Eastern Europe Trip

We woke after a good night’s sleep, made all the better for dreams of Thai food, motorcycling through stunning scenery under clear blue skies and endless supplies of cool beer… oh, that bit wasn’t the dream…

The day dawned hot and sunny, so after a quick breakfast we packed the remainder of our stuff and lugged the panniers and bags back down the stairs and out to the bikes. It took a little while to get them loaded up again, and ready for the off, during which time we both started perspiring heavily in the heat, and the thought of riding through the centre of Prague in order to get to the road South didn’t seem like such a great idea… As it turned out, the sat nav did an excellent job of getting us onto the main road out of Prague pretty quickly, and the traffic wasn’t too bad – even as we passed through the top of St Wenceslas’ Square (it wasn’t covered in snow, cold and crisp and even, at all…). Once clear of the town we picked up the main route South, and quickly found ourselves once again in the mist of the Czech countryside, with endless fields of crops burnt brown in the sun.

The ride was pretty uneventful, and we made good progress, stopping occasionally for a drink by the roadside, before stopping again just outside Cesky Krumlov. When we were ‘planning’ this trip, we picked this town as a must-see due to the rave review in the Lonely Planet Eastern Europe guide, and had chosen a campsite south of the town as our destination. Whilst sat having a cup of coffee and a bowl of beef broth soup, we again read the guidebook, and decided that staying closer to town would be much better, as we could make camp, get changed into our non-biking gear and take a short ride 2-up into town for some supplies and to have a look round.

And so, that’s what we did. And Cesky Krumlov did not disappoint. The guide had referred to it as the most picturesque town in Europe and I’d have to say it certainly ranks up there with the very best I’ve seen. It bears a resemblance to a miniature Prague, with a castle on the hill and a river meandering through the town, but the castle is like something from a medieval fairy-tale, and the rest of the town looks like the sort of place Hans Christian Anderson would have dreamt up – all pretty pastel-coloured buildings and narrow cobbled streets. The photographs don’t really do it justice.














However, it was still very hot and we wanted to have a cold beer, which we couldn’t really do when we had to ride back to camp, 2-up on my bike wearing just shorts and tee-shirts, so we bought some groceries and some cans of cold beer and headed back to the campsite.






Once there, whilst enjoying the beer, I made up some tuna fried rice. Now, this is a dish that I frequently cook back home, when in my own kitchen and surrounded by my collection of gadgets for every occasion. Here, I had a couple of tin plates, some small pans, a knife, a willing assistant and a cold beer. So, naturally it turned out just fine – I’m starting to enjoy campsite cooking... probably just as well, too!