Jul 29 – Travel from Kulmbach to Hoyerswerda

The Team had a well earned sleep-in on Monday until around 8:00am except for David and Don who in spite of staying up till near midnight was up again at 6:30 having breakfast at the beautiful Hotel Gondel.
The Hotel was vintage 1800’s and had been in the hands of the current family for over 100 years. Built mostly of wood the building was very well maintained although the absence of air conditioning made the nights somewhat challenging with night time temps of around eighty degrees.
It was great to actually enjoy one breakfast at he hotel which we had missed the other two days here as we left for the field an hour before it was open. The staff were very friendly and the whole experience was made more enjoyable because of the authentic local grown eggs, sausage and local breads etc.
We spent an hour at the Kulmbach Hardware store purchasing supplies for the week including amongst other things a hammer, stakes, chairs and some silicone spray. We had to con the staff into cutting rebar to length and allowing us to find a suitable manhole we could bend hooks on the top with. With the shopping out of the way we spent a couple of hours sampling the wares at the local Kulmbacher Bierfest.
The beer was awesome and the food fabulous but in no time we had to hit the road for Nardt.
The drive was once again very interesting as we alternated between the Autobahn travelling at up to 100mph down to very narrow country roads bordered by forests or fields. We were unlucky at one point to discover the road closed for roadworks and we had to back track for our GPS to grab a new route. The countryside of Germany is truly beautiful though and the drive was well worth the effort.
The new Hotel in Hoyerswerda though once again without air-conditioning has a fantastic internet connection allowing me to finally get up to date with my reporting. I look forward to letting you all know how the teams practice goes now through the week with a daily set of photos and story of our efforts.
Have a great night.
Gordon