Photo set one

Thur. 9 Aug. Roudnice nad Lad Labem to Litomerice.

We were a bit slow leaving Roudnice nad Labem so it was almost 9:00am by the time we left the N end of the bridge over the Labe to follow cycle route 2. We thought with such a low number, 2, all navigation problems would be at an end. We were wrong!

All was well for the first few km. a one lane road through farmland to Cerneves. However in Cerneves we saw cycle route 2 signs indicating a right turn whereas our Viewranger maps with GPS suggested we carry straight on, which we did, as it was a much quieter road. We were following the exact cycle route 2  on our map but there were no more track markers and the road gradually became quieter. Then the seal finished. Then the ruts in the dirt track became fainter and overgrown with weeds. The nettles grew to chest height and the track disappeared at the edge of a ploughed field. We were in a small wood near the river bank for a while. We had gone so far on the track we didn't want to turn back. We did eventually pick up the remains of the track again and finished up,  back with cycle route 2 in Lounky. Route 2 has obviously been re-routed. 

We found a little shop with a woman who appeared not to really want to sell anything.  We wanted orange juice but all she had was orange concentrate and bottled water.I did eventually get something called Grep in a beer bottle which was very refreshing. Shiel shared the bottle as we thought we couldn't finish two bottles.

One of the advantages of our deviation was that we flushed out two small deer from the undergrowth.

Our last stop of the day was at Kresice where we had a beer and an orange in a pub and then crossed the road to some park seats where we aired and then powdered our feet. We've already finished our first tub of Neat Feet.

There then followed a short bit of  hairy road walking before the route returned to the N bank of the Labe. On approaching Litomerice we were next to the railway line, a less than electrifying experience so as soon as feasible we crossed the line and took a short cut up to our hotel. At first it was a bit worrying as what started as a sealed road was soon blocked by bollards to become a double grass track. Then it became a single path running above allotments. We anxiously awaited the appearance of nettles but it was not to be. Everything turned out OK this time and the short cut turned out to be an excellent path to our hotel. Appropriately our hotel is named The Labe. We are on the 10th floor with good views but no wi-fi. (Pronounced here wee-fee.)

We are having two more days in Litomerice so we can visit Terezin and Shiel can see a bit more of the Olympics on TV. Today we saw a horse with four white feet take it's rider to Olympic gold.

Wed. 8 Aug. Steti to Roudnice nad Labem.

The hotel we were staying in didn't do breakfasts so we had to go looking around the town. We found a breakfast place but it didn't serve the kind of things we wanted. Most things were cooked like soup, frankfurters and chips and whilst we could eat those later in the day,  walking on them was not an option.

We had a coffee and a bread roll in the cafe and then went across the road to Tescos where we bought grapes, a couple of nectarines a carton of orange juice and two filled croissants.

We left the hotel about 9:30. We were not in a hurry as we were only supposed to have 14 km to go. In the end we walked about 16.5km, arriving in Roudnice nad Labem just after 2:00pm.

In the early stages we went wrong twice trying to keep to paths too close to the river. This was a mistake, they finished at dead ends. They were just access points to fishing pozzies.

Later on we went wrong but only because the cycle route we were following (8410) has obviously been changed, if not abandoned. We found bits of it but they were very overgrown and near Roudnice  nad Labem a sports stadium had been built across the cycle track route!

We have a very nice hotel in Roudice nad Labem,  on top of the town square. At first when we went out at 5:30pm to look for a restaurant we couldn't find one so returned to our hotel. It turns out our hotel, the Amber Hotel Vavrinec, has a very active restaurant located down the end of an alleyway behind the hotel. It was very busy but we got excellent service from a friendly waiter who spoke a little English.

NZ$28 in total for a bottle of a bottle of local Muller Thurgau (very pleasant) , one tuna and olive spaghetti, and a parma ham salad followed by one very good espresso. I also forgot we also had a bottle of water. 

A very pleasant end to what at times was a strenuous day. At one time we were both wearing leggings when we were determined to battle through nettles on a very, very overgrown path. 

Today we saw a small deer on the path as well as a pair of industrial gloves. Usually one only finds single gloves! I've lost count of the total number of gloves seen so far but all have been photographed. Shiel is better at spotting them than I am so on joint walks occurrence rates may be higher than when I walk alone (JoGLE).

Sunday 5 August. Tisice to Melnik.

We took a quiet, but interesting rural road out of Chrast (Tisice), it headed south west towards the Labe. There were quite a few new houses under construction. They looked like they were made of a red tile material but the size of a NZ concrete block. However unlike NZ they don't seem to use much mortar. Lots of air gaps. 

We joined the Labe by going down by the side of a railway line which continued on over the Labe on a bridge. We kept to the North bank of the Labe and headed down and under the bridge heading West. We then spent quite a while passing an enormous chemical factory located on the South bank. It had an extremely tall chimney, which looked in good condition but some parts of the factory looked derelict. Other smaller sections seemed to be under repair or construction. The sections we passed first were mostly derelict with the later sections looking newer. The factory is in the town of Neratovice. I did wonder what they made and what, if anything, finished up in the river. People were happily fishing downstream of the factory.

We headed inland, through a few small villages, and in one of them we stopped at a small pub. Every table outside had an overflowing ashtray.

I don't think I've mentioned it before but cigarette smoking is very, very popular here and is accepted almost everywhere. We have yet to have an evening meal which hasn't to some extent been spoiled by second hand cigarette smoke. There doesn't seem to be any segregation of smokers and nonsmokers, even in restaurants. I may have mentioned before that you also see many dogs in restaurants. We now only really notice them when they start barking.

