Poland in to Slovakia

After Auschwitz and the searing heat we were done in to say the least so made progress southwards towards the Slovakian border and stayed at a less than average site near Zacopane

These are shots around the village of Naklo prior to our trip to Auschwitz. This was technically a Stellplatz in the big German stopover guide but turned out to be the rear of no 91 on the main street through town

Its german speaking guardian pointed us to his rear garden and two other vans just pulled up for the night, how bizarre but yet how quaint 

The barbecue is quite symbolic in that it pays homage to the costly gas driven one we'd offloaded before our trip but carted round for a year almost unused in the van

Strangely even this 2 euro special, although doing the job well, was still too much of a faff...I guess you either BBQ or you don't

The treat here was the very young deer that came up to the fence in the distance and just stared at us.

Not long enough for me to grab the camera though!

Out riding in the heat we discovered small villages, usually with appalling roads, even for our bikes

After having stopped for a cool beer with his farmer chums, he gets back on and rides off down the street. Tractors R us here and they are parked everywhere

We'd seen so many houses in dilapidated condition I thought I'd post these to redress the balance

It seemed the nearer we got to Krakow the more affluent the people were

Probably just a holiday home in progress

So, another country another first. Euros here so money was sorted OK

The last run out of Poland was stunning near Zakopane but very busy and nowhere to stop to take the shots I'd liked

Just over the border we stopped and had lunch at a hotel with drinks for a princely sum of 12 euro total

This was the way of things for the next few days, one day was 9 euro for both of us for 2 courses and beers. Zero tolerance here for alcohol when driving so hope it doesn't extend to cycles!

Wooden tiles

Nina's shots from the van

Out riding we come across this

Now then, if all rides had this backdrop and a purpose built path..

Most of the marked paths were almost unrideable due to their very rough condition and a lot were overgrown. The bikes are more than up to the job but it doesn't make for long enjoyable excursions

Roll on Austria and what we hope will be german-like radwegs through picturesque valleys