Hello from Slovakia!
Sep. 24th, 2007 09:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
namasteForgive any misspellings. Blame the shivovitz we had with dinner. And the red wine. And the beer. Geez, how did we have time to bicycle? But we did. And I'd now like to find a way to insist that whoever it is makes up a list of places to bicycle before you die add: the bicycle/pedestrian path along the Dobjce River crossing between Poland and Slovakia to the list.
We began today with a 17 kilometer climb over one pass, then slid down the pass to the Dubjce River, where we rode along roiling green water driven hard and cold as it came out of the mountains. Then it was to the border, where there is a passport control checkpoint at the Poland/Slovak side on the bicycle and pedestrian path along the Dobjce. We stood, having our passports checked, as the river rolled past, standing on the hard packed dirt with our bicycles next to us.
Then it was on for 10 kilometers. The narrow gorge rising rapidly to our left, the dirt path maybe six feet wide, then a dropoff to the water, and beyond that, to our right, the steep cliff walls of the Three Crowns Mountain rising up out of the water and into cloudless blue sky.
We followed the river bed, the path winding with every turn of the river, birds soaring up to the path, down to the river, and up to the cliffs and back beyond. Every fifteen minutes or so a wooden boat would pass by, shooting the rapids.
Whenever I told people that I was cycling from Krakow to Budapest -- especially in Central Europe -- they had this look on their faces, and would ask why. Slovakia isn't Prague. The High Tatras Mountains aren't the Alps. This isn't a region known for its tourist industry outside of its own communities, and a few Poles, Germans, Slovaks ...
But now I want to show them this gorge along the Dobjce, and tell them that this is why.
I want to point to the mountain passes, where we climb slowly up, then drop down, trying to control our speed, but watch it climbing up ... 35 kph, 40 kph ... trying to keep some control, but at the same time giving in to the sheer joy of the moment ... watching the bicycle computer climb to 45 kph, then 50 kph.
It's the combined sense of absolute pleasure, but yet absolutely terror. Of not knowing what's around the next curve, whether there will be another uphill, or a vista of a valley dropping down below you, of clear skies and astounding views, and feeling like you're the only one who's seen them. 55 kph, 56 kph, 57 kph. It's about letting go of what is familiar, about what is easy to do, and giving in to the possibility of finding something new, of doing something new, of letting go and finding something that maybe hundreds or thousands of people have seen before -- but it's new to you. It's about exhiliaration and terror all wrapped up in one long downhill ride, not knowing what's ahead, but loving every moment of the ride.
We began today with a 17 kilometer climb over one pass, then slid down the pass to the Dubjce River, where we rode along roiling green water driven hard and cold as it came out of the mountains. Then it was to the border, where there is a passport control checkpoint at the Poland/Slovak side on the bicycle and pedestrian path along the Dobjce. We stood, having our passports checked, as the river rolled past, standing on the hard packed dirt with our bicycles next to us.
Then it was on for 10 kilometers. The narrow gorge rising rapidly to our left, the dirt path maybe six feet wide, then a dropoff to the water, and beyond that, to our right, the steep cliff walls of the Three Crowns Mountain rising up out of the water and into cloudless blue sky.
We followed the river bed, the path winding with every turn of the river, birds soaring up to the path, down to the river, and up to the cliffs and back beyond. Every fifteen minutes or so a wooden boat would pass by, shooting the rapids.
Whenever I told people that I was cycling from Krakow to Budapest -- especially in Central Europe -- they had this look on their faces, and would ask why. Slovakia isn't Prague. The High Tatras Mountains aren't the Alps. This isn't a region known for its tourist industry outside of its own communities, and a few Poles, Germans, Slovaks ...
But now I want to show them this gorge along the Dobjce, and tell them that this is why.
I want to point to the mountain passes, where we climb slowly up, then drop down, trying to control our speed, but watch it climbing up ... 35 kph, 40 kph ... trying to keep some control, but at the same time giving in to the sheer joy of the moment ... watching the bicycle computer climb to 45 kph, then 50 kph.
It's the combined sense of absolute pleasure, but yet absolutely terror. Of not knowing what's around the next curve, whether there will be another uphill, or a vista of a valley dropping down below you, of clear skies and astounding views, and feeling like you're the only one who's seen them. 55 kph, 56 kph, 57 kph. It's about letting go of what is familiar, about what is easy to do, and giving in to the possibility of finding something new, of doing something new, of letting go and finding something that maybe hundreds or thousands of people have seen before -- but it's new to you. It's about exhiliaration and terror all wrapped up in one long downhill ride, not knowing what's ahead, but loving every moment of the ride.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-24 10:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-27 07:32 pm (UTC)Yes, I will post photos, when I have the chance. This is actually the first internet access I have had since whenever I posted this. What day is it anyway ... and where is the question mark on this keyboard.
That probably wont happen until I get home, though.
For now ... I am in Levoca, Slovakia near Poprad, if you can find that on a map. Near the middle of Slovakia, with about five more days of riding to go. We enter Hungary early next week. I will be home the Sunday after that.
I should apologize, though, to anyone who knows better. Dobjce is a town. The river was Dunjec. It was still spectacular, with only more spectacular days since then.
Last night we slept under Spis Castle, within the confines of the Unesco site for Spis Kapital, the thirteenth century religious center of the region. You can do a goole site search on Spis and get an idea of the scenery that way. One of the first things I did this morning was to go inside the Cathedral, where I put my hands on a well worn stone lion, called the White Lion. Yes, the guide said, that dates from the thirteenth century.
It is an amazing place here, still on the verge of what it was and what it is, where I pass new tractors in the fields, then a horse drawn cart pulling a hay wagon. Where traditional wooden houses sit side by side with new concrete houses with satellite dishes.
Oh, and for what it is worth, I hit 62 kph on the downhills yesterday.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-27 09:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-29 02:45 pm (UTC)It is still beautiful. I spent today in the High Tatra mountains. Tomorrow we ride over the Low Tatras on our waz south toward Hungary. God onlz knows what the kezboards will be like there.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-30 06:22 pm (UTC)Okay, that's better. Enjoy Hungary and I'm looking forward to seeing the photos *g*