Sobeslav to Sedlec-Prcice - June 30

June 30

When we were searching for accommodation in the rain the previous evening we had spotted a bike shop. Rod suspected that his chain and cassette were probably worn out, so after breakfast at Pension Rosa he headed down there. The bike shop had suitable parts and was able to fit them pretty well straight away.
With a late start and after our 90km day yesterday we decided to head for Sedlec-Prcice, about 50km away.

We rejoined the Greenways bike route and followed it into Tabor for coffee, cake and a look around the old central part of the city, which is very nice.



Leaving Tabor we decided not to follow the bike route initially, and followed what looked on the map to be a fairly straight secondary road, rejoining the Greenways route for the last 10km to Sedlec-Prcice.
We climbed a lot of hills today, some of them quite solid climbs.
Finding accommodation in Sedlec-Prcice took a while. There seemed to be very little choice, and we ended up in extremely pokey little rooms in a somewhat overpriced Pension Dalmo.
After dinner Trace and I went for a stroll around the quiet little town. We followed a little brook for a while and in the dim light of dusk spotted an otter crossing the stream and going into its home in the bank.
Above the stream, on the edge of town was a small lake.
Tomorrow we reach Prague, where we have booked accommodation at Hostel U Melounu.

Cesky Krumlov to Sobeslav - June 29

June 29

Our host at the Pension Gardena was a keen cyclist and had given us some advice on how to head north towards Prague. He suggested we skip Ceske Budejovice and follow a route further west through Holasovice and Hluboka.
On yet another grey day with rain forecast we set off. We have a good detailed road map of this part of the Czech Republic, so between that and TomTom navigation was pretty straightforward.
We rode along quiet country roads through beautiful rolling countryside (ie no flat bits!). There was rain around, and we rode on wet roads but luckily escaped being rained on.

Another grey day - but beautiful countryside.

We stopped for a coffee at Kremze. Rod had been having trouble with his rear brakes and decided to head for Ceske Budejovice to find a bike shop, then meet us at Hluboka.

Leaving Kremze.

Holasovice.

We stopped briefly at Holasovice and continued on our way. The beuatiful gently rolling countryside continued for some time, with one section of the road lined on both sides with silver birch trees.

Towards Hluboka we entered flatter terrain dotted with lakes, all of them full to overflowing. At one point we had to ride through a section of road covered with water. We made it through with dry shoes.

Flooded road.

Arriving at Hluboka, a very pretty town, we stopped for a picnic lunch. Rod arrived not much later. Since it was only about 2pm and we decided to press on a bit further, hoping to find accommodation near Zalsi.

The church at Hluboka.

From Hluboka we were back on the Greenways cycle route, which also coincides with the Eurovelo Route 7 at this point.

The afternoon's ride took us through quite a bit of forest, very beautiful areas but variable road conditions, in places quite rough, muddy and wet.

We arrived at Zalsi and discovered that there is no accommodation there at all. After a quick check of the map we decided to head for Sobeslav, a much larger town only 12km away and not far off our route.
We had gone about one kilometre when disaster struck. When I am riding I have a small bag that sits on the top bar of my bike in which I keep my camera and my phone/gps. I had opened the cover to have a look at the GPS to make sure we were on the right track. We crossed a bridge over a small creek. The bike hit a small bump in the road, the camera launched out of the bag, bounced off the road and fell over the side of the bridge.
This was a very smelly, muddy, weed-infested creek and my camera, with about 1800 photos in it, was nowhere to be seen. Rod and Tracey helped me search the area until we were fairly sure it had to be in the water. I put my thongs on and waded in to the stinky mud. After only about a minute searching I spotted a square silver thing just under the water and pulled out my very wet camera.
This was a really freak accident. The only time in more than 2000km of riding that the camera jumped out of the bag I happened to be doing a gentle left hand curve over a bridge, and the camera landed in the water which was only about three metres wide.
I expected the camera to be well and truly dead, but had hopes that the photos on the card would be ok.
We rode on to Sobeslav with steady rain falling by the time we found accomodation, quite good spacious rooms at Pension Rosa, with a restaurant downstairs. One of the waitresses spoke some English and we had a very good meal. I tried my memory card in Rod's camera and it looked like the photos were ok. I have been very happy with the Fuji F200EXR, and planned to find the same model as soon as we got to Prague.

