Time to leave the delightful town of Plauen and head off on what turned out to be one of our favorite and most scenic days of the Napoleon Cycling Tour.
Plauen to Olbernhau
DAY #13 of 35Germany768 miles total
Riding along the Czech border today we followed pristine streams as they meandered their way down the valley and – because what goes up must come down and vice versa – we soon found ourselves climbing from ridge to ridge. On our way we hit the high point of the tour so far – 892m, nearly 3,000 feet – as we traversed towns that during the ski season buzz with activity but are strangely serene as we cycle through them.
The #Napoleoncyclingtour gets ready for our biggest day … 89 miles/8,000 ft of climbing in the mountains and forests of Germany. Go team! Skeered! Things start out so innocently. Then the hills begin to get bigger. Until we were in ski country. Up and down and up and down we went. Some of us were able to multi-task better than others. Here Noel stretches WHILE we climb mountains.
Our history professor, Gary, from California (former dean and now professor at Pomona College), enjoys his picnic lunch in front of this historic ‘postkutsche’ pillar in Oberwiesenthal. This pillar contains information about the ‘postkutsche’ stage coach, how long the horse drawn coach takes to get to particular towns. The ‘St’ stands for ‘stunden’: German for ‘hours’. These coaches often went long distances without stopping, swapping out horses and drivers as they went.
An Added Bonus Country (#8) – The Czech Republic
Though not officially listed in the Napoleon Cycling Tour literature, our tour leader Ben managed to finagle our route to cross a small slice of the Czech Republic so that we could add one more country to our tally.
We dipped into the Czech Republic for a few miles – and skirted along the border all afternoon on our way to Olbernau. This border would have once been sealed, but now is totally porous. This part of then Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland, was the area that Adolf Hitler said was German anyway so took it over to kick off WWII. When Hitler came to power he promised to rip up the treaty of Versailles and claim back land that had been taken away from Germany at the end of WWI. The Munich Agreement, signed by Germany, Italy, France, and Britain, stated that Hitler could have the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia provided that he promised not to invade the rest of Czechoslovakia. We all know how that turned out… Just as we remembered from our previous visit to Prague, our welcome to the Czech Republic contained some rather garish displays of capitalism. Architecture in the CR. Upkeep budgets maybe not quite on par with Germany.
However, our endpoint today is not the Czech Republic but rather the quaint town of Olbernau, often referred to as the White Monk town. Olbernhau’s origin dates back in the 13th century – the town’s name arose from the old German name Albernhau. We, however, were not up for much sightseeing, just some celebrating at the end of our biggest day.
All that nervous anticipation and this was our favorite ride so far. In my happy place: Sound of music mountain scenery, on our bikes, with my love and an angel pushing me up the hills. 89 miles/8,000 feet ascent. Celebrating the big ride with Chris from Gold Coast, Australia.
Our Route
After Olbernhau there we have just one more destination in Germany before we reach Poland and begin Stage 2 of this epic cycling adventure across Europe.
