Day 5 (189 km / 117,4 miles)
At this day, reveling and driving with watching landscapes will weigh down visiting castles. There are only three castles in the plan (two are to visit, one - Kezmarok is to a quick view).
But landscapes and driving our small wonders will reward us it ! We will drive many kilometers on the borders of famous Slovensky Raj National Park, Muranska Planina National Park, and on the front of us there will be stunning view on Tatra mountains.
Moreover this will be the longest distance driven on one day .
Shortly after breakfast, we start our trip north. In practice we will move from Hungarian border to Polish border .
We leave Filakov with road no. 71, and in the Lucenec we turn to road no. 50. Directly before village Rimavska Sobota, we turn on road no. 531. We drive this road and stop at Muran, where we visit a beautiful castle on the hill. After 14 km (8,7 miles) in Cervena Skala we enter the 66 and then after 11 km (6,8 miles) we turn on road no. 67. We pass the city of Poprad, and stop for a while to see a castle in Kezmarok. After 7 km (4,4 miles) of driving 67, we turn to road no. 77. There is written on my map, that this road has outstanding sightseeing values! Probably the reason is a view of Tatra mountains, that will stretch on our front left for about 26 km (16 miles). Then we arrive in Stara Lubovna, where is one of the most beautiful castles in Slovakia. After visiting it, we will have to find a place to stay and sleep.
Day 6 (154,4 km / 96 miles)
This day, we will visit four castles. Moreover we will pass near one of the biggest castles in Europe, Spissky Castle. We start this day driving road no.68 to Plavec, where we will visit first castle. Next after 35 km (21,8 miles) we stop and visit Saris castle. From Saris, we go to Presov, and there we direct on road no. E371 or R4 . After 5 km (3,1 miles) we stop at Kapusany village, where we go to the castle with the same name Kapusany.
After this visit, we go back to Presov, and next we go by road no.18 to Spisskie Podhradie. While driving 18, we will see the stunning view of Spissky castle, and there we MUST stop to make photos with our small beauties in the foreground and Spissky castle in the background In Spisskie Podhradie, we turn on road no. 547, and after 9 km (5,6 miles) we turn right and enter road no.536. After driving 11 km (6,8 miles) we reach Markusovce village with small castle. That will be last castle on this day. We will sleep probably in one of many campings near Spissky castle, or National Park Slovensky Raj.
Day 7 (185,3 km / 115,14 miles)
This day is a pearl in our trip. We will visit the greatest castle in Slovakia, and one of the biggest in whole Europe ! Spissky Castle
After breakfast, we can visit also Sans-Souci chapel on one of the hills near castle, or see Spiska Kapitula old churches and town centre. After visiting Spissky castle, we will rove in the area to make some photos of our cars etc…
Next we will go to see Zborov castle on our way to Barwinek. To make that, we leave Spisskie Podhradie by road no. 18. In Presov we enter road no. 545. We can stop at Bardejov, beautiful XIV cent. city with old city, marvelous church and remaining of town walls.
We leave Bardejov on road no. 77, and stop near Zborov castle. That will be the last castle in our trip. After that, we go by 77 to Svidnik and 73 to Barwinek, and we are in Poland, where our trip ends.
As I mentioned, that will be all 1300 km (808 miles), but everybody have to add to petrol calculations a distance of getting from home to Barwinek in Poland.
When we will know who will join the trip, we will try to make a plan of meeting before Barwinek. Slovakia is a hilly country, so please include it in your calculations.
My friend Mack, suggested what to take to be safe
It will help in repairs, and we wont lose much time if anything will fail.
For car:
- fuel pump
- spanner set, including rocket spanner(not from markets!)
- spark plugs set + cables
- fuel filter + fuel cable
- 2 spare wheels (or 1ne wheel and one tire)
- oil (2 or 3 l)
- radiator liqiud (5 l)
- high temperature resistant silicon (so called red silicon)
- band clips (two per each type of ending of hose-pipes in engine)
- hose-pipes (those gum-cables from engine)
- isolation tape
- plastic straps
- 2 wedges
- elevator
- wheels spanner
- 2 sets of bulbs
- hauling line
- v-belts (those on rolls in the front of the engine)
Adds:
- reflection vest
- two safety triangles
- first aid kit
- old clothes to repair car
- wiper liquid
- map with route of our trip
- cell-phone with charger
It would be good if everybody had everything from the list above.
In 2006, Slovakia enacted a law about that what cat must have, so the list belov is necessarry !
- spare fuzes set that are used in the car
- spare bulbs set
- elevator
- wheels spanner
- hauling line
- spare wheel
- safety triangle
- reflection vest
- first aid kit
According to the act of 1.11.2006 (all this below are only extracts from the act, so in practice it is propably checked not so precisely), police will check:
- brakes
- exhaust pipe
- validity of technical test
- steering system
- lights and indicators
- tires order
- undercarriage
PRICES ON SLOVAKIA:
To drive on I class roads, we have to buy vignette, that cost for cars below 3,5T = 150.- Sk
Fuel:
- petrol 95 = 37,92,- Sk
- petrol 98 = 39,20,- Sk
- diesel = 36,63,- Sk
- LPG = 21,55,- Sk
Food:
* bread = 19,- Sk
* twirl = 2,- Sk
* butter = 14,- Sk
* milk = 21,- Sk
* yoghurt = 9 - 14,- Sk
* chocolate = 15 - 35,- Sk
* fruits = 20 - 30,- Sk
There is an small low-quality poster of the trip attached.
I'd like to make a annual event called "Renault 4 Castle Tour", that will visit castles of each country or region of Europe in future, so I will post there photo-ralation of 2007 Castle Tour trip to invite more people to 2008 edition :P
Such tour would be an exciting adventure
There is some time to August, so if someone is interested in joining the trip, there won't be any problem
Best regards,
Gregory
