Leaving Germany behind us, it’s on into Czech Republic. The Czech border town amuses, a little shabby compared with Germany, and many signs inviting us to the ‘Gentleman’s Club’, or the ‘Pussycat Parlour’.
We are both dog people, so settle instead for a coffee at the local cafe, and try and get our heads around yet another foreign currency and language. Thankfully most people in the hospitality industry seem to have enough English or German so we can get what we need.
Czech Republic is really quite beautiful, with rolling hills and a mixture of forest and farmland, although the influence of the Soviet era is still very obvious in the architecture and the vehicles we see on the road. Most of the cars are unsurprisingly Skoda, and the tractors Zetor, but we also see Russian Tatra and Kamac trucks here.
We get a bit lost here, trying to find our own way around a road works detour, and end up giving our new Enduro tyres a good workout on some muddy lanes, until we work out that following the detour signs really was the best option after all.
Into Poland and a couple of days spent back on the motorway, working our way across this vast flat country. Fields of canola, wheat and corn, as far as the eye can see.
The scenery’s not much but the hotels and the food are great.
Into the Baltic states, Lithuania is first, and we’re back with the € euro currency. We take a detour to visit the Hill of Crosses, a tribute to Peaceful Catholicism (must be the only place in the world where that’s happened).
Then on into Latvia where we camp near the beach and enjoy our dinner whilst watching the sun set over the Baltic Sea.
Next is Estonia, where we will prepare for our crossing into Russia.