Cycling Slovakia 🥬 Misty Forests, Village Traditions & a Wild Island Camp | Bike Touring Vlog

Day 254. 75km (92,493kms 8yrs)

After a rainy day of house sitting, laundry, and life-admin and work catchup I was ready to ride. First though Michael along with two of his daughters took me to the village’s ’cabbage shop’. Initially unconvinced of the need to visit I came to understand it’s not just a greengrocer’s but a plant where the cabbage is preserved and sold and therefor a vital cultural part of a Slovakian village. I left with a sizeable portion of local preserved cabbage and a valuable insight into Slovakian village life.

It was misty and cold when I set off gently down the road towards Trenčín. The pretty town square of Bytča caused me to stop to admire and in checking the map spot that there was a small castle and palace to check out too.

By now the mist had mostly cleared and I could enjoy the fading beauty of the Slovakian forests from yet another purpose-built bike road, today beside the Váh river and adjacent canal. Apart from an annoyingly bumpy stretch of old rocky bitumen it was beautifully smooth riding.

Turning off the bike road and crossing a bridge onto an island in the river I arrived at a wild camp recommended in IOverlander. It was a weekend and so despite the damp conditions 4x4s were zooming about at the southern end. I found a spot amongst the trees sheltered from the noise just as the unforecasted rain began, and was comfy in my tent as the vehicles began filing back to the bridge to leave me in peace, the only sound now the rain on my tent.

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So here you go. Nobody. [Music] [Applause] [Music] It falls down and then it is uh there is a conveyor going in. It smells awesome and it brings the cabbage inside. Michael and Theresa and Greta have brought me to the local cabbage shop which is a traditional uh processing plant here in Slovakia. Conserved veggies as you see here in this small Okay. Yeah. Got onions, cauliflower, girkins. That’s a mixture. come stuffed with cabbage, chilies, sweet corn. This is where the cabbage is fermenting right now here and also in the small ones there. Okay. Fermented cabbage water. Yes. But it’s not alcoholic. It’s just not just the juice. Exactly. But very very sour. It’s cabbage and beetroot, onions, gerkins, cauliflower. All right, I’ve come away with my bucket of sour cabbage. That was a wonderful experience. Not only did I get to sit out a very rainy day yesterday, but it was so cool to hang out with the family this morning and go and see the cabbage shop. And now I’m going to put my gloves on cuz it’s blooming freezing. All right. My only complaint about these Tesco is they don’t have a bench to sit on like the ones in England. So, I’m spotting here for my almost some kind of Christmy roll, chocolate roll, a coconut, raspberry jam, and I think bit of cream cheese filling. It’s been nice and smooth for a while, but this part of the bike lane is pretty tiresome and it’s into a headwind, which is annoying. I’m tired and cold and uncomfy and it’s still 13 km to the spot um which I plan to camp. It’s a place on I Overlander. Although I’m sure I can find somewhere before then if I want to. But I should crack on and stop my winding. It’s not raining so that’s nice. campfire. There might be some people camping here tonight. The river is quite high and it did rain a lot yesterday, so I guess not. Oh, I think it’s just started to rain. So, the thing is it’s all tracks along here and they’re zooming around in four drive, so don’t want to get run over in my sleep. But this, I think, is uh safe enough away from the track. Uh you just can see it from the um campfire over there. There goes one of the cars past now. So, it’s not very well hidden this spot, but I shouldn’t get run over So, my last night in Slovakia is a rainy one, but I have some Slovakian wine, some Slovakian cheese, and some Slovakian cabbage to go with my Slovakian rain. Cheers to Slovakia. Love it.