We stayed longer than anticipated in Germany and Poland and had to make up time (because we were to meet our good friends, the Dedics, in Austria in just two days time). So, we made fast time through the Czech Republic planning just one stop such that we could visit the country’s second city of Brno. We stopped at a campsite in Veverska Bityska, some 20 kms outside of Brno, because (a) it looked a good campsite and (b) we would be able to get a boat trip from the village all the way down the River Svratka and across the reservoir to within spitting distance of Brno. Well, that’s what we thought.
There’s not a great deal to Veverska Bityska but the campsite was as good as the reviews suggested it would be and the owner operators proved both friendly and helpful (not least because I had reacted badly to a horsefly bite I received in Poland and needed to get to a chemist). They steered me towards the town’s ATM (we had no Czech currency and everyone seems to want cash in this area) and the only chemist in miles (and she did want cash) and then I had a bit of a wander. There is very little to see in the town; the Church of St James The Great (St Jakub) which was built in 1771, a school, a handful of shops and three not very impressive looking cafe bars.
The Svratka River is a pretty enough feature of the town and the hot weather (high thirties) had prompted a number of people to come out for a swim. As I walked back to the campsite along a 1 kilometre bicycle path which tracked the river I was sorely tempted to take a dip myself. Instead, I went back to the Van, cooked up a BBQ and then sat drinking Talisker whisky with a German and his wife until late in the night.
A hundred yards or so downstream from the campsite is a small jetty where the next day I would get a boat (public shuttle service) down river and across the Brnenska Prehrada Reservoir towards Brno.
