We woke early. Wait, let me back up. First you should know that sunrise here in Czech is currently just after 5am. Second, our hotel room faced east. So but 5:30 we were wide awake and packed by 6:00. Our hotel included a wonderful and indeed exceptional buffet of eggs sausage, fruit, pastry, bread, jam etc. I could definitely, but shouldn’t, get used to that.

Today we started with truly gorgeous weather. The sun was out mixed with puffy clouds and a cool, but not cold breeze. To add to that, we travelled through an area well known in Czech for its natural beauty and to the most famous castle in Czech. We have 1000 pictures as a result.

Nadine

Nadine continuing the post due to my lack of data!!

Starting out today reminded me of some of my favorite days on the Camino.  We left town early, crossing active train tracks, traveling through small quaint towns, going through forested areas ripe with raspberries and golden wheat fields.  It’s just incredible how diverse an area can be in a few kilometers and to walk it is incredible.   You experience something different when you walk everywhere you go and we all love that.

Our path took us past Karlstejn castle -the most visited site in the Czech Republic. It was built by Charles V Holy Roman Emperor. It was Stu Ning but indefensible and thus abandoned after the Hussite Wars later in history.

The other interesting site was Svatojanska Skala (St John’s Caves). These caves have been a pilgrimage site for centuries. The legend revolves around a hermit who struggled with the devil until visited by John the Baptist who supplied him with the means to defeat the devil. The stories are fascinated but the site was even more impressive.

The second half of the trip was difficult with hard climbs and descents.  The mileage was similar, but the path was pretty technical.  My ankle was bothering me again, Mark’s back was bothering him by the end of the day, and Allison had her first blister.  But it’s pretty normal to go through all of this as we ease into walking continuous distances again.
Oh we’re camping tonight!  We’re in a campsite by the river in Beroun.  

Allison and I have a funny story.  We were given a key to the showers with a coin that allows you a three minute shower.  And just before going to the shower room, I went to what I thought was the women’s toilet. Apparently I took a tour of the men’s restroom and used a stall without even realizing my mistake. And the next fun story was when Allison and I stood outside what we thought were the female showers trying the key to get in…we tried everything then realized we were trying to open the men’s showers.  Across from the bathrooms and showers were a few men just laughing at us and the woman running the camping site was waving at us from a distance and saying in Czech that we were at the wrong place.  We moved to the next door and tried and tried the lock but could not get into the showers.  We had to tuck our tails and go ask for help.  To our credit even the lady had a hard time getting in.  BTW you can take a shower in three minutes!!