Day 10 - Monday 26th June

Vysoke Myto - Litomysl- Vysoke Myto
55 km. Total 1528 km.

"In spite of ourselves we'll end up sitting on a rainbow"

This day we had only time for a very short bicycle ride, because we going to the school already at 11 a.m. But we started out as early as 7 o'clock a.m. and went for a ride in the neighbourhood of Vysoke Myto. Among other places we visited Litomysl, where we had been the day before and had seen some interesting ceramics in a shop window.
Now we returned to the shop and I bought a plate for SWMBO (She who must be obeyed)

When we came back, we put on our very finest clothes, because this day was going to be very official. When we left, we took my bike along. It had a number of minor defect, which I wanted to have fixed. However, it proved to more serious than that.

When we got to the school Mrs. Hana met us in front of the building. She took us to the staff room, where we were presented to her colleagues. We were going to visit 3 classes. Number one was a 4th class. It was a music lesson and they had prepared a song, which they sang to us. It was the well known "500 miles", which is extremely popular in the Czech Rep.
It was so beautiful. Afterwards Jaroslav told me, that he almost got tears in his eyes.

Next we visited a 4th class, which had an English lesson, and the last thing was a Czech lesson in a first class. They showed us how well they could read, and they were very good.

Now we went to another building, where we met the female headmaster. We talked about that and the other, and both of us wanted very much to establish a future co-operation.
They had a lot of other interesting things, they wanted to show us, but we had an appointment with the mayor at the town hall, so we had to leave.
I told them how grateful I was, because I had had the opportunity to visit their school.
It's always interesting to see a school in a country different from your own.

We had only a short way to walk to the town hall, where we at once were showed into the mayor's office. Mrs. H. joined us to help with the translations, and furthermore one of the employees form the office, Katka Rejentova, a young lady, 25 years of age, was present to assist us.
We talked about how my trip had developed, the purpose of the trip etc. The mayor wanted to know, if I was interested in museums. I confirmed, that I was very interested. Unfortunately museums are closed on Mondays in Vysoke Myto, so we had a small problem. However, the problem was not bigger than the mayor could solve it by means of a single phone call, and all of a sudden the museum was no longer closed.

To my big surprise Katka was going to join us for the rest of the day as a translator and guide. That was really great, because she was a nice and pleasant person.
First of all we went to the museum, where we had a special guided tour. It's not a big museum, but extremely interesting.

From there we climbed the 100 steps to the top of one of the 3 big towers in Vysoke Myto. All the time Katka explained lively about what we passed on our way.

Prior to all this Jaroslav had handed over my bike to Jaroslav Bend's bicycle shop. Mr. Bendl is a former top bicyclist, and he his still racing.

I was a bit shocked, when we returned to the shop, because they informed me that my rear hub was broken into two part. That explains why I had thought the rear wheel was a bit wobbly. What a annoying piece of information that was, but as good luck would have it, they had a special offer to me. They told me, that they could build a new wheel over a Shimano 105 hub, and they also told me that they could finish the job within 1,5 hour.
That sounded absolutely incredible to me, but when we came back to pick up the bike, it was ready.

The bill for the repairs was 1300 KC, which is very cheap. I dare not imagine what it would have cost me if the problem had come up in Denmark or Germany. I allowed myself to round up to 1500 KC.

While I am writing this in Jaroslav's living room, we are listening to classical music on the gramophone. Ludmilla is washing the dishes. We have just finished supper, which was potatoes and a delicious omelette with cauliflower. Now they have just equipped me with a bowl of cherries and a glass of red wine.
Oh, how lovely it is to be a long distance bicycle rider.

We rushed home to have supper, before I was going to a pub with Mrs. Hana and her family. Jaroslav didn't want to come, so I went alone. We had a meal and a couple of beers, and all of a sudden I felt it had been a very strenuous day with all these official visits, and the beer did not agree with me.

I was back around 9.30 p.m. but unfortunately I had a rather troubled sleep.


FACT BOX

Package list Czech Rep. June 2000

Batteries - glasses - diary - film - extra pillow/inflatable - pillow cover - ID (camping passport etc.) - passport - medical card - camera 1 + 2 - note-book - various maps ( 8 x Germany / 1 x Denmark /1 x Austria /1 x Czech Rep. ) - Maps: Nysa and Vysoke Myto - card of indtroduction - business cards - sheet sleeping bag - torch - padlock - list with German number plates - highlighter - radio - cord - sunglasses - writing materials - thermometer - clothes - pegs - watch

Toilet requisites: facial creme - shaving things - headache pills - towel - ointment against infection - nail clipper -lip balm - mosquito repellant - a needle - plaster - scissors - medical thermometer - shampoo - mirror - soap - toothbrush/paste - toothpick - heating ointment - toiletpaper -earplugs

Kitchen ware: tin opener -fork - spoon - knife - plate - carving knife - cork screw

Clothing: Long trousers - track suit- shorts - shirt - sweater - jacket - 2 T-shirts - 3 pair of under pants - sandals - socks

Bicycle clothing: bike gloves - finger mitten - extra sleeves - extra "legs" - 3 jerseys - 1 jacket - shoe cover - 2 "sweat undershirt".

Tools: tool for removing the gear wheels - tool for removing the pedal arms - extra, folding tyre - spokes - straps - open-ended spanners - tape, plasic - tape, cloth - cables- cone tool - chain separator + chain links - puncture outfit - nipples, extra - tool for nipples - screwdrivers -"umbraco" -3 extra tubes - adjustable spanner - oil/cloths

Camping: Tent - sleeping bag - foam rubber mat -camouflage, plastic cover.

Remember the law of chaos: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

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