Plan A, the ride it all the way and all the way back plan, has been changed a little bit.
Originally the idea was to stay in the YH at Hagen and the second in Königstein not far from the German/Czech border. This would mean a longer first day and then a shorter second and then depending on where the rally is, a longer third day on the road.
Looking on the map and the spacings out I have decided to change the first overnight to one a little nearer the Channel. I'll keep the Hotel Reif one in Königstein and then slip a third overnight in Prague.
I looked at the Hotel Extol where I have stayed three or four times since 1992. It was a youth hostel then and the choices of rooms went from twins to eight berth dorms. It became a hotel and Claire and I stayed there in 2011. It was still quite reasonable and we could park the car in the yard at the back. That's where we had parked the bikes on previous trips. The Extol is now a "wellness" hotel and a room there, for one night, on booking.com is £132! Not for me!
I had a look for something more in my price range and have booked into the Plus Hotel at £29, also in Holešovice (Praha 7). This is open to change over the next ten months. There is off-road parking here although it costs €5 a night. Maybe safer than on the street.
To accommodate the Prague overnight stop it means moving the other two a day earlier each. This was easy enough to do on booking.com. It's all done online. I need to keep Tripit updated.
Of course, should the holier grail of the Autozug to Vienna, aka Plus B, come off then I'll opt for that! Less riding on a 45 year old bike!
