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Enroute
We constantly checked the maps and still got lost! Judy didn't sleep well last night, as she is little bit worried about getting back on the bike since her fall. The hand is still swollen but is going down. Because of that she was downstairs working in the dining room of the penzion just after 0500. Rags dozed for a while but he too got up early and started preparing for the day's ride. Kevin had written and suggested that we stop at Tucapy, about 25kms away, as they had some penzions either side of it. This way Judy wouldn't be under any pressure to ride a long distance and it would renew her confidence.
After another yummy breakfast (love that muesli slice) we were off. The day was perfect, sun shining and no wind. Just outside of the town boundaries we hit the first of the many long hills that we had been warned would sap our energy as they had the others. No problem, the ebikes just made short work of them, although we still had to work hard so to conserve the batteries for later in the day. Both of us were feeling that if all went well we
Toucapy
Morning tea here. We felt we had to go on! would continue on the next 27kms to Jindrichuv Hradech as the others had done.
At the first town 5kms from the city, Lom, we knew we had to turn left towards Plana. Because we didn't read our map instruction properly we didn't turn sharply enough and continued down the road for about 5kms before realising our error. This didn't worry us too much as we could see from the map that it would bring us out further down the original route, on a quieter road and a little shorter distance. Unfortunately, we again didn't read the map correctly and turned left too early, bringing us back to almost where the detour had started!
We met a couple of New Zealanders at the next town, they were doing it a little easier than us as they have their gear taken to each town, their hotels are booked for them, and they train part of the way. We nattered for a while, enjoying the fact that we could speak (in English) to someone other than each other.
We will possibly catch up with them further down the trail.
We stopped at a little town for morning tea, the
thermos having been filled by our landlady this morning, the supermarket giving Judy her 'comfort stop'. We both felt relaxed and were enjoying the cycle through the fields with their crops of canola or potatoes. We started going on about the fresh country air, but the smell of the fertiliser and cow manure being used on the crops soon put paid to that! Some sections however, were on smooth bitumen roads with the greenery of the trees and vegetation around you being almost overwhelming.
Tucapy barely got a look in, we both agreed to keep going so we made a stop at Cervena Lhota where there was a chateau or castle. We spent some time looking around here, the Renaissance style building being well restored and picturesque in its setting on a small island in a lake. It was a popular spot with several local tourists wandering around the picturesque lake. Here we got re-acquainted with the couple from NZ, Jenny and Glen. When they went to the restaurant there for lunch, we had our fresh buns with a tin of duck pate we had brought from France, and our coffee. We may meet them again later as they
Open spaces
Quiet road with great views gave us the name of the hotel they are staying at.
Rags swapped the batteries between the two bikes, conserving his earlier for this reason. As it was, both bikes had power left when we finally got to our destination. The last hills, although not steep, seemed to go on for ever, but eventually we entered the main square of Jindrichuv Hradec at about 1430, very proud we had made it this far.
One hotel on the square only had 'tourist' rooms (no facilities) left at 600 czk, so Rags checked the Concertino Hotel where the NZ couple were staying. The 2250czk put him off completely! Judy went out searching and came back having found one for 1200czk, with most pleasant staff who allowed us to park the bikes in the back beer garden .
The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring the town before our celebratory drink. Then some work and preparation for tomorrow before a shower and dinner downstairs. The food was a little different to what we have been having, Judy having spinach and cheese wrapped in eggplant, Rags a peppered pork steak, both with roast potato and beans. Very tasty.
Then
Stork Nest
We saw these near the Jindrichuv Hradec castle when we went out before breakfast. up to our room, some work and typing done, before two very tired people hit the sack!
Wednesday 21st May 2014 A good night's sleep was had by us both and we were out walking down to the palace which we hadn't seen yesterday before 0800. On the way we saw the two resident storks on the old smoke stack and after taking numerous photos reached the palace. This wasn't open so we walked around it and then crossed the lake so that we could see it from the other side. The photos didn't do it justice, with the calm water reflecting the scenery but even so, we are very happy with the shots.
After a delayed breakfast at the penzion we packed our bikes and set off for Nova Bystrice, only 24kms away, we intending to find a nice place there with wifi so that Judy can download the due assignments and do some working while we rest.
When we got there we went to Information (pub had no wifi) and they sent us to a lovely looking place right on edge of town. Judy went in to negotiate while Rags
guarded the ebikes but they had little English so were slow to give information, not certain of Net, and then quoted a price of 1500 czk even though their brochure said 1400. This wasn't good enough, so we were on our way. No other penzions seemed to be around so the decision was made to continue.
We stopped at one of the round shelters set up for bikes/hikers in the forest area and enjoyed our thermos of coffee and a bite to eat. The weather has been kind to us with blue skies and no wind up to now.
