Monday 23 July. Jaromer to Hradec Kralove.

We forgot to mention on yesterdays post that the way was a mixture of very quiet roads, so quiet an adult couple were getting exercise by roller blading down the road, and muddy farm roads. About half way between Jaromer and Hardec Kralove we came across the Kuks Hospital, the remains of an old spa built on the site of natural springs. In the gardens of the hospital there were many Baroque sculptures by Matthias Braun.

We left Jaramer by the main road and after about a kilometer we turned left to pick up the cycle route 24. The cycle route also ran parallel to a route marked by a red line on the map. This was the route we were to follow for much of the day. The route initially ran through small villages like Semonice with corn fields on both sides of the road. A bit like walking on the Wolds Way. At Cernozice we went wrong and continued south on the route 24 whereas we thought that we should have turned left over the bridge to follow the red route down the east side of the Labe, shown clearly on the map. That route does not exist anymore. We found a group of people surveying north of the bridge and from one of them we discovered that a new path had been put in down the west side of the Labe. As there had been quite a bit of rain overnight the path was muddy. At Smirice we crossed from the west bank to the east and took the 4252 to Skalicka and then the 24 to Lochenice where we rejoined the Labe. It is now possible that the red route runs all along the side of the east bank of the river from Smirice to Lochenice. We saw red markers at the begining and end of that section.We crossed the river at Predmerice nad Labem to look for a pub but all we could find was a dairy with a not very happy owner. We managed to buy a can of beer and a bottle of orange juice. Suitably refreshed we continued  along the east bank of the Labe all the way to Hardec Kralove. The route along the side of the river got more and more attractive and as we approached the town we saw a couple of paddle steamers moving up river.

We made our way to the town to look for our hotel and found that our penzion was again located in the town square.  Our hotel room has a fine view of the square. The lift in the hotel  is frightening, it has no door. It just moves up past the walls and makes terrible squeaks and groans in the process. There are 3 very beautiful churches located around the square.

Tomorrow is a day of rest.