Dilove Exit to Khust

Selected a short run, as Khust has a castle. In ruins, but sounded interesting. And whilst I have seen many a church, no castles seen in Ukraiina.

Had an espresso and some water. A chat with the builders (there are some utility rooms being added in the car-park), and safely made it down the gravel&sand slope, past the lumpy sidewalk, and onto the road.

All went well. Sunny day. No rain yesterday. And not a cloud in the sky today.
The road rated 3rd and 4th gears, so much joy there.

At lunch-time, found myself in Tyachiv. Perfect. Switched off TomTom and found my way to the centre…..

The only parking spot was in front of a place selling cakes and coffee. hahahaha

And I had already swallowed the rose-water macaron 😉
WARNING: never go to PIERRE HERME in Paris for macarons. That will ruin your life, unless you can get a ready supply…….no-one has come close. Including these chaps. But the other, was nice puff pastry filled with cream 🙂

Less than 30km to go, and just 12:30pm.

Rode into Khust, and filled up.
Only 4litres. Below 100kph is easy to get 4litres/100km out of the bike.

Saw the sign for the castle, and thought, why not. Room will not be ready for an hour.

TomTom as usual, knows nothing, so I switched it off, and followed the road. Found the hill, and rode up. Got to this spot……

and decided to walk the rest.
Falling over will do that. The path is steeper then it looks. 20-45degrees. And slippery. The bike started sliding backwards, tire spinning, then fell over on the left side. Gently. Just my pride injured. Ouch.
Took the backpack and RHS pannier off. Picked up the bike and gingerly came back down and parked the bike. Put everything back on, and strode off. After all, I must be nearly there.

Walked up the path, and around a bit, and quickly found a very steep trail going straight up to the castle. Followed that up, till the slope became REALLY steep, and followed the cross-trail, around the hill.

Fallen trees on the cross-trail, and what looked like trails going up, persuaded me to take the next one up. hahahahahaha
It was a trap. What turned out to be half-way up, showed the trail to be the result of fallen and cut trees.
Still, remembering the famous phrase from Mastermind, “I’ve started so I’ll finish”, I carried on.

Luckily I was carrying my knee-armour. Yes. That had come off at the start of the first very steep trail. Basically tourniquets for the calf.
These were quite handy as a form of glove, for knocking the stinging nettles away. If the old wives-tale of curing rheumatism is true, I will never suffer in my hands or head.

Maybe I should have mentioned, that the slope was even steeper now, and covered in stinging nettles, brambles, and a variety of saplings, trees and bushes. But, I’ve started, so …… you know the rest.

The last 20ft were pretty much vertical, and I had to tunnel through the nettles, brambles, etc….. Hands and knees stuff.

This got me to a little path around the wall. I followed that around. It wasn’t easy! Then found a part of the wall that I could scale.

I climbed over and lay down for a bit. The ladies who were trimming the weeds inside the castle where impressed!
I was thinking, nice to know I am just as daft as ever 🙂 hahahahahahahaha

Stood up and took this shot…….

Then climbed up into the keep, and took this shot……

And finally, on the way out, through the normal entrance, took this shot……

Walked back down.
Found myself in the original car-park that I had ridden through.
Yup.
If I had gone left instead of right, I could have ridden up to the castle. hahahahaha.
Well. Maybe. The trail was composed of small boulders hammered into the ground to create a road surface. Part way up, the surface had deteriorated, and was much steeper. So maybe not.
And hey! No adventure, wot!!!

There was a park nearby, so I bought some water and re-hydrated. Took another bottle up with me, and climbed the hill back to where I had parked the bike.
Decided it was time for a picnic by the bike. I do carry my camp chair everywhere. And I had a poppy-seed cake.

Cleaned my knee-armour and clothing of the various grasses and seeds.
Brushed my jeans and boots, to a somewhat respectable state.
And feeling much better, rode back down.

Into town and found the hotel.
Unpacked.
TLC for the bike.
Showered and dressed.
Supper-time……..

….with two bottles of water and an espresso.

It’s 20:30 and I feel like going to bed.
Must be wrecked 🙂
Not surprising, it was at least a 100metres, or a 30-storey building.
Haven’t bashed my way through undergrowth since……well let’s just say a very long time. haha
Am going to focus on the health benefits of the stinging nettles.

G’nite all.

PS: This contour map is what I should have checked out first. I came in from the NW area and headed SW. You can see the white road. hahaha. But if I had planned this, then there would be no adventure. And no story 😉 After all, the Heart&Stoke Foundation is busily telling us that our last 10 years will be spent in ill-health. We will all need stories to help us through those times! hahahahaha Can’t wait……you would have thought they could have said “Eat Haagen Daz and skip the last nasty 10yrs”….hahahaha

PPS: The Canadian Heart&Stroke Foundation used to rank Haagen Daz ice-cream as the absolute worst thing to eat. Hmmmmm