The last part of the walk into Melnik was very quiet, which surprised us as it is one of the most significant regions in the life of the Labe. It is here that the Labe is joined by the Vltava coming in from Prague. The Czech Republic's two largest rivers are now one! A few hundred metres downstream the Labe is also joined by a canal.

It was quite a surprise to find that although Melnik is on the North bank of the Labe one has to climb quickly up from the river, through a vineyard, to reach it. You do however get great views over the surrounding countryside as a result. Tomorrow is a day off in Melnik so Shiel can catch up on the Olympics on TV.

I meanwhile will use the time to treat my insect bites. Over 70 when Shiel last counted. I got most of them two nights ago. We had the Velux window in the roof open because of the heat. They itch! Shiel has only got 4 small bites for the whole trip so far.

Saturday 4 August. Stara Boleslav to Tisice

We left Stara Boreslav initially on quiet town roads. We stopped by the cathedral on the way out hoping the doors would be closed, as we wanted to take a photograph of the beautifully carved wooden doors. Alas it was not to be.

Our road merged with a main road and then it was pretty busy for about 2km, unpleasantly so in fact. We passed the local airport where small craft, the size of powered hang gliders were taking off and landing. We eventually found the side road, supposedly the cycle route 24 which took us down to the river. We were to follow it all day until we turned north to our pension near Tisice. In fact we never saw a single sign for the route 24 and most people were walking or cycling or roller blading on the other (south side) of the river. We think it likely the cycle path 24 has been re-routed.

The big news today is that we saw our first fish caught. We have passed hundreds of fishermen camped beside the river but have never seen any fish caught. The fish was caught by a young girl near the river. Her father was sitting the other side of the cycle track, near their tent, shouting instructions. He did however get up to help her land it. It was about the size of a plaice, but it wasn't a flat fish. It wasn't very lively and didn't seem to put up any fight. I don't think I'd fancy anything caught in the Labe south of Spinleruv Mlyn! (N.B. Shiel thought it was a son, not a daughter, with long hair".)

It got pretty hot as the day wore on and we were again looking for shade trees. We turned off to Chrast, about 1pm and reached the pension, Monika, about 1:30pm. A bit too early to book in. We walked past to a petrol station to get a couple of what looked like orange drinks and the main taste was orange but they had a peculiar, what can best be described as sewage works odour. It's four hours since we had them and we are both OK.

When we first walked past the pension everything was locked up but on returning from the petrol station we saw they were getting a delivery and so we could get in through one door. It turned out to be the young delivery man leaving who indicated we should be trying the other locked door. Luckily for us an older man came out of the "wrong door" and saw us trying to raise the pension by phone. It turned out he spoke a little german so communication could be established. It turns out the pension is run by his son-in-law next door. He took us through the "wrong door" and around the back through the garden to join up with the pension where he found his son-in-law who I had talked to on the phone, and who also speaks some German. We are now in our room which is of much the same standard as all the ones we have had so far. We have had 3 power cuts within the space of two hours though. Did I mention we've seen more lightning displays in the last 3 weeks than in our 35 years in NZ!

Friday 3 August. Lysa nad Labem to Stara Boleslav.

We left Lysa nad Labem in light rain which shortly became a downpour. As it was warm and humid R had chosen not to start in waterproof leggings but this decision was quickly reversed. We left L nad L on a quiet road heading west which after a while met up with cycle route 24. It took about 1.5 hours to reach the Labe by which time it was fine enough to remove our waterproof clothing.

We decided to cross to the south side of the river at Celakovice and remained on that side to Brandy's nad Labem. The route was almost always along the river bank. The track ended at B nad L with a steep climb to a schloss which was in the process of renovation. We walked on into town and stopped for a drink at a small cafe. Just as we were leaving it started to pour with rain again and waterproofs were needed for the short walk back north across the river to our pension in Stara Boleslav. 

The town square in B nad L was undergoing a major renovation so we were quite pleased to be staying in Stara Boleslav which has two fine churches and a cathedral. A man entering the cathedral, which was closed, allowed us to enter it for five minutes to look around. He didn't speak English and we didn't speak Czech. It's surprising what you can manage with sign language. It was a very impressive church, especially to a couple of proddies. We read later it is one of the oldest Baroque churches in the Czech Republic. 

We had a meal in the town courtesy of Google Translate. Only a Czech menu was available. It was not one of our better Czech meals, more like the food you get in a big chain restaurant.

Wednesday 1 August. Nymburk to Lysa nad Labem.

We left Nymburk about 9am and we just had a short walk through the town to the river. It was river bank walking all the way today until we reached the turn off to the town of Lysa nad Labem. 

For the first time we saw large river cruise ship, the largest vessel we've seen to date. It was just heading west from Nymburk and approaching a railway bridge. The ship was so large they had to lower some of the sun shades on the top deck so they could pass under the bridge.

Although it was cool to start with it soon heated up and was around 30°C by the time we finished walking. There was not as much shade as yesterday and we finished up walking quickly from shade spot to shade spot, where we stopped or at least slowed, to cool down.

Near the end of the walk we found some shade by taking a yellow blazed trail. It ran through a small woodland and was also a more direct route than the cycle path

Lots of fish plopping out of the water today and we passed some of the largest fields of sun flowers we've seen.

Initially the turn off to Lysa nad Labem involved walking on our busiest road so far, but only for about 1/2km. It was nearly longer as I was navigating from memory and forgot the turning. 

As we were arriving a bit early, i.e. before 14:00 we stopped at a Pizzeria for a drink. At first we thought Lysa nad Labem was the Czech equivalent of Heckmondwike, but on closer inspection, today, the day after the walk when we are writing this, we found a very nice chateau with extensive gardens which is now a home for the chronologically challenged. 

Total walk about 20.5 km which is a typical walking day.