By Ricky, on August 26th, 2018 The dry stream bed of Olešnicka © Ricky Yates
I need to start this post with a sincere apology to those who regularly visit and follow my blog, for the very long gap between my post about further progress with the house and garden in early June, and my post about walking above Kanon Labe, published ten days ago. As a result of my blogging inactivity, July 2018 became the first month in the nine-and-a-half years of my blog’s existence, in which I did not publish a post 🙁
My main excuse for my lack of blogging over this summer has been the weather. For the past three months, the Czech Republic, along with much of Central Europe, has experienced a heatwave with daytime temperatures well in . . . → Read More: A very hot summer and a visit to the UK
By Ricky, on August 16th, 2018 The Labe river flowing towards Germany, where it becomes the Elbe © Ricky Yates
On Saturday 1st September, a group from my former congregation at St Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church, Prague, are travelling by train to Decín, for me to take them on a guided walk through the Labské pískovce Protected Landscape Area where I now live. This post is both an account of my research for that walk and is also aimed at giving the prospective participants, a taster of what they can look forward to experiencing 🙂
The walk starts in the village of Ludvíkovice, which lies between Decín and Stará Oleška. From outside the Post Office, where I parked my car, I then walked into the forest a short way, to join the red . . . → Read More: A walk above Kanon Labe
By Ricky, on June 4th, 2018 Empty room © Ricky Yates
At the end of an earlier blog post entitled ‘Finishing touches and next steps‘, I posted this picture of one end of the small room behind the kitchen and stated: ‘My plan is to decorate it to get rid of all the orange 😉 and then get Elefant to fit further matching units along the wall on the right, to store all those things that didn’t fit in the kitchen’.
On Wednesday 23rd May, just over two months after I wrote that post, my plan came to fruition when Martin from Elefant, came and fitted my chosen units. Before that, I spent many hours over several days, removing unwanted things attached to, or sticking out from, the walls, and . . . → Read More: Further progress with the house and garden
By Ricky, on May 1st, 2018 Bonfire with witch, ready for burning © Ricky Yates
Yesterday evening, Monday 30th April, I attended my first ever Carodejnice, here in my adopted home village of Stará Oleška. In the nearly ten years that I have lived in the Czech Republic, I had both heard and read about Carodejnice, but had never experienced the tradition whilst living in urban Prague. However, in the North Bohemian countryside, the tradition is alive and well.
Carodejnice is very similar to the better-known Germanic tradition of Walpurgis Night. It involves having a large bonfire on which the effigy of a witch is burnt. Historically, the idea was to ward off evil spirits. These days, it is used as the opportunity for an outdoor evening party, helped by the following day being May . . . → Read More: Carodejnice – the burning of witches night
By Ricky, on April 10th, 2018 Entering the National Park on the yellow waymarked route © Ricky Yates
Last Friday, I drove over the border into Germany, in order to visit the Bastei, a major landmark in the Sächsische Schweiz/Saxon Switzerland. The Bastei is a rock formation consisting of a series of eroded sandstone pillars, towering above the Elbe river.
Rather than drive to the nearest car park and almost certainly pay a substantial parking fee, instead I drove to the village of Rathewalde. However, even parking there cost me €2.00!
Walking down the main street of Rathewalde, I joined the yellow waymarked route which headed gently upwards into the forest and the National Park.
After walking for about forty . . . → Read More: Bastei
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