Day 4

We got up in the morning with great difficulty and Honza Kopka was still here, so we walked him out of the barn. He is on vacation and nobody is chasing him except us, so his impaired efficiency of movement on CP is visible. He didn't know exactly which way to go through the Jeseníky Mountains, but in the end he seemed to have coped quite well and now he has to go through the Poodří section towards the Beskydy Mountains. There it's all cycling trail and we already know that we have no chance to catch him at the next CP in Rožnov, because he will be there a day earlier. But Honza doesn't mind that at all and is counting on it.

The rest of the starting field had been on the move since earlier in the morning. In the Orlické Mountains the girls started at 6 am. Lenka with Vilma had a punk party and the climb up the ridge was certainly not free. Moreover, refilling water in the Orlice Mountains is quite a difficult feat and Vilma texted, “No refreshments in Orlice today after the trail. Only in Ceske Petrovice and Vietnamese. Lenka went the whole thing without water. She is unreal.” It is true that her endurance and speed is admirable. But still Vilma. The girls walked in close contact all day until they ended up together again under the same roof in Králíky. Vilma had run through her dog on the way. And so she had to leave him in Králíky and carry it all on her back.

Tomas Lovas was leaving the CP in Maršov around 8 am and he had a difficult task: to bring his huge backpack by 9 am on Thursday. He did this task perfectly and for what he is carrying he is treading tirelessly, persistently and managed to climb the ridge of the Orlické Mountains, where he is probably going to bivouac somewhere near Masarycka. I don't know about the Orlické, but it is snowing pretty heavily here.

Jirka Nedas he took advantage of the CP lull and slept well, and at three in the morning he set off into the dark night. He was looking good for CP. He's not going anywhere, but he's keeping his pace because he knows it's not around the corner yet. We don't have much or any news from him, we just know that he made it to Velka Deštna, everyone's favourite bivouac spot, and that's where he stuck it out.

Tomas Brabec has a policy of not sleeping inside or lingering too long at CP. So that he doesn't start to not want to go any further. He started from CP in Maršov in the afternoon and made it all the way to the border with Poland before Náchod, where there is a petrol station by the road underpass. There he bivouacked and in the morning he sent us this - “ORLEN is not an EAGLE! I had two mega hotdogs and slept all night in the woods behind the gas station. I think I slept in Bohemia, but I vomited in Poland. I woke up in the morning with a fever and drained like a fly. The march was horrible! My buddy booked me accommodation on the way, so I'm trying to crawl there to get back into the swing of things. I couldn't go on in this condition. Moral, but good.” Judging by the movement of the dot on the screen, he did indeed crawl, but eventually managed to make it to his accommodation. He immediately sent us very humorous photos and a text message, “Well I'm not going to bullshit.... such a little boarding house, it's very cool. I'm getting paralytics and tomorrow I'll be good.” Let's hope so.

Petr Horsák left at the normal human hour from Náchod and sent us this in the evening: “Today was difficult. The whole of Orlice without a pub and a queue at Masarycka that I would stand there even now. I finally ran down to Mladkov on some old ski slope. I was losing my way in the navigation. But otherwise it was a beautiful day.” He then went on to write that he had a good shit on the ice, but he was in one piece.

Honza Gotwald he was leaving his Eagle bivouac at 2:00 in the morning. He had a clearly given goal - to get to the destination as soon as possible. And he succeeded. Gustav and Tomas were probably pushing him from behind. He topped up his sugar level at the gas station in Králíky and set off towards the visually inconspicuous, but physically and mentally quite demanding Králický Sněžník. It tested him thoroughly, but he didn't let it break him and when he saw that he didn't have to rush so much, he could stop at the hut on Návrší to have a drink with his wife, who came there to support him for the final stretch. Although on the map it looks like it's a really short distance, it's a very long way and it's all uphill. So it still takes almost 4 hours to get there. But he handled it brilliantly and arrived at about 5:15pm as the winner of the 300km ski route. Last year Honza won 150 km and now he added 300 km. And I ask, will it continue like this? Anyway, a huge hat off to you for such a performance and congratulations.

Gustav Subklev a Tomas Kadlas they slept in the Orlické Mountains not far from each other, which they didn't know. During the morning they met and from then on they stayed together. At least the journey went faster. Králičák also gave them a good test, so when they sat in the pub on the hill they didn't want to go out and would have preferred to stay there. But fortunately the magnet of the goal was stronger. The end still offers pitfalls for skiers - pebbles in the worst places. Moreover, it started to snow a lot, so the fresh snow covered all the rocks that could be seen. So they were enjoying going fast downhill and suddenly Tomas was lying on the ground without warning. From then on they both took off their skis and reached the finish on foot. They both had their crises. During the day, Tomáš just wanted to sit on the logs to rest for a while, and suddenly found that he had been sleeping in total unconsciousness for half an hour. Huge congratulations and respect to the boys for their collection of experiences, which were not free at all, and for sharing second place.

It is still raining outside and we are waiting for the arrival of the team Polička is a golden ship. But more about that in the next diary, because fatigue is also falling on us and these night-morning hours of wakefulness sometimes manifest themselves in sharpness. So let's keep our fingers crossed.