We have been aero- and tele-transported to the Czech Republic, specifically the Wallachian area of Moravia. (Sounds gloomy and medieval, doesn’t it? Well, it IS November and grey.)

As in Spain, there are distinct villages and towns strung out along the countryside. Walking routes are marked, but not quite as clearly as the one-way unwavering path to Santiago that has been trodden daily for 1000 years.

Since I understand almost no Czech, N is now the tour leader and interpreter. Her parents (89 and 96) are doing well but don’t stray from the house much anymore. We are trying to maintain our walking habits through day trips.

Our daily distances are less (maybe 15 km) and we aren’t carrying significant backpacks, but we defensively point out that some trips involve a trip up, over and down a small mountain of 1100 m, while we start in the valley at an unknown elevation, perhaps 300 m. Yesterday we started at 10 a.m. and arrived at the destination town at 4 pm. The intervening 6 hours were spent hiking up a forested mountainside (but these are the Beskyd Mountains, not the Rockies), pausing whenever we wanted because we had no males or young people watching…

Then a short walk along the ridge to a restaurant where I had sauerkraut soup.
After the soup we passed by a statue of St Cyr and Methodus…

The descent addressed the portions of our legs that had been overlooked on the trip up.

After some window-shopping in the town (much more prosperous than 20 years ago when the Iron Curtain fell), visited a friend, and took a bus home.

Another day we were warned that there was a weather inversion but we decided to walk 10 km to scenic Stramberk and a further 7 km to Pribor.

The castle, museum and tower at Stramberk were closed but we enjoyed the view.

The view was limited by the fog, but the sauerkraut soup was better.

The trip home was by train and bus, with a connection at Koprivnice. We didn’t get off the train at the right stop so had to race back on foot to the bus station. At least that added to our mileage for the day!