Well after an all too quick visit to Vienna, Austria, and as the weather was nearly 40 degrees centigrade, we decided to head northwest towards Prague. We did not expect to make it all the way before we decided to stop, but felt that as the heat was oppressive, that we were better served by getting some miles under our belt.

On the way towards the border, we noticed that the wind was kicking up and starting to affect the motorhome. Within 20 miles from Vienna the temperature had dropped to 19 degrees and dark clouds started blowing in from the west. Within another 20 miles the threatening clouds started to burst and we experienced the first rain that we'd seen on this journey since we left Calais over 3 weeks before. The rain fell harder and harder over the next hour or so and en-route we were treated to many lightning strikes along the side of the road. The distinct change in the weather made the journey quite tough as the road surfaces were quite poor on entering Czech Republic.

As we got to within 30 miles of Prague, we decided to stop at a Camp4Night freebie stop a little way off the motorway. The weather had meant that it was much more tiring than we had expected, so we decided to stop and get a good night's sleep before travelling the last few miles in to the capital.

After a disturbed nights sleep, we awoke to a return of the good weather so were soon on the road to the campsite that Sarah had spotted. We arrived shortly after 10am to a lovely little site that was close the the river, on a cycle trail straight in to the city and surrounded by impressive scenery.

The site was lovely. They had thought of everything… in fact we think that it is the most well prepared site that we have stayed on. They had great facilities, big pitches, easy to reach drinking water supplies, a security guard at night as well as various sanitary, deodorants, tooth brushes razors etc., all free, and all still in their packets.

That afternoon we ventured out on the bikes, but sadly it was short-lived as Sarah had a puncture after only 10 minutes. As a result I ran back with the bike by my side, while Sarah rode my steed back home. We quickly decided that rather than spend time repairing the wheel we would take the train and tram in to the capital instead. Again, our hosts provided us with great instructions and even wrote down the tickets we needed so that the local ticket office could easily understand what we were after.

Prague was stunning, from the moment that we entered the outskirts of the old part of the city, quickly being able to spot the castle and cathedral up on the hill above the river.

A view looking north from Karluv Most (Charles Bridge), Prague, Czech Republic

When we arrived at the tram stop just 100m from Karluv Most (Charles Bridge) we took a moment to take in the spectacular building that surrounded the river. We first ventured across the bridge to the north side of the river and walked up through the small streets past the palace, castle and cathedral. I took hundreds of pictures! The stunning streets were around every corner.

Karluv Most (Charles Bridge), Prague, Czech Republic

We continued our afternoon tour by crossing back over the river to see the old town part of the city with it’s baroque buildings, Gothic churches and the medieval Astronomical Clock.

Astronomical Clock, Prague, Czech Republic

We loved the city so much that we quickly decided that we wanted to return the following day and actually ended up staying 3 nights as our camp spot was delightful.

Another stunning piece of architecture, Prague, Czech Republic

The following day we wandered around many of the old streets to the south of the river and enjoyed strolling through the streets with no set destination and no timetable to work to.

Gate House, Karluv Most (Charles Bridge), Prague, Czech Republic

On our last day we relaxed by reading our books, mending the puncture and generally chilling out. We knew that we were going to have a longer travel day the following day, so we felt that we needed a ‘do-nothing’ day before getting back behind the wheel again.

*If you want to see more of my pitcures of Prague, take a look at the Gallery page of this site as I took too many for the blog.