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Jan and Alena

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Thursday 2 nd August. I have been waiting to hear from a Czech guy about doing workaway at his farm. I sent him my telephone number and where I am staying but I he has not replied. I am supposed to be going there today. Now, I am wondering if I should go at all if he does contact me. If a person can’t be bothered to get in touch, are they worth giving your time? If he doesn’t contact me, I must make quick plans about where to go. It’s another hot morning but at least I have the shade of a tree and the breeze that sometimes wafts in from the river Vltava. This morning there were many rowing boat crews on the river with small motorboats following them. From the motorboats, voices through megaphones bark instructions. I am surprised how fast these crews can row; they are clearly not doing this for fun. Friday 3 rd August Jan did contact me and said he could meet me at five, at the campsite. I told him I must leave the site at two and would wait for him by the river...
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Scooter travels and getting stuck

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Sunday 29 th July Yesterday, at the suggestion of Honsa, I took his scooter to see some ‘wonderful countryside.’ I’m not sure how far away it was in kilometres but it seemed a long way to take the scooter. Nevertheless, I set off with some directions and a map. I knew it would not be easy because I would be travelling along country roads and couldn’t be sure of the signposting. And I found myself off course at Liperovice, the town I had visited before. The sun was beating down and I realised my bear arms were burning a little. I managed to find a superstore and bought some sun cream and some lunch – rolike, cheese and non alcoholic beer. I headed for Terezin which was 4km away where I knew there was a shady park and I could have lunch in relative cool. Afterwards, I set course for the region Honsa had suggested. He said it was mountainous but actually it was just hilly, with some nice villages. It wasn’t anything particularly special and when I heard the sound of thunder a...
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Skoda - they don't make them like they used to.

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Friday 27 th July. Today I went to Mladá Boleslav, where the Skoda factory and museum are situated, about 25km from Nosalov. It was a beautiful drive along near empty country roads through golden fields of wheat, already harvested. However, my pleasure came to an end when near the town, the road was closed – another road closed! It took me and Kate quite a while to find out way back to where we were going. Then came the task of parking near the museum. There was a car park outside but it was closed because of a display of modern Skoda cars in the car park. I drove around for some while looking for somewhere to park but ended up parking two or three kilometres away and walking to it. The display in the museum was very good, with some beautiful old cars. Such a pity modern cars don’t have the same style. After, I crossed the road to a shopping mall – strange to enter modern life again. My purpose, to go to the Vodafone shop regarding the German interception of my ...
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Goats leg and doutnik

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Thursday 26 th July I woke up just a daylight was beginning to show through the air vent in the van. After a while I decided I needed a pee and went outside; the quiet and stillness of the morning was profound. I went back to the van to try and sleep more but it eluded me. Around 4.30 I gave up trying to sleep and got up to make tea, and eat the last of my cornflakes with the not so fresh cow milk Jana had given me the day before. I knew Honsa would leave early for work, so I decided to wait for him and tell him about not having lunch or dinner yesterday.   About 6.30 I heard the sound a tractor, it was Honsa. When he came out to get on his scooter, I went to chat with him. I explained to him as tactfully as I could that Workaway means exchange of labour for food etc but his need for food was different from mine. He agreed saying they eat early and late with not much in between. He apologised and offered to give me money to buy some food. I declined this. A little wh...
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Aldi no-Talk and Skoda

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25 th July I came back to the house yesterday, and Honsa and Jana were away in the forest, so I had free time. Communication has always been an issue regarding travel. At very least one needs a phone for emergencies but more broadly, use of the Internet helps you to do so much, especially arranging one’s next port of call. In hindsight, I wish I had set up a phone contract before I left the UK but instead just bought a sim pay-as-you go. This has proved almost useless and too problematic. There is too much to tell about this but I’ve had an English sim and telephone number, a Dutch one, a German one and now a Czech one. The biggest problem has been getting enough data. In Germany, staying with Angelika, I told her I needed a sim because I had been travelling without the use of the phone for some while and if something happened I would be stuck. She told me about Aldi-Talk and insisted it was very good. I was reluctant to get a sim from Aldi but there seemed no choice. Then...
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Finding peace

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24 th July I woke early and of course it was a new day. My feelings of sorrow had vanished with the night. I made coffee, ate cornflakes and had a cigar; the campers were slowly arousing. Slowly the sun was rising above the pines bringing itself to bear on the campsite. I went for a walk. The forest was so still, air soft, sunlight sifting through the branches on the trees, lighting up the patterns of the rock. I wandered around taking photos and feeling at one with tranquillity around me. In a small sunlit glade I practiced taichi; no one disturbed me. I felt at peace. Afterwards, I found another track and followed it through the hills back to the campsite.
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Nature calls

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Monday 23 rd July I texted Honsa and told him my plan and that I would be back the following day, and left after I had finished putting all the insulators on the fence posts. When I got to the beautiful camp-site nestling between high sandstone rocks and woodland, I was desperate for a crap. It was good to use a proper toilet and also empty out my chemical loo. Now it was time for a beer. I walked to the nearest village, Kokořín, and found a restaurant; I had pork with cabbage and dumplings, very traditional, it was good but too much. Time to walk off the food filling my stomach. I walked up to the hrad (castle), high on the hill. It was closed for the day and so I just wandered around the high rounded stone walls amongst the forest. On a large slab of eroded soft rock, people had etched their names and also love hearts. A girl in her thirties was also alone; she too was walking around the base of the castle. I didn’t want to seem that I was following her but it was the ...
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