6 August 2011
It’s a little harder to get out of bed this morning. Maybe one too many beers. But this can be no impediment to today’s plan – south to Slovakia.
I’m looking forward to the roads today – should be some twisties once we hit Slovakia. Kalahari George reckoned last night that he could take me in the twisties – good luck! He could be the best rider in the world but his Junior Massey Ferguson (F800 GS that is) is simply no match for the Family Truckster on decent tarmac. He can take the JMF places I won’t dare do but unless he plans to go off road then he’s no chance. Makes for some good light hearted banter though. Kalahari George leaves the navigation to me and off we go.
More traffic than we expected getting out of Krakow and through most of Poland for that matter. The cities are the worst but every now and then my roadworks locator helps slow us down on what should be fast roads. It’s not a big mileage day today so we hope to arrive in Poprad early afternoon.
Before leaving Poland we make a stop for lunch. The Restauracja Bury Miś was a quirky place and the soup was good. The farmers in the region are hard at work preparing for the coming winter.
The eastern Tatra Mountains in Slovakia are good fun. The road surface is pretty good also. We pass through a ski resort area. No snow this time of year but plenty of hikers or naturists.
It’s not what you would call a clear day but no rain at least.
We arrive at Poprad on schedule and find the centre plaza and look for a hotel. There is one upstairs from a restaurant/bar just near where we have parked the bikes. The receptionist must have failed Hospitality 101 several times but for 24 euros each for single rooms you can’t expect much. It was surprisingly comfortable and was nice to have a shower once I shed all that heavy and hot riding kit.
It was noticeably warmer and more humid today. At least we can ease into the conditions in Turkey.
A few cold beers hit the spot and we settle in for the evening.
Total miles today 145 (233km), cumulative 1,763 (2,837km).
Update: Undocumented in the Horizons Unlimited blog post for today’s instalment of my Turkey motorcycle tour, there were more money changing dramas with Kalahari George in Poprad. It was Saturday afternoon when we arrived – no money changers for him to haggle with over a few pence or euro cents. Even with this inconvenience there was still no way Kalahari George would consider using a cash point. I’m not sure if I was just being a good sport or implicit in his money laundering scheme, I was able to spare a few Euros – in exchange for the pounds we was carrying – so he could pay his hotel bill when we checked out in the morning. There wasn’t much haggling over the exchange rate though. I silently hoped Kalahari George would get better organised with his daily cash needs.
