Tábor to České Budějovice

 Ride day 3: 58.3 miles, 2100’ Elevation

Lodging:  Marianska Residence

It was a long, hot night in our hotel. We left the window open, but there were shouting people in the street well into the morning hours. We packed up feeling fuzzy headed and tired. At 7am, we had breakfast in our hotel (nothing else was open), and the good food and coffee perked us up.

Out of Tabor, we rode down hill and crossed the river. There was no traffic to speak of on a Sunday morning, and the ride was scenic along the river, then rolling past farms and through small villages. Some towns are no more than a couple of buildings. A lot of town names end with “ice” which found out means “children of” whatever the prefix is.

We finally stopped to sample an apple after passing so many trees, and it was sweet and tart. We came to a section of forest that lead to a gravel road past a lake where we saw an egret. The forest appeared to be selectively logged. There were oaks and pines and firs, and other trees we didn’t recognize. Lots of cyclists seemed to be out for day rides.

In a small town, everything was closed except a small shop where we had an ice cream. After crossing more fields and forest, we crossed a highway and came to a gravel track through the woods. It looked like there were small vacation homes on a lake shore, then after traversing more woods we came upon a river path with an open restaurant.

We stopped for lunch (bratwurst and fries and coke), sharing a table with a man named Jan who was originally from the Netherlands but grew up on the Isle of Man. He moved to the Czech Republic around 30 years ago. We chatted pleasantly about differences in life styles between the US, UK, and Czechia, past and present, a little about politics.

Finally we got back on our bikes with about 10 miles of paved bike paths to go along side a very flat river. The path was full of cyclists, inline skaters, runners. We passed an adventure course, a whitewater park with surfers and kayakers, volleyball courts, and even a couple pickleball courts. The good paths led right to our large, modern apartment which was just across the street from old town Ceske Budejovice and included a washing machine and full kitchen. There was a full supermarket on the ground floor of our building, and vending machines including meat vending machines, a first for us.

We showered and walked to the old town square which was large and beautiful. It seemed to be surrounded by a moat. After walking the cobbled streets, we had dinner and returned to our hotel.