Day 12

After 11 days it was a bit surprising for us not having to wake up early, pack, hop on our bikes and ride on. We could enjoy the comfort of our beds, all the lazing, and the effects of big city life. Polish law or comfort didn’t stop us from keeping our expedition habits, therefore this morning too we unpacked our food reserves and had a buffet breakfast in the hotel yard.

We got really fond of our iron horses in the last few days so we couldn’t leave them without showing them downtown Krakow. So we didn’t hesitate much, we jumped in the saddle to ride into the city center as a double line, paying attention to our own safety as well as the myriad tourist’s. Here too we took the opportunity to express our gratitude. Not only to the main sponsors, those who appear in the pictures, but to everyone who supported us, the people and those who helped us along the road, we say thanks and we’re truly grateful that we could live through this adventure together!

A group photo with dragon wasn’t something to be missed so we rode to the Wawel, where we stirred quite a bit of curiosity. After this, Zsolt too hopped on bike and we rolled back to the parking lot to prepare our bikes for the road back home. We loaded them all on the trailers.

In the remainder of the day we discovered the city for ourselves.

Day 11

We reached our goal, we got here, we did it! Krakow is now a dream that came true and we rolled into it on our bikes. Few people can say that they left behind kilometers, villages, cities, serpentine roads in 11 days while crossing on their bikes 4 countries on bikes in cold and in rain or in sunshine living a nomadic lifestyle.

Of course our last biking day didn’t begin with us casting a magic spell that suddenly took us in Krakow. So let’s start with the beginning. Sometimes around 9 AM “at dawn” the inhabitants of the wooden cabins - us – woke up slowly. It wasn’t easy leaving this fairytale-like landscape, but thanks to the traditional Polish breakfast, which would haven a SIIIIIN to skip, we could enjoy the sights a bit more.

True to our traditional setting we faced today’s route as three teams. Nature is such a wonderfully built thing, that whenever a biker fights his or her fight with an uphill road, as soon as that’s conquered, he or she is immediately rewarded with a long downhill stretch. Of course it didn’t last for long, within the next ten kilometers we were greeted by the already familiar landscape spattered with hills, so it was like uphill and downhill again and again.

Everything went according to plan up to the moment when the second team took a wrong turn off the main road. How did they manage to get lost exactly nobody knows, legend has it that they enjoyed the expedition so much that they decided to do an extra 15 km on the last day. Of course if you ask the bikers themselves, they’ll have a rather different opinion, but that’s what the legends say… Luckily within an hour we were all back together again and nobody was in any danger.

When the second team arrived, it was obvious that we cannot arrive in Krakow without bowing to one of the yummiest bike expedition traditions and having some original Abundance-French toast. We pulled over from the main road in doubtful conditions, Paul set up the mobile kitchen and we began preparing the expedition’s trademark yumminess. Among the secret ingredients we mention as absolutely necessary the following: forty tons of cobblestones (for the Polish taste), a hectare of corn and a pinch of illegality.

Krakow didn’t give in easily, 20 kilometers from the city we still faced some upward struggle. But it was worth it! Our road led us into the city through villages, between gardens until we met Marcin and Viola, they led us through the city while they parked our cars in a safe place. Thanks for the help and the excellent caramel candy!

At Momotown (our accommodation place in Krakow) we were greeted by a round of applause. It was an awesome feeling reaching our final destination, to hug each other and laugh together. It’s difficult to describe how we felt in those moments, but one thing is sure: we are grateful to those at home and everyone who trusted us!

In the following two days we’ll discover Krakow, its bustling life!

Day 10

We just went through some events that could be part of an action movie! Of course, we didn’t expect anything like that when we started our day. Calmly we prepared ourselves for all weather related events that could possibly come, we packed our things, organized ourselves, had a good breakfast and put back our sports field – bedroom in its original orderly state. We gave thanks to our generous hunter host with a round of applause and rolled away towards the Polish border. After nine days, the inscription on our vests finally made sense: „Polak, Węgier, dwa bratank i- Lengyel, magyar, két jó barát”, that is “the Polish and the Hungarians are good friends”. Our first stop occurred at the Slovakian-Polish border, where according to our traditions we made a group photo and for the last time in this expedition changed the inscription on the lead car for the Polis version of “Warning, bikers”, then we biked on towards Nedec castle.

Although we had to make a small detour, and we couldn’t go in the castle, it was still worth seeing it from the outside and also the wonderful landscape around it. It was a special feeling to see that once upon a time Hungarian nobility lived in these castles that are 600 kilometers away from our home, castles that used to be part of Hungary. We didn’t want to go on unpreparedly so we had a snack in the parking lot, we replenished our water supply before starting towards today’s destination: Kasina Wielka. Right from the start we faced a pretty difficult climb that we all braved well. The usual good pace took us through the hills and mountains. To our surprise we found out that Polish drivers are all in a hurry on the narrow roads. Luckily we were well organized so we could slow them down successfully in time.

About one third into today’s trip there was trouble, the action movie part began here: because of an unrelated accident the road on which we were supposed to travel with about 30 bikes and 7 cars was closed for two hours. After weighing our options and negotiating with the local police, we decided to let the bikers go forward on the original route. Cars couldn’t follow them because a large part of the road was closed and secured at the scene of the accident, so the seven drivers found an alternative route and within half an hour everything was alright again.

Since we had a pause of almost two hours, one of the cars went forward to our accommodation place, the bikers followed in two groups. Weather wasn’t very pleasant either, it rained and often there was some fog too. Still that didn’t hold us back, all those in good health and bike made it possible, rolled on faithfully.

Both teams were exceptionally disciplined, they took today’s kilometers seriously knowing that this is the next-to-last day when we ride our bikes. Today it really showed that we have become a real team, everyone knew where he or she should be, what must be done and how he or she can help the others.

A serpentine road led us to the wooden cabins where we will spend the night, but we got so used to them that it didn’t take us by surprise. Whether we rode in the saddle or we enjoyed the sights sitting in one of the cars, we made it through the last kilometers TOGETHER, even if those last kilometers still had some surprises for us in store. When we thought that this was the last uphill climb, there came another one appearing suddenly from the dense fog, and yet another one. Such unexpected turns can be dangerous at the end of a long day. But there was no reason to worry! Our bikers took up such a good pace that there were times when they sent word to the drivers, even at the bottom of an uphill struggle: FASTER! Our good feelings were increased by the beautiful place where we spent the night and the joy of our teammates. So ended the biking part of today’s story, followed by dinner which was served as soon as we arrived. Shortly after dinner Viola and Marcin, our friends from Krakow arrived, they’ll help us tomorrow when we’ll ride into the city.

Tomorrow will be a great day because at the end of 11 days, 700 km and seemingly endless turns of wheels we will reach our destination!