Day 27, 23 6 2014, Ceske Budejovice to Pisek
Well, we buggered up our navigation today. We spent some time in Ceske Budejovice this morning to look at a motorcycle museum, with an unusual collection of bikes, and to get some bike route maps. I like the city. It has a very attractive and large central square surrounded by colonnaded buildings. As much of the activity takes place within the colonnades, it has a slightly deserted feeling.
There is little on the internet about bicycle touring in the Czech Republic, and yet we found a store in the main square that must have had forty or fifty different maps describing bike routes.
We noticed bike route number signs yesterday, but coming into the system we had no idea where they went. We started this morning knowing how the number system works, and got a bit too confident. Our fault, nothing to do with the system.
It turns out that there is a remarkably comprehensive bike route system using mostly roads connecting villages. You need a map, to decode the route numbers, as only the numbers are usually posted on intersections. There are occasional more explanatory signs, but you still need the maps. We just made a mistake with one of the numbers today.
The castle at Hluboka just 12Km north of Ceske Budejovice is very impressive and well worth a visit. It is different from other castles we have visited and has beautiful grounds and gardens.
So, we had a pleasant tour of parts of the Czech Republic we had no intention of visiting, finishing for the day in the lovely town of Pisek, which we also had had no intention at all of visiting.
I always have the intention of finishing our day’s riding before 5.00pm, but for most of this trip we have not been able to manage it, finishing sometime after 6.00pm. Roz points out that if we did not finish that late we would not be in the wonderful places we eventually stop at.
77Km for the day mostly in the afternoon.
Roz says: Loving the idea of being in Bohemia!! The Pilsner is great too.
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