Arzberg, Bavaria, Germany
Spent two nights here and enjoyed a shaded forestry walk today. Lots of historic mining in the area and a couple of old mine adits encountered - for metalliferous ores - but not exactly sure what!
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| Arzberg - Mine Adit |
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| Arzberg - Town Church |
28th July to 30th August 2016
Frantiskovy Lazne, West Bohemia, Czech Republic
Sector 30 miles
Total 5477 miles
A short drive into the Czech Republic - picking up a motorway vignette at a service station near the border (about £13,50 for one month - bargain compared to the cost of French, Spanish and Italian motorway tolls). Unfortunately, perhaps fortunately for the Czechs, the Czech Republic has not adopted the euro so I had to get some Czech crowns from an ATM.
Gorgeous small spa town, the old part founded in 1794, full of late eighteenth century and nineteenth century hotels, villas and pavilions in shaded parks and gardens - nearly all covered in yellow and white render. Some dilapidated buildings still reflect the impact of forty-one years of communist rule.
I think Lazne is the czech equivalent of the german 'bad' or english 'spa'. No, or very few aires in Czech Republic, and not that many campsites either - or perhaps I lack a decent guide book. However, stopped at a clean. efficient site adjacent to a lake about two kilometres from the old town with a pleasant cycle track through forestry to the town parks.
Cycled out to a Nature Reserve about ten kilometres from Frantiskovy, called Soos, which has strange bubbling hot mud pools (mofettes or bog volcanoes), in marsh and birch forest, that emit CO2 and He originating from the earth's mantle. Proven, apparently. from the isotope of helium present. Saddening to see in a small zoo with large birds of prey, such as a beautiful buzzard and a gorgeous goshawk, kept in 3mx3mx4m cages.
On the second day I walked to the adjacent town of Cheb a few kilometres away. Impressive fortifications (oddly like many of the buildings mainly constructed of brick rather than masonry) and a large cathedral church- but mainly rebuilt in the nineteenth century.
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| Frantiskovy Lazne - Symbol of the town It brings good luck if you touch the very shiny item - not his toes! |
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| Frantiskovy Lazne |
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| Frantiskovy Lazne |
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| Frantiskovy Lazne |
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| Soos Nature Reserve |
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| Soos Nature Reserve |
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Soos Nature Reserve - Little Owl (?)
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| Cheb - Town Square and Cathedral |
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| Cheb - Fortifications and Castle |
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| Soos Nature Reserve
31st July to 2nd August 2016
Marianske Lazne (Marianbad), West Bohemia, Czech Republic
Sector 25 miles
Total 5502 miles
Another short hop to the larger spa town of Marianske Lazne. which still has an amazing network of single deck trolley buses and no polluting diesel buses. A long linear often wooded park runs along along the bottom of the valley for about three kilometres into the centre of the town with forested hills on one side and the main road on the other. There are about forty springs which can mostly be sampled. As Frantiskovy Lazne a multitude of yellow and white colonnades. arcades. hotels and pavilions. Apparently. this was one of the favourite summer resorts of Edward VII among other late nineteenth century european notables. Both still very popular as spa resorts.
A long forestry walk, from the campsite, one afternoon revealed a lot of deteriorating farm buildings and hamlets - showing that a lot of the countryside has not recovered from the communist era even after twenty years.
The last day was grey, cool and very wet. The weather forecast for the next week was similar - so I decided to leave the mountains of West Bohemia and head for what looked warmer and sunnier climes in Southern Moravia in the south-east of the Czech Republic some 350km away.
3rd August to 7th August 2016
Jedovnice, South Moravia, Czech Republic
Sector 254 miles
Total 5756 miles
A long drive, mainly by motorway, around Prague to Brno in South Moravia and then pottering around for a few kilometres trying to find a suitable campsite. The first one I visited look like a black ski run - no chance of getting the van any where level or probably back out again with the recent rain and soft ground! The second one seemed to have vanished, at least at the GPS coordinates that I had - fortunately the third next to a large lake at Jedovnice at the edge of the Morvasky Kras (Moravian Karst) National Park was both cheap (£7 a night including 16amp electric and a reasonable internet connection) and well located to visit a number of local attractions. Cycled around and down the Macocha Gorge and visited the Macocha Abyss - a huge swallow hole about 400m by 150m in plant at the surface and in excess of a kilometre deep. Absolutely impossible to photograph so I have pinched and aerial shoot via Google. Similarly, the gorges - up to 90m deep - where densely forested. Great for cycling in the shade on a hot day - but hard to photograph.
Next move, on Monday, should be heading further east with the Czech Republic towards the Slovakia border. |
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