September 26, 2022
Bad Leonfelden, Austria to Cesky Krumlov, Czechia (Sept. 26, 2022)
Ahoj/Dobry den (or hello, good day) from Czechia where I write from Cesky Krumlov in the far south in the Bohemian Forest. We had a lovely varied day departing from Bad Leonfelden, feeling quite relaxed because the weather prediction was for no rain and a 50 k ride.
We were following the Eurovelo 7, which was marked as such beginning in Bad Leonfelden. The first 8 k was euphemistically and ambiguously referred to on Komoot as a “path” which we have learned can mean anything, but usually turns out to be bad! We endured 8 k of slow riding on grass, gravel and mud, which took us a full hour, although admittedly that included the stop to do photos at the Czech border and study the map boards. The path wasn’t as bad as those outside Szentgottard and Kozseg in Hungary but it was singletrack with elevation both up and down. After that start and the border crossing we had a wonderful day in the forest and rural areas. There were lots of up and down climbs. We reached Vrssi Brod at 1 pm and decided to stop for coffee and frites at the Hotel Sumava cafe to warm up after a chilly descent. We had our first experience with the Czech language, menu and money. Challenging but we managed. “Thank you” in Czech is “dekuji.” Like saying thank you in Hungarian, whenever we say it to the servers, they just laugh, which leads us to believe we need to work on our accent! Oh well.
At that point the weather forecast now predicted rain so we hoofed out of Vrssi Brod and had a few spits but nothing much. We climbed past Rozmberk Castle and the town (which looked cute) and along with some pretty significant steep climbs up and down through lovely forest in which we saw lots of mushrooms. We found a bench in Rozmital na Sumava to stop and eat our usual bun: it was a somewhat down-on-it’s- luck town, with a number of abandoned buildings. Initial observation: Czech road surfaces are not as well-cared for as the Austrian ones.
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We had booked an AIRBNB flat in Cesky Krumlov for four nights. After the somewhat lengthy check in process (one hour) with the owner, who is very nice, but chatty, Dave and I looked at each other and said “hotels are just easier.” We were tired from the hilly day and just wanted to shower, have a beer (Dave) and find something to eat.
We had a bit of an issue with the owner. The flat advertises a washer which is a large part of why we chose to stay there. We had a serious backlog of laundry and because it’s been so cold the last week we were wearing practically all our clothes while riding. So, doing multiple loads of laundry was in our cards. Turns out the washer is actually shared with her flat in the back of the house and she was planning to be out of town for much of the week so she wanted to restrict our ability to use the washer while she was gone, which just wasn’t a working deal. Dave graciously convinced her to give us the key to her flat but I swear he had about 3 conversations with her about it. I finally just wandered off to clean up and didn’t participate in the conversations as I likely would have said something rude. (Because I am the one that researches and books the accommodations I think I am more annoyed when things go south; or maybe I am just crankier in general?)
The good news: the flat has a cool view of Cesky Krumlov. The bad: this is because the flat is 1 mile outside of town up a big hill which proved to be a challenge for us when we out to dinner on the first night. We were hungry, just wanted to get something to eat and would have happily eaten in any neighborhood joint, but there is nowhere close by our place, so going into town was the only option. We mapped out a place but getting into and out of the old town is a significant pain, because of course it’s a beautiful, complicated, fully cobbled hilly old town that sits in three different crooks of the Vltava river (The German name for this river is the Moldau, made famous by Czechia's most famous composer, Dvorak). We never did find the restaurant and worse, got separated on the descent into town so we were both lost in the dark and from each other! Then ensued this hilarious conversation on the phone where we tried to strategize where to rendezvous. Dave finally found me in the main square and we just opted to walk into a random hotel restaurant to eat. It was the Hotel Grand. And of course, it turned out to be shockingly good, cheap and fun. We enjoyed a nice meal with wine for 46 euros which would have been even less had we paid in korunas. Clearly Czechia is going to be a good value. We didn’t do any better on the ride home. We got lost, ran into stairs, had a major diversion and froze our fannies off, all in the dark and drizzle and on serious cobblestones. In our later debrief we decided there wasn’t anything differently we could have done. Normally we would have gone into town while it was still light and scoped things out first but the timing of our arrival didn't allow that. Additional bad news: Dave left one of his jackets at the restaurant. We have so many layers on that it’s hard to remember everything. Hopefully we can retrieve it in the morning. It’s cold and he needs it. We’ll be trying to buy another jacket if we can’t recover it,
We are in Cesky Krumlov for 4 nights so you may not hear from us for a few days. Weather is cold and rainy so holing up in the flat may be in the cards.
Ahoy (also means goodbye!)
Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles)
Total: 1,561 km (969 miles)
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