Going East

The choices for crossing Germany were the "A4" route or the "A3" route. The former being the run across East Germany and entering Czech from the north, or the latter, the route across Germany from Koln to Nurnberg and across the border in the west.

When I saw that you could stay in Colditz Castle, and that part of the infamous PoW site was now a German Youth Hostel I was quickly on the email, booking two nights.  

In their paperwork I saw that there are tours of the remainder of the castle as well. After an exchange of emails I have booked us on the "standard" tour and then we can have the afternoon to maybe have run out locally to Leipzig or Dresden.

Info:

"Extended Tour: 10.30 am and 02.00 pm which is showing you all places possible to go to, lasts about 2 hours and costs 15,00€ per person. Standard Tour:  10.30 am , 01.00 pm and 03.00 pm which is showing you the main places, lasts about 1 hour and costs 7,00€ per person. The entrance into the escape museum is included in both tours."

Since watching a few programmes during Holocaust Week and then a "Who do you think you are" with Jerry Springer (who went to Auschwitz), I have thought about making a visit to one of the memorials. For this trip Auschwitz is simply too far to go so one en route looks like a likely option.

En route to Colditz and a small detour off the planned route are the Harz Mountains.  These are a motorcyclists dream, superb biking roads etc.  Just to the south is Nordhausen Dora forced labour camp.   Part of the Buchenwald series of camps.  More info http://www.dora.de/

The final piece of the jigsaw was a night in Poland.  We've not been together before and  I have been once.  That was back in 1993 when I rode to Český Těšín and crossed the bridge over the River Olza to the Polish town of Czesky Cieszyn.  I was  in Poland for about an hour!  As I had no zlotys I couldn't buy anything as the local wouldn't accept Czech currency.

So to break the longish journey between Colditz and Brno, a night in a new country seems on the cards.  And indeed it is.  A night in Noclegi Pod Jeleniami in Jelenia Gora has been booked through hostelworld.com.  From the pics is looks good and for about £28 a night it is very cheap. 

The last day of the outward leg will be the Jelenia Gora to Brno section, calling in at Hradec Kralove (hopefully) for a coffee and chat with an old student of mine, Rosta Kriz and his lovely wife and daughter.