Kemp Decin turned out to be the noisiest campsite we have ever experienced. In addition to the flyover, once darkness fell the proximity of a railway line became apparent as goods train after goods train rattled past. Luckily we are both pretty deep sleepers!
A quick look at our map book this morning indicated that our journey today should be a sixty mile blast up a motorway. SatNav, it turned out, had other ideas.
First, on our way out of Decin Sarah saw a Tesco Superstore. It has become apparent on this trip that just as I am drawn to UNESCO World Heritage sites, Sarah is attracted by superstores. This was never clear in the UK because Sarah got to wander the isles of a supermarket when I wasn’t present, on the way back from work usually. In the 7 months we have been travelling, by the way yesterday was our 200th day, I have visited about 10,000 UNESCO sites and Sarah has only been to one superstore, because LIDL does not count. So this morning it was Sarah’s turn.
After about three hours (really only one) the dogs and I had all dozed off in Basil, Sarah reappeared bearing treats such as red lentils and anchovies, of which we have been deprived.
With our booty (younger readers this word has nothing to do with J Lo’s derriere) stored we recommenced our journey. After a few miles we came to the motorway marked Prague, but SatNav seemed to have a “better” route for us. So we headed off down a variety of winding, bumpy and occasionally single track roads. At one point our tortuous route took on us a small bridge over the motorway and it was then that we saw what had happened. The motorway did not show up on SatNav’s map! Either SatNav had been manufactured with part of his brain missing (something we’ve long suspected) or the motorway was too new to be included in his database.
The problem then was that although we now knew there was a better route, we could not find any way onto the motorway, so we continued our slow tour of various Czech villages.
Eventually we did find our way onto the motorway and ignored SatNav’s protestations as we enjoyed a beautiful, fast, smooth surface. As we entered Prague’s outskirts the only landmarks of note were the dozens of brightly coloured blocks of flats. We did not see them for long as the road plunged into one of those long, under city tunnels, which are becoming so popular in some places.
SatNav has difficulty keeping his bearings in tunnels, with no access to GPS. He sort of guesses where we are based on an estimate of our speed, but it is invariably wrong in longer tunnels and since our required turnoff was in the tunnel, we missed it. Luckily it was possible to complete a U-Turn once we had emerged, blinking, into Prague’s daylight and we managed the manoeuvre at the second time of asking.
Our campsite, Camping Prague Dzban (50.099410, 14.335861) is €17 a night on ACSI and considering its proximity to a large city, is quite and almost has a rural feel. The facilities are a little on the basic side, but there is good free wifi.
It is about 5 km from our campsite to Prague’s old town, which we are assured will take only half an hour to reach. It is a 10 minute walk to the metro station and then a 10 minute ride to the centre. The only fly in the ointment is that Mabel and Melek must wear muzzles on the metro! We brought muzzles with us just for this eventuality, but neither of them has ever worn one. We’ve had a dry run this afternoon and as usual Melek will wear anything, in fact tomorrow I am tempted to take him on the metro in his muzzle, sunglasses and a hat! Mabel is, of course, a different story. Despite Sarah’s best efforts with treats, as soon as Mabel is left for a moment the muzzle is off, so tomorrow’s trip on the metro should be fun. Wish us luck!
The Dog’s Czech Metro attire! Because of his no existent nose, Melek’s looks more like a surgeon’s mask!