Ceske Krumlov June 26-28

They could have set Harry Potter in this fantastical maze of medieaval alleys, squares and streets. The town comes complete with rushing streams and and the gurgle of water is an ever present background.
We spent our first night in Ceske in Hostel Merlin, right in the action, right on the river (which was in full flood and had claimed the life of a canoeist that day).
But too noisy for us so we headed for more comfortable digs.
We soon discovered that accommodation in such a popular spot is not always easy to come by but after some pension door knocking we lucked in at Pension Gardena, turned out to be very comfortable with mine host Vaclav providing good info about the town and the road ahead.
The town is awash with restaurants, photo opportunities and hidden nooks waiting to be discovered.
Our two days (3 nights) on the ground were only enough to cover the major attractions.
The town, in pristine condition, makes a powerful statement about its UNESCO World Heritage listing. amd is the main attraction.
However Ceske Krumlov also boasts the Czech Republics second largest castle complex after Prague. The castle buildings retain a lot of their original furniture, a nice touch that allows visitors to get a feel for life in those far off times. It is set in extensive and beautiful parklands and includes a large formal garden area. The moat, now dry, provides a playground for a colony of brown bears and helps keep the shutter bugs off the streets.
Our hosts recommended a restaurant for our farewell to Ceske Krumlov dinner, we dined well that night with garlic soup for starters, tender steaks (steak not as readily available over here as it is at home) and finished with hot raspberries with cream and gelato (this blogger had seconds).
I think we were all a bit sad to leave this delightful spot

GPS Iphone tour mapping

See where Rod is and where he has been.
http://www.trackmytour.com/353

Jindichuv Hradec to Cesky Krumlov - June 26

June 26

The Greenways cycle route from Vienna to Prague has a few optional additional loops, one of which takes you well south into Southern Bohemia almost to the Austrian Border then back up through Cesky Krumlov, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our initial intention was to follow this Greenways loop through Cesky Krumlov.
Since it had rained every day since we entered the Czech Republic, and the forecast was for more rain, we decided to skip the southern part of the loop and head straight from Jindrichuv Hradec to Cesky Krumlov.
After a good breakfast at our lodging (except for the terrible coffee) we told TomTom to plot a course for Cesky Krumlov, a distance of about 70km, and set off on another grey day. The route took us initially on quiet country roads through Polkino, Plavsko and Straz, where we joined a main road heading through Trebon. The main road was actually good riding with a good wide shoulder and not too much traffic. West of Trebon we turned off the main road and followed quiet roads almost to Cesky Krumlov where we joined the main road from Cesky Budejovice. We made it without getting rained on, although it rained quite heavily that evening.

On the road to Cesky Krumlov.

After a bit of a grind in heavy traffic on the final approach we reached the old town which is quite beautiful in its crooked medieval way, with the (almost flooding) Vltava River doing an s-bend through town and the whopping great castle on the hill over the river looking straight across to the whopping great church in the middle of town.

View across the river towards the castle.

Typical Cesky Krumlov street.

Near Trebon we had stopped for a snack and to make a few phone calls to find some accommodation, and all we could find was a triple room at the Hostel Merlin. We had decided to stay in Cesky Krumlov for three nights, and after squeezing our stuff into the extremely pokey room at Merlin we set off to try and find something better for the other nights. Saturday night was full up nearly everywhere, but we eventually found very suitable accommodation at Pension Gardena.
Back at Merlin for the night, Rod had disappeared with our only room key, so Tracey and I had takeaway Chinese for dinner, and it wasn't bad.

Slavonice to Jindrichuv Hradec - June 25th

June 25

After a good night's sleep in our rather exotic, renaissance pension (only about 350k pp), we headed off into a rather grey day.
The Greenways route is very varied. Some of it is on excellent roads and some on really poor ones. The poor ones become bloody awful after weeks of rain (just ask Phillip & Linda). Having said that, the track is almost entirely through beautiful, green, lush countryside - either rolling, patchwork farmlands or green and greener forests, lakes, meadows and small villages. The forests are sometimes dark, mysterious, thickly-wooded places, where the branches are overhanging the cycle tracks and others are like open parklands. Both types make for beautiful scenery, which is just as well because I'm usually some hundrdeds of metres behind the boys - navigating the steep, gravelly, muddy, puddle-holey bits with more care than them.

