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.