Blogs from South Bohemian Region, Czech Republic, Europe - page 3

Geo: 48.9745, 14.47460800hrs: Breakfast as usual consists of rather good chipolata sausages (Czech sausage "Technology" is second only to German and as we are close to the border, the pre-requisite skill sets have rubbed off)........ fried egg and salami.We then head for the Hotel carpark which is situated on the first and second floors above the Reception. We press the small "HOOTER" button which summons "Mikey" the slightly bandy concierge. The 1920's car lift arrives......a heavy metal door opens and we slow rise............all very "Tracey Island"........I carefully drive "Neddy" into the same lift and we descend to the street level below and after a quick "tweak" of "Margeret/Svetlana" the Sat Nav we head due South in the general direction of The Austrian Border.In CZ it is law to drive with the main he... read more

Geo: 48.9744, 14.4747"Don't underestimate Europe".....! These words were said in wisdom by Cathy back in 1994 after my first ever week in New Zealand...........Europe......bah!.... full of oikes and really boring....I piped back in reply. "The scenery is rubbish as well .......far better to sit on a plane for 24 hours".....I retorted. She was right and distance is not always proportional to enjoyment!TIME CHECK: 0600hrs. After a busy night of dumpling and sausage fuelled dreams I am up and grinding coffee beans..........Down below in the Square (which claims to be the 2nd largest in Europe), I spot brightly dressed Oriental Tourists in pork pie hats snapping each other and naturally themselves on their Samsung phones.......they contort into silly postures in front of the fountain and wave at each other taking photos of.........guess what........each other... read more

We had a rough go of it getting across the loosely defined border between Moravia and Bohemia, the two ancient kingdoms that, along with Silesia in the northeast, make up the Czech Republic. Rain showers came and went, and the Greenway goes through some steep dirt trails. We have biked for the last ten days, coming from Bratislava, Slovakia, briefly though Austria and back into the Czech Republic, interspersing some hard hauls through the mountains with delightful days on flat greenway trails and some very short days. We are now in Cesky Krumlov where we will take a much needed day of rest. We spent last night outside the town of Nove Hrady in a pension in the woods at a partially restored area that had been built as a spa by a countess in the ... read more

Sunday 18th May 2014 Rags has already changed his mind a couple of times about continuing this ride, he is probably worrying too much about Judy. He has realised that tiredness has caught up with him and that a 2 day break will do him a lot of good. We arrived at the Staroměstský Penzion, which was only a short distance from where we were and within 50m of the restaurant we had dinner at last night, at about 0930. We knew we were much too early to book in but we were welcomed in, our luggage was stored, and the bikes were placed in a corner of the lovely dining room as they “would get wet outside”. What a lovely welcome. We were also invited to sit down and have breakfast, but even though what ... read more

Took a shuttle bus (more like a van) to Česky Krumlov. Had an embarrassing moment at the petrol station when I got stuck in the toilet (somehow I'm not surprised, it's such a typical thing for me to do). The whole town is UNESCO protected and when we arrived, I realised why. It's such a small town, but it's beauty makes up for the lack of things to do. There was the Marian Plague Column in the town square, with the Church of St. Vitus just slightly off the square. We walked up to the castle but decided to leave that for tomorrow. We then made our way to Hotel Ruže where there was a very nice view of the town. We explored the main part of the town within two hours and sat in a ... read more