Typical Greenways route in Southern Moravia.

We rode through lots of forest.

Today, after 15 or 20 km we came upon a completely restored WW2 bunker in the middle of a pine forest. There was a young man stationed out there, miles from anywhere. He clearly spoke a number of languages and explained to us the rifle placings, grenade 'pipes', with their grenade-stopping lids (to stop the attacking enemy hurling grenades at you through your own grenade 'pipes'), periscopes, water-cooled Steyr (this is apparently a very good brand of machine gun) machine guns etc. Seven men lived in this tiny little space - it looked quite large from outside, but the walls were about a metre thick.

Rod inside the bunker.

The entrance to the bunker.

After picking up supplies at Nova Bystrice, a very prosperous little town, we encountered a Czech/Thai couple, currently spending half their year in Muscat and half in the Czech Republic. They bought an old farmhouse and have almost completed renovations at a cost of 4.8 million k. They gave us some good info on Czech land & house prices. We are all considering moving here if the weather picks up.

A picnic lunch in the forest near the Pstruovy Creek was very pleasant and quiet.

More forest.

Another 20 kms brought us to Jrindichuv Hradec. The last few km before town were very muddy, hilly and potholed with large puddles to ride through.I did a bit of slaloming -scary! Although we were dodging rain all day,luckily, we only got caught in a shower towards the end.

After a coffee and beer in the main square, we located a pension above a restaurant.

A drink in the sunny Jrindichuv Hradec town square.

The place was very popular with a wide range of patrons, including families and young people, so we decided to sample their cuisine. I would rate it as the best food we have as yet eaten in the Czeck Republic. After dinner we stolled around the old centre - an enjoyable end to a full day.

Our pension.

Our street.

RE June's Posterior Query: Posteriors are faring very well, you'll be pleased to know. Each one of us has had occasional, mild chafing, rash or bumps. These have all been effectively and easily dealt with using simple creams, such as Bepanthen. Also, because there are so many things to see and do in these areas of Europe we are constantly hopping off our bikes as well as stopping for 2-3 nights in the major cities. So we rarely ride for more than 3 or 4 days without a break for site-seeing.

Re Pam's comments: I thought it was only fair to share my lergy!!
Many thanks for hints. Cesky Krumlov was fantastic. We're in Prague at present.


Re "Dr Dreamy": If Pat thought he was dreamy (???) you can imagine what I thought! Grein iS the place to be sick! Think ER - the tall dark Croation Dr then multiply by factor of say 3.

Re Tactile Opine's comment 'manicured edges': Yes, you are right! They seem to slash or mow the edges of many roads and even some of the forest cycle tracks. We find it quite amazing!

Znojmo to Slavonice - June 24

June 24

The weather didn't look too bad so after brekky in the guest kitchen at Penzion Kaplanka we headed out of town intending to get back on the Greenways route at Lukov about 10km away. After making our way out of town in busy morning traffic we rode initially through farmlands along narrow roads lined with cherry trees.

Picking cherries.

We didn't find the bike route at Lukov so continued on through Horni Breckov towards Cizov where we visited an Iron Curtain Memorial that includes a section of preserved barbed wire fence.

The preserved section of security fence at the Iron Curtain memorial.

Leaving Cizov the Greenways route passes through forest in the Podyji National Park. We rode in light rain for a bit before stopping in Lesna for a coffee and a look at the motorcycle museum.

Out comes the waterproof gear.

The rain eased and we continued on to Vranov, a nice holiday spot on a lake. After crossing the dam wall we climbed up out of the valley, stopping for a quick look at the impressive castle on the way up the hill.

The castle at Vranov.

The route then took us through small towns and farmland very close to the Austrian border.

We had only planned to ride about 50km which would get us to Vratenin. Arriving in Vratenin we ran into an Aussie cycle-touring couple, Richard and Faye, who were headed in the opposite direction to us.

One of the many Christian statues, etc, found by the roadsides

throughout Austria and the Czech Republic.

This one had a bunker built behind it.

After a long chat on the road, during which a bus nearly killed some of us, we headed off to find accommodation. We soon discovered that Vratenin has no accommodation establishments of any kind, so we had to press on to Slavonice, another 23km.

Approaching Slavonice.