At a deserted church near Klaster we stopped for a rest, a kind lady nearby refilled Rags' water bottle, as he had drunk more than usual due to the higher temperatures. About 5kms further down the quiet road we came to an old castle at Landstein. The lady at the ticket office refused to let us in with our bikes but relented when we started to walk away. No way were they going to be left unsupervised with all our gear aboard! Interesting ruin which dated from the 13th century. After a fire in 1771 it fell into disrepair
but the external shell has now been preserved and much done to make it accessible. It had many flights of stairs which led to the top of the tower where we could see for miles on each side.
Lunch was had at a “Bike Bar”, just a shelter where you can stop and sit down, just like the previous shelter. They may be manned during peak season but nobody was to be seen. Local rolls and a tin of tuna washed down with more coffee had us ready for the final 15kms or so to our destination. Once again Rags swapped the bike batteries between the bikes although both of us have been using them more than we usually do as we thought it was going to be a short day.
About 10kms out, Rags no longer had any assistance from the motor and with some long hills ahead he was happy to reach the square in Slavonice. We checked out the two hotels, neither impressed us much so Rags went to the Information office. Here the young lady, on being told what we wanted, closed the office and took him across the road to a jeweler's shop.
The lady there couldn't speak any English but her son, about 12 years old had some and we managed to converse. Upstairs were some rooms and Rags was gobsmacked by the one she showed him. A small kitchen with bathroom off it opened into the main room with classy wooden furniture and a sitting area with velvet covering. With a discount given for 2 nights, we took it!
Dinner was at the Arcada Hotel where Kev and Jan had stayed. We ordered fried cheese, chicken on potato pancake, kraut and sausage on potato pancake plus a salad of tomato, capsicum and cucumber. The serves were large and with our .5 litre cider and beer, we were unable to finish it all, although we did do a good effort!
Back to our room where we looked at the photos, did the blog and all the usual.
Thursday 22nd May 2014 The light woke us at 0600 as there are no thick curtains on the windows. We just lay back for half an hour or so waking up and dozing again as we weren't leaving today. We believed that breakfast was at the cafe
Slavonice
Renaissance style buildings date back to the 14-16th century when the town was very wealthy owing to the fact that it was on the trade route from Vienna to Prague. across the road at 0900 so after getting dressed we walked around the town for half an hour or so. We found we had misunderstood about breakfast as we were charged for it. Not a great loss as meals very cheap here.
Slavonice has a varied history since starting in the 12th century as a link between Prague and Vienna, taken over by the Germans in the 13th century (the Austrian border is only 5 kms away today), became an important trading town and then in textiles through to the 15th century. It became very wealthy and ownership changed regularly due to wars. By the early 1800s it was a poor town on the fringe of trade routes. In the late 19th century the textile industry was rebuilt but civil wars and then WW2 saw it in decline.
Not until the early 1960s was its historical significance recognised with its buildings and the cultural life of the people and development began for the tourist industry.
Many of the buildings are covered in etchings called sgraffito plasters, these depicting scenes and telling local and biblical stories. These, plus the cellar vaults many buildings have are now beginning to
Slavonice - main square
Many of the buildings had sgraffito plasters on the walls be exploited as tourist attractions. This was confirmed by the groups of bus tourists we saw a couple of times during the day.
We noticed that in the main square, and in fact where we are staying, the facades have been retained but the interiors have been rebuilt and modernised into comfortable residences. Work is still ongoing and we would expect that in time to come, and in fact later in the summer months, prices would begin to rise. At present not all the penzions are operating, and certainly not full during the week.
Mountain biking is very popular with trails of all levels of difficulty existing, tourists from nearby Austria and from other Czech towns appear to come here over weekends as our lady showed us her booking form which informed us that her rooms were booked out for the weekend.
After a lunch of a liver schnitzel with fries and the required (by Rags) dark beer, we noticed that there was a difference in the prices depending on what language they were written. As there was no English menu we guessed from the Czech one, and compared prices with the German language menu. There seemed
Slavonice
The sgraffito on these buildings is the second oldest in all of the Czech Republic. to be a difference. We did have trouble working out what to have and chose our meal based on what we saw someone else having. Communication based on pointing and showing two fingers which translated to "we'll have two of those!"
Judy continued marking assignments all afternoon, making good progress. She had been concerned she would struggle to get the final marking for her unit complete but it seems not! Rags spent the afternoon planning ahead for the next few days and getting the photos and blog ready for a future upload.
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Jan
non-member comment
Congrats
Love the photos of cycling through the forest - it looks so peaceful. Beautiful photos of reflections in the water. Glad your hand is improing, Jude. That's an "ouch" from me. Hmmm- liver schnitzel. Lamb's fry re-badged? Guaranteed to have Brett running very fast in the other direction but I'd have joined you. Well done on the progress. Sounds exhausting but really awesome. XX