Day 8 - Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Yes, the morning swim is always nice! So it was on this day too.
I left the reservoir on a pretty road through the forest. One thing I do have to commend about the Czech Republic is that very advanced infrastructure: most roads are really nicely paved and the road signs for bikers is really super.
I reached a renaissance castle in Březnice, with a peaceful garden around it.
After town, I was riding on some quaint rolling countryside, rolling from one pretty village to the next. I had some minor bike issues and was pleasantly surprised to see the sign of a bike mechanic on one of the village houses. I entered and found a person, who indeed was a bike repair man and he quickly found a solution, we then chit-chatted. He moved here from a larger city and was really happy to be there with his family - would never want to return. He then asked me if I had visited the Dvořák estate. I looked at him quizzingly, not knowing what he was talking about.
About 10 kilometers away, slightly uphill, was an estate that belonged to Dvořák´s brother-in-law - and I decided to ride there. I am sure you have heard of the village Vysoká u Příbramě (no? really?). There is a large landscape park, in the middle of which is a neo-renaissance castle. There is also a fishpond called Rusalčino jezírko, which inspired Dvořák to write his most famous opera, Rusalka. The castle houses a museum dedicated to Dvořák's life and work. I was pretty much the only visitor and the friendly staff of four or five employees were more than happy to show me around. As I was told, Dvořák composed and Slavic Dances here and that is where they were first performed.
Following the pretty town of Stred, I reached Pilsen in the evening, around 7 pm. There was a lot of commotion, at the brewery, a concert was about to be performed and there were loads of people casually walking around. I started looking for accommodation - hotels were either booked out or were quite expensive. There was a campground about 5 kilometers away - and I called them around 7:40 pm. They told me if I would arrive by 8 pm, I was welcome to enter - but at the top of the hour, the reception would close and there was no way to enter. So I made a dash for it and reached it just before closing.
Well, if there is a lake, I was compelled to take a dip. It was not the most pleasant swims of my life, there was pondweed all over the bottom of this shallow lake, making it a rather frustrating experience.
After the swim, I chatted with a German fellow biker, who was hauling a trailer with his stuff. Not sure why anyone would do that - but then people are different.
That day I biked just shy of 100 km (97 km) and made 1,050 meters of ascent.