In Slavonice we found a georgeous pension in an ancient building, complete with sgraffiti-covered front, just along from the main square.

Our room in the pension in Slavonice.

Our pension - the amazing building with the sgrafiti all over it!

Mikulov to Znojmo - June 23

June 23

We woke up to another grey day with rain threatening. Tracey and I decided to catch the train 50km to Znojmo while Rod rode. Znojmo (pronounced noymo) is a small city a few km off the Greenways cycle route.
This was our first train ride in the Czech Republic. We phoned the local Info Centre to find out the train time and, after a coffee, headed down to the station.
Mikulov station is in a very poor state of repair and almost looks abandoned. There were two men taking measurements and photos of the area, no doubt for reconstruction purposes.
Signs in Czech mean nothing to us so we found the ticket office by first walking in the wrong door. There is no platform and you board the train from ground level after walking over two sets of railway tracks.

Mikulov Station.

The conductor directed us to the front of the train with our bikes and placed them in the luggage area. We had to buy bike tickets from the conductor.
The train was exactly on time and the trip took about an hour.
Along the way we could see the bike track in places where it parallels the railway, and it looked pretty rough, which Rod later confirmed.
In contrast to Mikulov, Znojmo station is a modern, recently renovated station.
We rode from the station to the town centre, about 1km, to find the Information Centre and somewhere to stay.
Central Znojmo is quite picturesque, with an amazing tower just near the Info Centre. The whole huge central square is in the process of being paved with stone. The town centre is not spoilt by tourism, and has a low-key, non-commercial medieval charm. In most cases you almost have to walk into a shop to find out what they sell.

In front of the Information Centre in Znojmo.

The amazing tower.

One exception is the T-Mobile shop that was easy to spot, and where we succeeded, with the help of staff with a little English, to get some prepaid Czech sim cards for our phones. Rod will feel whole again with internet on his iphone.
Lonely Planet listed a few penzions in an area just near the town centre so we went to find one. We liked the look of Penzion Kaplanka and rang the door bell. In the Czech Republic front doors are commonly kept locked, even in premises that are open for business. The proprietor came up the street in gumboots and explained, in German, that he had been working in the garden. There were suitable rooms available and the price was very cheap at only about AU$20 per person for a single or double room. The rooms open onto a balcony with a view across the Dyje River, and as Lonely Planet says "you could almost be in Tuscany".
After checking in and leaving our bikes in the secure store provided we headed back into town for lunch. We had a very ordinary lunch at a buffet mentioned in Lonely Planet. We could easily imagine it was 1988 and the Iron Curtain was still up.

Our Communist-era buffet lunch.

Pension Kaplanka.

The view from the balcony.

View from near the church down the road from Pension Kaplanka.

Rod arrived shortly after and reported that the the track had been very muddy in places and there were long sections covered in water. He had not been rained on however, and had seen hundreds of hares on the track!
When we walked into town to find some dinner the place was very quiet, with nearly everything closed.

Central Znojmo at night - very quiet.

We walked down the street into a square that seemed to have a few cars parked and people about. We spotted what looked like an open restaurant, a strangely out of place establishment done in an American wild west style.
We walked in to the very dimly lit place. There was an unattended bar (complete with saddle-shaped bar stools), a few groups of people at tables drinking, and no food in sight. This was at 8pm. We stood in front of the bar for a while and were ignored. We looked around and could see that the kitchen was in darkness. We were all hungry and didn't want to give up just yet, so Tracey found a stack of menus and picked one up.
At about that moment one of the women who had been sitting talking and drinking got up and approached us. She could speak some English, and upon questioning confirmed that the place was open for business, including meals. It seems that capitalism is very low key in Southern Moravia.
The kitchen lights were turned on and in no time we had food and drink. Our hostess, Ivana, looked after us very well. We had a very pleasant walk back to our pension through the deserted streets of Znojmo.

Walking back to our pension after dinner.

GPS Iphone tour mapping

See where Rod is and where he has been.
http://www.trackmytour.com/353

Valtice to Mikulov - June 22

June 22

The flu, or whatever it is, had progressed its grip on me overnight, but I felt well enough to do maybe 50km, weather permitting, as the forecast was for some rain.
After a good breakfast at our penzion I had a rest while Tracey, who is feeling better every day, and Rod went for a short ride to explore the chateau and its gardens, as I had done on foot the previous evening.
When they returned at around 9.30 we headed off.
The forecast looked right, with heavy overcast skies and a bit of misty rain early on.
Our first brief stop was just off the track back near the border to have a look at the Rajstna Colonnade, a huge structure built by a Liechtenstein prince 200 years ago as a tribute to his late father and brothers.

