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So, where are we? Still in the Czech Republic — or Czechia, which I think is what they prefer to be called now. I still see “Czech Republic” written in plenty of places, but online it seems to be “Czechia” more often. I suppose that makes sense: it used to be Czechoslovakia, and now Slovakia is Slovakia, so Czechia being Czechia seems fair enough.
Anyway, we left Prague just over a week ago and have made a few stops since then. Nothing particularly memorable, if I’m honest. I’m not sure I’m that enamoured with Czechia. The architecture hasn’t really stood out to me: there are some nice churches and the occasional stately-looking home here and there, but nothing that has really impressed me.
The roads are a mixture too. Some have UK-style potholes, while others are smaller roads with much nicer surfaces. People can seem a bit serious, even slightly aggressive at times, although the people I’ve actually spoken to have generally been friendly enough. It’s just that if you’re walking down a road or track and pass someone with the dog, they don’t really say anything.
Most younger people seem to speak English. A few older people — men around my age or perhaps a little younger — told me that when they were growing up they were forced to learn Russian at school, whereas most younger people now learn English as their second language.
There isn’t a huge amount of obvious evidence of the Soviet era, although the place does have a slightly Soviet feel in parts. I was in Romania after the fall of Ceaușescu, and there are moments here that remind me of that. Some areas feel quite industrialised. Where I am now, though, is much more agricultural, with lots of trees, which is nice.
1I love two things about this video. One, the way the shake starts at her head and travels down her body to finish at her tail. Two, her collar seems top stay still and she revolves inside it. 😁
I’ve also come to realise that how you feel about nomadic life is influenced enormously by where you stop. This is my second night at this spot by the river, just on the outskirts of a small village, and it feels good. It’s easy to walk the dog, and either one of us — or both of us — can jump in the river repeatedly during the day when it gets too hot. It was 38°C today.
It’s not too busy, although every river or lake we’ve been to here has had a steady flow of locals coming and going, either fishing, swimming or paddleboarding. Paddleboarding seems quite popular now. Even so, this place just feels nice.
By contrast, the place where I parked by the lake felt very different. It was full of tents, much more claustrophobic, with quite a bit of litter and buildings in the background. It just didn’t have the same feel. This spot, by the river, is much better.
Tomorrow I’m going to head to a campsite because I need electricity. It sounds counter-intuitive, as Mel explained to me, but on really sunny, hot days like today the solar yield isn’t brilliant. Solar panels become less efficient when they get hot. Mine are flexible panels stuck to the roof, although I did mount them with polycarbonate strips underneath so there is at least some airflow. Ideally, they would have been mounted on an aluminium frame with air circulating properly around them. I think it would have been worse if they had been stuck directly to the roof.
Even with 1,000 watts of panels, in the middle of the day with the sun directly overhead, I was only getting around 450 to 500 watts. Because the temperature was so high, I had the air conditioning on as well. I started this morning at 78% battery, and when I checked again at 9 o’clock it was still at 60%. If it drops another 10 or 15% by morning, that could leave me at around 35%, which probably makes it worth finding a campsite and plugging in.
Charging at the EV station at Lidl
That’s probably enough rambling for now. I’ll post a couple of pictures of where we are along with this. Let me know what you think in the comments. I’m not planning to become a full-blown vlogger or social media star, but writing these updates might make it easier for me to keep track of the trip and a bit more interesting for anyone reading along.
So let me know: is it good, bad, worth doing again, or should I not bother? Any feedback is useful. Next time, I’ll talk a bit more about the plan from here.
Arrivederci.
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Wouldn’t it be so much simpler for everyone, including you if you just did all this on instagram?
You’d maybe even get sponsors for the van and people along the route might offer places to stay etc?
Thanks for the suggestion. It’s a blog rather than an Instagram channel. I don’t want it to be public. I don’t want my musings, photos and comments being on a Meta server and subject to their terms and conditions. I don’t want it being trawled by Meta bots. Maybe sometime in the future but not for now.
As I said on my first post, it’s as much as a log of my travels for me as a way to let friends and family see where we are and what we’re up to.
Not bothered about sponsors either.
I hope that makes sense. Thanks again.