The sun was shining thankfully on the day we ended up leaving Banska Stiavnica. After a lovely filling omelette breakfast we packed up and were ready to hit the road again. Dave conquered the gravel and cobbles again to get back to the main road. We drove back through the gorgeous forest road again, that we had taken on the way in. Although this time it was a lot drier which meant we could both appreciate it more. Sides of the forest still glistened with patches of snow though where the sun hadn’t managed to get to them.
Once out of the forest and on the main road we had a glorious drive in the sunshine, with the hills and mountains rising up around us as we drove. This was something we had not really expected and we were pleased that we were still getting some stunning scenary even though we decided not to drive through the Tatras. It was still very cold though and we were grateful after an hour to head to a Tescos to have a wander round, and get some lunch. Eating lunch in the heated entrance of Tesco we must have looked very strange, but we did find the Tesco with the best view. A short while later we also ended up thawing out in a McDonalds, in much need of a hot coffee and somewhere inside to sit.
From Zilina the road wound round past the cliffs on one side and the river on the other. At one point there was a castle towering above us too. We were headed up through more hills and mountains- heading past more and more ski resorts- luckily it was still a dry day. Google then decided it was going to take us on a detour up into the mountain. It was a goregous drive and we started to be surrounded by snow. The road started to get a bit sketchy but was still relatively clear so we made our way up the steep hill. We were rewarded with incredible views of the mountains from above however we were thwarted from going any further when we got to the top due to a large patch of ice and snow. This also turned out to be exactly where the Slovakian/Polish border was. Due to not knowing the condition of the road on the otherside we ended hoping over to Poland on foot and then having to turn around and find a different way. We were thankful when we got back down to more of a main road, with less snow and passed into Poland. This didn’t last long as avoiding the motorways kept meaning Google kept trying to take us down some very sketchy mountain roads. Eventually we gave up and for safety and ease Dave got on the motorway briefly just to make it down the other side of the mountains. We ended up making our way to Hostel Zywiec about 4pm.
Hostel Zywiec was just a motel with an attached restaurant/ gas station but it was clean, we had our own bathroom and even had breakfast included for 25 so we really couldn’t argue. After taking a minute to just sit we headed out into Zywiec to have a brief look at the caslte and main square, but more importantly to find food! We ended up in Zywiec brewery krajcar restaurant. In there we ate from the ‘for the hungry’ menu and they weren’t kidding! I tried the local dish of pork knuckle, roast potatoes and fried cabbage and it was delicious! Dave had the ribs which were also incredible and of course we had to have a couple of their beers, when they brew them there! Very full we stumbled half an hour back to the hostel and had a very needed sleep.
The next morning we woke up to rain, and unfortunately the forecast had changed to being rainy all day so we couldn’t even wait it out. We got our free breakfast from the restaurant of scrambled eggs with pork, onions and chives-surprisingly good and obviously with a whole loaf of bread which helped fill us up for the upcoming drive. It was only a couple of hours but the weather made the drive atrocious, as the floor became slick. The first part of the drive also took us up higher and higher through the hills- where there was suddenly snow again on either side of the road. It was a nerve wracking ride but we made it to Krakow a couple of hours later, having not stopped at all. We were very grateful to arrive at our modern, warm airbnb apartment! Now to explore Krakow and for a couple of days off of the bike.
Thanks
Alex
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