I cheated him because I managed to get up all by myself at 5.30 a.m. At that time he had been busy for a long time, and when I came down, he was making porridge for us, the way he had done it every morning during my stay. Apart from that the breakfast this morning consisted of cakes and coffee.

The evening before I had lined up all my stuff in ruler-straight lines. Doing so, I am able to get a general view of it all, but I must admit that this procedure may seem a little autistic.

Therefore it was not too difficult for me to get everything packed and make ready for the departure. Jaroslav would follow me a kilometre or two to make sure I left the town in the correct direction.

We stopped at the crossing east of Vysoke Myto and looked at each other.
Then we shook hands.
For an entire week we had been living together. Although we of course, owing to our nationality, culture and background on the whole are extremely different, we have been able to create a wonderful week with lots of wonderful experiences and interesting events. Jaroslav had made a great job with the preparations, and he has been extremely helpful and hospitable.
I don't know when we will meet again, only time can show.
But we will meet.

"Looking back, over my shoulder", was what I did after the departure. But very soon he was gone, and I made ready to tackle the day's first devil of a hill. There will be a lot of hills, was what Jaroslav had promised me.
"You'll get every hills", he said with a big smile.
You bet I got that.

And now I had to grow accustomed to riding with the trailer again. It had now rested for about a week, and it took us some hours to make friends again. For instance it's not possible to stand up in the pedals right away. It takes time to learn that manoeuvre.

The prescription is very easy. On all these long ascents it's a matter of finding the smallest possible gear and then decide to be patient. It's important to ride at an easy speed. If you happen to look forward you may realize how endless the hill seems. It can be a very demoralizing sight.
But no matter how long the hill is, no matter how steep it is, it's nice to now that there is always an end to it, where you very slowly let yourself disappear down the other side.

Normally I will pause at the top, where I look back at the hill I have defeated.
In my and Julie Andrew's opinion you have to look upon the hills as living creatures, and you have to be nice to them.
("The hills are alive…." Sound of music)
The down trip doesn't take long and very soon you face the next hill.
That's what there is to tell about that morning.

Now I had to get something very peculiar going. Edel (SWMBO) has a friend from the Teacher Training College, whose name is Mogens. He lives in Vraa in Vendsyssel in the northern part of Jutland. He and his family has rented a house in a town called Usobi. As luck would have it they were going to arrive at their house the very day I was passing on my way south.
I had therefore made an appointment with Mogens, that I was going to make a short stop there. I must add, that I don't know Mogens apart from that, and I have never seen him. This day took me through Luze - Skutec - Hlinsko - Zdirez - Havlickuv Brod.
I just wanted to point it out to you.

In Zdirec I went into a restaurant, where I had soup and a cup of coffee. It cost 28 KC, which is about DM 2. This country is so incredibly cheap to people from Denmark. 3 km after the big city Havlikuc Brod I turned left, when I met a sign saying "Usobi 10 km." Mogens had given me the address "Kusovo 2", but after having asked the way I found out that it was not at all a street in Usobi.
It was a village 5 km from Usobi.
I crossed some formidable hills before I found a sign with "Kusovo 1 km.".

I pondered a little on how a village could have a number. I got the answer very soon, when I found out that the whole village consisted of one single street, which even ended as a blind alley. I found the place which I thought was bound to be number 2, but I had missed a 0, it was actually number20.
-That's ok the man in number 20 told me.
-It happens all the time.
He told his son to jump his bike and take me to number 2, which was only a few hundred metres away.

I looked in through a gate and saw a man watering a tennis lawn. He only spoke Czech but he got hold of his wife, whose German was rather good. She assured me, that it was in fact the right place. She also told me that her guests normally arrived close to 6 p.m. I cast a sidelong glance at my watch only to find out, that it was 1 o'clock p.m.

The couple had not quite been able to find out, why I had arrived before the others. They thought that I belonged to the party, they were waiting for, but something was wrong. I explained to them that Mogens was my friend, and they said it was ok. I could wait there if I wanted to.
How could they know, that I had never seen Mogens before.

I asked the wife if it was possible to buy something eatable in the village.
-It was not possible, she said, but she would take care of that. She would bring me some food. I told her that I would of course pay for the food, but she didn't seem to bother. 10 minutes later she brought me a cauliflower au gratin, fried potatoes, salad and coffee.
This was really something.
And then she would like to know if I preferred beer or a soft drink.
I said I would like a soft drink.
At once she brought me 1,5 l of orange soda.
Now the husband wanted to join the fun as well. He insisted on showing me the surroundings, and it was a very beautiful place. He had cut the grass in a way that made it look like the grass on a golf green; there was a swimming pool and a small lake with a canoe.

Click picture to enlarge One more picture And another one. (They are rather big)

It's now 3.36 p.m. and I have written a lot in my diary. The wife just brought me a big bowl with cherries and strawberries. She has still no idea why I do not enter the house. She has even explained to me, that I can find a place to rest, and I can also watch TV. All of a sudden it occurred to her, that they have a shelf with Danish books. I simply had to see that. Together we went into the house which she very proudly showed to me. On the shelf I found an ancient "Bill and Ben" Western book in Danish.
It's very funny

The husband just left the house in his car, while his wife is constantly busy with various doings. When she came back for the tray with the tableware I had put a 50 KC note under the sugar basin. She has not commented on that, so I suppose that part of my plan succeeded.

The weather today is quite decent. Almost summery again, but not quite. I am still sitting on my bench. It's highly comfortable. There are flowers all the way round, and in front of the house there is this half-door.

It's now 3.24 p.m. and sooner or later I expect Mogens to show up. It was part of the deal, that Mogens' wife should not know anything about my being here. I must say the whole situation is a little bit spooky. I am curious as to what is coming out of this.

3.33 p.m. There she goes again. This time she brought me two photos of the house. She told me to put them in my diary. Very decent of her. I wonder what will be her next move. This is getting more and more interesting.

The rest of the day was spent in a very relaxed mood in the beautiful surroundings, and the last thing we did was to admire the sunset over Usobi.
A perfect idyll it was.
Of course the family was tired after having driven in the car for two days, and they wanted to go to bed early, which was fine with me.
I lay down in my sleeping bag on a sofa in the entrance hall.
After all I had to know what would happen to Bill and Ben, but very soon I dropped the book on the floor and fell asleep.
Once again I had been participant in a wonderful day's adventures

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