Oh boy, the Czech beer from last night did make us wake up a little lazier than usual… Which is why we decided to spend our morning skating instead of cumbersomely ploughing our way through more knee-high snow drifts. After all, our boards would have been pissed-off if we hadn’t made use of them at all.

No sooner said than done. We quickly settled for a middle-steep, well-paved road next to a little river for our training. MY training, that is. I’m still a little wobbly down-hill while Sebastian masters even sharp turns with ease. So, almost running over little children and barking pets, we cruised down this road in slalom over and over again and hey, I only fell once! But don’t worry, the crash merely left a scratch on my knee and a little shock. In fact, I doubt it could have left more serious injuries at all since I was patted up like a Michelin Männchen. Better be safe than sorry!

After lunch, we set out on a casual 12km hike through nice woody hills, starting at a reservoir. There were pretty much no other hikers around and the landscape was lovely, so we enjoyed our final stroll very much. I know that my German readers must have heard of the legend of Rübezahl. He’s basically something like the deity or wood gnome of the Sudetes. They say he can transform himself into any organism be it a plant, a human or an animal and he’s responsible for the weather – so better not make him mad because he is known to be a very moody old fella. What we didn’t know: Amongst many other behaviours, it makes the dude angry when you call him by his nickname Rübezahl (apparently, he prefers Mr. Johannes or Lord of the Forest). Uh-oh. I wish we had known this beforehand! I guess that explains the blizzard and the bad sunburn from the two former hikes! Impudent us, we should really remember to praise the ancient forest gods properly next time! Unless I need to dance naked through the woods or offer a blood sacrifice, in that case I prefer to risk their wrath, cheers.

And after this last walk, it was already time to drive back home ☹ Wow, we couldn’t believe we had only arrived two days before! On the way back, we picked up a couple of Czech hitchhikers. Unfortunately, the male one carried at least three bottles of Schnapps in his breath but the girl made up for it by recommending a really nice restaurant in Turnov to us. This way, we managed to score hitchhike-karma-points AND a delicious final to this trip! Stuffed, sunburnt and maybe a little smelly we arrived safely back in Berlin later that night.

Our conclusion:

What an awesome getaway! Due to the snow, the trip turned out way more adventurous than we had expected and Spindlerov Mlyn really offers a close and cheap destination. And good beer, don’t forget the beer. All the Czech people we met were friendly and welcoming, most even spoke decent German. Bottom line: We will surely remember the Sudetes and might even come back for a ski holiday. Right now, we are cutting the video about this trip.

The only downside we can think of: The highest mountain of this range is Sněžka with its summit at 1603m… We are craving for higher peaks!!!