The Rajstna Colonnade.

We then followed the Greenways cycle route towards Mikulov along quiet narrow roads, once sealed but in various stages of deterioration. Beautiful rolling countryside, with the numerous wildflowers glowing in the grey day beside the roads.

Bad roads and grey weather.

But very pretty.

Although not far down the track, we headed into Mikulov in the hope of finding somewhere to buy some Czech sims for our phones. After a deliciously rich hot chocolate we spent some time looking around this interesting town with a baroque chateau built on a rocky outcrop in the middle of it.

The hot chocolate was thick and rich and big!

Central Mikulov.

Looking towards the chateau on the hill.

The entrance to the chateau grounds.

We found a mobile phone shop, but the man spoke no English, and we had no confidence in getting what we needed there.
By that time it was raining fairly steadily, so we consulted Lonely Planet for accommodation options. At the first pension we tried the door was eventually opened by a young man who spoke no English. After he showed us the room there seemed to be a problem that the zero common language made it impossible to figure out. After showing him passports, money, and him seeming to indicate in writing that the price would be 400 per person but 1600 for the three of us, we took our bikes back out into the rain to try somewhere else.
At Pension Prima we had better luck. Once again the girl doing reception at the bar/restaurant downstairs spoke no English, but it's not that hard with a bit of sign language and a few words of German. It is very cheap here (dbl 800czk, pasta lunch for two 243czk).
We had made the right decision to stop as it continued to rain all afternoon and into the night.
We met two English cycle touring girls who were doing the Greenways from Prague to Vienna. They had been thoroughly drenched riding today.

Vienna to Valtice - June 21

June 21

We had decided to catch the train to get us out of the city, and since Tracey is still not 100%, and neither am I, we took it to Ladendorf, about 40km north of Vienna.
After an early rise and brekky of cereal in our hostel we loaded up our trusty bikes once again. It was a cool, fine morning as we headed to the nearby metro station.
We took the metro in to the central station and changed to a regional train. Being Sunday there was no problem getting on the metro with our bikes.
The regional train was almost empty, ran within one minute of schedule, and took about an hour to get to Ladendorf.

Our bikes on the train.

We had bought a good Bikeline map covering our route into the Czech Republic, and we quickly found the bike route.

On the bike route towards the Czech Republic.

We had noticed that there were more wind driven generators in this part of the country than we had seen anywhere before, and we knew what that meant. And of course it was a headwind, quite blustery at times.

Lots of wind turbines.

We bought some fruit at a roadside stall.

Despite the wind it was a beautiful ride, taking us mostly through gently rolling hills and small towns, all very quiet on Sunday. We stopped for coffee at Mistelbach, and a picnic lunch at Poysdorf.

Beautiful countryside.

The roads were relatively quiet so we opted to avoid the bike route in parts, and this worked well.

Getting close to the border.

Everyone we talk to who has travelled in the Czech Republic tells us it is great, so the collective mood was very positive when we reached the border and stopped for the usual celebratory photos. Entering a new country on a bike, having just ridden pretty well from one end to the other of the last country, is a good feeling, and I think we all felt that.

We made it - another country!

I had strapped my camera to a signpost with my Ultrapod for the group photo, then Rod asked me to take a photo with his camera. We had ridden on about 500m when I decided I had better go back and unstrap my camera from the signpost - doh! It was pretty safe, as the road across the border is a very quiet, narrow little road. There were no guards on either side of the border.

We rode on into Valtice and spotted a cafe/restaurant with lots of customers and lots of bikes parked out the front so we went in. The young waiter spoke enough english and they took our euros. A good start.
We had a look in Lonely Planet for accommodation options and found Penzion Prinz, around the corner from the main square and the church and chateau. I was very comfortable and reasonably priced by Austrian standards.

Penzion Prinz - and the church spires in the background.

After dinner at the restaurant we had found earlier I went for a wander through the chateau and its extensive gardens.

The front of the chateau.

Looking back towards the church.

The main entry.

Part of the formal garden area.