challenges along the spectacular route to an unknown destination, somewhere between 2000 and 4000 km!
And, the Baltic Sea Circle – another Dutch race – 8500km in 18 days in a car over 20 years old, no GPS and no motorways…
Looks like fun!