The Hive Tour - Episode 31 - NE Bavaria & NW Czech in one day

Knowing the right people is priceless and I couldn't have a better contact for my Bavarian days than my dear friend Andreas. I'm close to the end of my days here in Bayreuth and I will try to do as many places he has proposed around here as possible since who knows when I'll be back. Quite a challenge though as the whole area is an eye candy with endless sightseeing.

Number one on my way is Fichtel mountains. It's a nice ride up to there but the place is not exactly what I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, nothing bad about it, it's just that I thought I could ride part of it and then go back to my route for the rest while here you have to park your vehicle and continue on foot. And that's what I do:

The spot you see is proposed by the guy who works at the local parking lot. He speaks no English but when he sees my Greek number plate he goes "Griechenland?!" in awe. I say yes (what else?) and then he offers to host my helmet in one of their rooms. Right here actually:

So as you see above my helmet sits on that chair and the guy tells me in full German something that as I can understand is "when your done with your helmet pull back the stand with the brochures to prevent access from others". And that's what I did 🙂

At this moment before walking I gotta...do this:

Pretty wise choice as seconds later busses arrive at the parking lot with myriads of kids and the toilets get jammed.

There's more scenic stuff than toilets here though and there I go:

Plenty of water too:

And huge boulders:

So many hiking trails to choose from here but I only have time for a brief walk so I stay on the main way:

The amount of huge boulders here is more than enough to host the tourist information:

There used to be a huge tree over that sign but now it's history:

Now you can easier imagine that this place attracts a lot of kids:

And... here is the future of mankind🙂:

My walk unsurprisingly confirms the two things that are beyond plenty around here - tall trees and huge boulders:

Now there's also kids among them:

And signs that are all German to me:

I hope these pictures gives you an idea about the height of the trees:

And these ones about the size of the boulders:

Both in the next one:

(I really like those twin boulders by the way)

I can enjoy my walk around those proud, tall and green trees,

while walking over this green soft carpet which feels priceless:

I like how this "carpet" grows over the boulders too:

I think I said those trees are tall didn't I?

After all these you can imagine the logging that takes place here. If not, let me help you:

Don't rush to mourn the trees, some had to be cut anyway:

This pile of logs give me a chance for an overview so I climb on top of it:

And here's my view:

Lovely mauve parenthesis in this green heaven:

Which is a heaven even with just its shades of green:

Anyone missed some boulders? I got you covered:

I'm making my way back to the parking lot as I can't stay here forever which is a pity since you can spend a full day walking around here with no regrets.

Goodbye trees, see you next time:

As I walk down the same road I am surprised I didn't pay attention to that thing on the right:

I mean this huge thing which is probably the largest piece around:

Goodbye Bavarian jungle,

And goodbye kids!

As I step towards my motorbike a bunch of them insist in "hallo!" me behind my back until I realise they really talk to me 🙂

So I am leaving Fichtel mountains behind and continue my ride heading East in order to enter Czech for my first time ever. Another first time for me is that this is the most Northern point so far on a motorcycle trip. You see I might be travelling a lot on my saddle abroad since 2010 but most of the times I was heading West not North. Interested in more "useless info of the day" statistics? This is the longest time I've been on the road. Previous record was 5 weeks in a row and I've just passed it. But I intent to triple it so that means I'm not even halfway 🙂

My good Bavarian biker friend Andreas told me to visit Cheb in Czech. Looks lovely in pictures too so it's a no brainer to do it. Not that far either so less than an hour here I am at its Market Square:

Charming isn't it? An American passing by stops at the sight of my Greek bike to ask me how I'm doing on this long road trip and we both agree on how wonderful this place is. Very cool guy hence our talk goes on and on but his beautiful daughter doesn't find it that much of fun to wait for the end of a chat that could go on forever so we cut it short... ish.

This is the city hall by the way with my iron horse posing proudly for the aforementioned records:

I drive out of the center of Cheb and stop at the river Ohre for a few pictures and set my next destination:

I think I'm good to go now and so is the iron horse:

Next stop, Karlovy Vary. Pretty famous city in Czech and now I know why. From the first stop at a parking lot to recheck the map I already adore the old buildings and the whole vibe:

The local river Tepla doesn't have that much of water:

It has some interesting graffiti though:

I try to make it into the city but the way I take takes me to a dead end. Nothing bad happens without a good reason though as Ancient Hellenes used to say so I look at my left rear view mirror and I see that behind me is this:

So I wait for those lovely horses to come closer and I manage this shot as they pass me:

Could be worse since I'm still on the bike without total freedom of movement. Here's one more:

So I drive out of the maze of the city in an attempt to find a view point to this gem. I don't know if you noticed it but from the previous spot you can see how steep the slope is:

I manage to find a good one right here. Without further commenting I will let you enjoy the view. Ladies and gents, put your hands together for Karlovy Vary:

I love how vegetation treats this house (and what a view it has):

On the other side there's a whole forest:

Unfortunately not time to explore neither the forest or the center so I move on promising to myself I will come back to Czech for a more dedicated trip.

The rest of the ride from this point is absolutely wonderful. Blame Slavkov forest for that. An absolute gem, a joy to ride and an eye candy. I make a stop at the Retro Riverside Wellness Resort to enjoy the local lake formed by the river Tepla:

Here's the resort:

Time to hop back on the saddle:

20 minutes later after a super ride in this forest I enter Becov nad Teplou where I make a stop at what looks like the local train station:

However, what made me stop isn't the above building but this one at the opposite side:

Looks like a perfect URBEX target but it's all sealed:

I could stay here for much longer imagining how beautiful this building used to be but I have to move on. In case anyone's interested it is located here.

And if you speak Czech you may find more info about the location on this sign:

Time to go:

15 beautiful riding minutes later I find a spot after Mnichov that offers chances for wallpaper pictures.

Enjoy:

Such a sweet ride. Czech, be sure I'll be back.

Right at the border of Karlovy Vary and Plzen region I make a short stop at this lake:

It's the Ticha river that waters this and it's my last stop before I go back to Germany. The route back to my place East of Bayreuth is also very nice and you can check it out plus the rest of the ride and places I've visited in this 4K video, my longest one so far:

Hope you enjoyed reading, see you on the next one!