Today Team Basil had another change of plan. That’s the beauty of this type of touring, you can wake up in the morning, and if you want completely change your plans. In this case it was just a small adjustment. Sarah wants to do some shopping for presents before we return home and Czechia seems a good place to do that, given the cheap prices (sorry present recipients you may be getting cheap). Our trip to Cesky Krumlov will be the last town we visit before we return to Germany and today being a Sunday we decided to delay it for a day. So we chose to spend an extra day on site.

One of the things we have missed more than anything else on this trip is Ordnance Survey. For those of you unfamiliar with Ordnance Survey, they are the UK agency (now a limited company) responsible for mapping Britain since the late 1700s.

When we are motorhoming in the UK; on any other type of holiday in our home country; or just wanting to go for a walk from home; there is nothing better than getting out an Ordnance Survey map and planning a long walk.

I know that many other countries have such maps, but it is not as easy to find where to buy the maps or justify the expense of buying one for a single walk. An extreme example was in, not surprisingly, Norway where the cost of the local maps was €30 each!

It is therefore much appreciated when we come across waymarked walks, which enable us to have a decent walk without needing the find and buy relevant maps.

Camping Chvalsiny has four waymarked walks which they have marked around the local hills and forests and so we decided we would do one of the longer ones. There was a frisson of excitement when a certain member of the team saw that the walk instructions suggested taking binoculars.

We packed lunch and set off. The day was overcast but dry as we climbed from the campsite into the forest. Just as promised at every major junction the campsite had painted arrows of varying colours, depending on the route chosen.

The local village of Chvalsiny with the campsite in the foreground

Regular readers will know that walking in forests is not my favourite form of walking. Once you have completed the first few metres you have essentially seen all the scenery that’s available – trees. This walk was of that variety. Only at one point did we get a break in the trees and the view was across a valley to another bit of forest!

We had a break for lunch but things did not improve. The binoculars soon went away, because in the entire walk we saw the grand total of two birds. Not even a cute red squirrel made an appearance to liven things up.

Lunch

You will be pleased to know however that one member of the team had a fantastic time – Mabel. With her hyper sensitive nose and spanielly energy she enjoyed a whole different forest to the one Sarah and I experienced. She spent the whole walk in a state of high excitement, dashing from one side to the other, her nose pressed to the ground. Melek, who also possesses top quality nose equipment, doesn’t let anything divert him from trotting along in my footsteps, not wishing to expend an ounce more energy than he has to, unless it is to occasionally cock his leg!

Tomorrow it really will be Cesky Krumlov.

BTW: It’s 7.30 pm and Basil’s heating is on for the first time since northern Norway! Autumn is definitely on its way.