After loading the bike in a light drizzle that eventually stopped before we left, we left Wroclaw in some pretty heavy traffic and used some ring roads to skirt riding through the city center. It was much nicer riding once we got out in the countryside. Traffic was pretty heavy and soon we reached the Czech Republic border.
The roads were small and we found an ATM in a little town so we could refuel the bike and have money for food, tours, and lodging. We then encountered a couple of construction delays, but nothing like those we found in Poland. Following a brief rest stop for a little picnic lunch and after passing through some more charming hill country roads, we encountered some light drizzle. That drizzle stopped and then it started again. So we stopped and I put on rain gear. Not a half mile further, it began to rain intensely so I was glad to have that rain gear on. The rain persisted for another hour and a half. Fortunately we were riding most of that on a motorway.
As we approached Ceske Budejovice, the traffic got very heavy, but once we were free of that it was only about 6-8 miles of farm roads to reach Cesky Krumlov. The Garmin Montana GPS navigated us directly to our lodging at the R-Penzion which is located on a hillside facing the castle complex. We were warmly greeted by our host at 5pm and shown to our cute little room one story above the ground floor. Interestingly the GPS initially projected a 3 pm arrival, but 2 hours were lost due to road construction, heavy traffic, and gas or other rest breaks.
After checking in we headed for the old town, found a couple of dams for my Dam Tour Album and ate dinner at the Jelenka restaurant which didn't honor its 10% discount ticket the hotel provided us. But it wasn't a big deal as it was only worth a couple bucks. Afterwards we hiked up the steep hill to the bridge that connects one hill with the castle. There is a roadway that passes under and through the castle but it is primarily a pedestrian thoroughfare. We wandered our way through the medieval village taking pictures in the wonderful lighting conditions before walking back to our Pension and retiring for the evening. This is going to be an interesting village and castle to explore.
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