CESKE KRUMLOV

Saturday 17^th

We had to put our hoodies on this morning! It was much cooler and cloudy when we left. We started off with a good run down the main road, then eventually missed a turn, drove miles in the wrong direction and got held up by an accident. We spotted a sign to a camp site and headed off down a small track over a level crossing and ended up in a small village in the middle of nowhere. We pulled on to the ‘camp site’ along with loads of cars, parked up whilst I went to negotiate. A very helpful young man who spoke English informed me that we could not stay there today as they had a wedding taking place. He did however give me the right directions back to where we were originally headed and even phoned them to check that they were open and had space. So…back we went past the accident site, to a bit of new road with no markings and the road sign crossed out. No wonder we had missed it! We found Camping Kovarna at Cervena Recice shortly after going through the village and booked in for just 1 night. It is in a very densely wooded area, somewhat hilly, but pretty all the same. After some lunch we went for a wander in the woods, then back to sort out tonight’s dinner…I am actually cooking tonight. Then it started to rain again so we are now inside catching up on the diary and playing Free Cell etc.

Sunday 18^th

Left around 10.30, luckily it had stopped raining and we made good time down the motorway until we got near to Ceske Budejovice, where we had planned to stay and make a visit to the original Budweiser brewery, more roadworks and a complete diversion. Once more we resorted to my phone to find the campsite behind a motel, as Emily was not playing ball. We found it alright…closed for renovations! So we parked up, ate some lunch and consulted our books. There was another campsite within 300m or so it reckoned, we got out and walked with my phone on and ended up if a rather lovely park with a barrier, but no campsite. By now we were both rather disenchanted with the place so decided to carry on towards Ceske Krumlov which was next on the list. On the way we passed a sign to Camping Paradijs and it showed up on the phone looking OK, so off down the beaten track we went winding and narrow, but eventually came to a few houses, cabins, retro caravans all alongside the river. As we pulled up a young lady came out to speak to us, in English (she actually spoke 7 languages) and we booked in for 3 nights (£44) It was so peaceful and every so often rafts or canoes came floating down the river which made sitting on the bank watching really entertaining. There was 1 Dutch van already on site and later another English van turned up, but they were Australian and they came in and joined us for a drink in the evening.

Monday 19^th

Although it was chilly during the night, it was nice and sunny when we got up. Around 10.00am we donned our boots and set off along the path by the river to a place called Zlata Koruna where there is a monastery worth looking at. It was about 3km and took us an hour and half, we found the village but the monastery was closed as it was Monday…the story of our life. Luckily we found a small shop with seats outside selling drinks and ice creams which were most welcome.

 Our Australian neighbours had also just turned up for coffees and we sat and chatted for quite a while. Then we headed back the way we had come, a very pretty walk but somewhat overgrown and full of nettles. By now it was stinking hot and we were flagging, we were glad to get back and sit out under the awning, the van was a no-no at 31’C. It is now 8.45pm and still 29’C, but there are too many mozzies around to sit outside.

Tuesday 20^th

Today has been even hotter! We had planned to walk 20min up the hill to the bus stop in to town for 11.30 as the buses are only every one and half hours, but our friendly Australian neighbours knocked around 10.00 and said they were going to drive in to the town, did we want a lift? It is only about 10mins down the main road but too far to walk. We parked nearest to the castle as that was what they wanted to see, then went our separate ways. We strolled through the beautiful grounds, but dibbed out on climbing the hundreds of steps up to the castle. We stood and watched a couple of chaps getting changed under a big green bag thingy and eventually they emerged as one of those amazing statues where one is holding up the other one, but you don’t know how. Onwards over a small foot bridge at the weir where we again stood and watched canoes coming over and on down the river (we seem to spend a lot of our time standing and watching things!) Then we were in to the little cobbled streets and alleyways that make up the main part of town. There were some really pretty buildings as well as the normal souvenir shops and tourist tours. Wandering around we came across the St. Vitus Cathedral, absolutely gorgeously decorated but we were not allowed to take photos!!! Managed to sneak a couple in though. Ceske Krumlov is situated on about 3 sort of islands so you are constantly crossing the Vltava river and is a most interesting place to visit. After a sit with a cold drink we carried on over to the Eggenberg brewery (as we had not managed to get to the Budweiser one in Ceske Budejovice) we weren’t particularly interested in a guided tour in Czech so just had a look around and then headed off to their restaurant to have a nice, albeit late lunch and my birthday treat. At 3.00pm we were so worn out we asked the waitress to arrange a taxi back to the campsite for us, we could not face trying to find the bus stop, maybe waiting over an hour, as well as the 20 min walk back down to the campsite. Cobblestones are very hard going, even more so when it is up and down hill in 30’C heat. We have sat outside as long as we can, but again are getting mozzies so have come in to catch up on the diary..still 33’C inside. Tonight Juliette has a twin on site, another English couple have arrived in a van just like ours. Later on we all joined the Australians for a drink, sitting outside watching the fireflies, as well as getting eaten alive by gnats, no a good move.