Jane & Rog’s Eastwards Coddiwomple

Sorry to hear about your ankle. A good ankle exercise is to make the motions of writing the alphabet with your big toe on the affected foot ( can do the non affected one too if you want :giggle: ). Also elevate the foot higher than your bum whenever you can. It should heal well. I did mine 20 years ago and although I used to get occasional aches I haven't for a long while .
 
Sorry to hear about your ankle. A good ankle exercise is to make the motions of writing the alphabet with your big toe on the affected foot ( can do the non affected one too if you want :giggle: ). Also elevate the foot higher than your bum whenever you can. It should heal well. I did mine 20 years ago and although I used to get occasional aches I haven't for a long while .
Thanks! I’ve found some NHS guidelines & I’m doing the elevation and the up down motion for the first 2 weeks. Writing letters is advanced stuff for week 3 :)

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Coddliwompling in Colditz

We had a peaceful night in the aire at Freyburg (ovary.routines.introduction). I highly recommend it - close to walks, the town, Weinstüber - and all for only €2.

Sadly we woke to pissing rain, so Rog & Flynn’s coddiwompling up the long distance path from the aire was curtailed, and we headed off for Colditz Castle. One of us still seemed pretty tired, though…

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We’ve actually visited Colditz before - back in September 2001, on our way back from Czechia, or whatever it was called then. We’d had a week in a small hotel in Prague, and quite a week it turned out to be. We wandered down to the hotel lobby one morning to find a bunch of Americans clustered round the TV, tuned to CNN, which was showing the rolling headline, “America under attack.”

“Must be some sort of spoof,” I said, seconds before the second tower fell. I must say, so many news channels are dying to employ me for my political acumen.

Off topic, sorry. Anyway, as we drove back towards Blighty, we spotted Colditz on the map (paper in those days, young people of today, don’t know they’re born, gibber, gibber…) and of course we had to visit. In 2001, the castle was a very different place. It hadn’t been restored or really set up for visiting much, but we did find a guide who spoke English, and who took the pair of us (there were no other visitors!) around what sights there were.

She told us how, during the DDR days, everyone in the town just thought of the castle as an asylum, and how confused they were after the fall of the Berlin wall, when British cars kept turning up to what seemed to be some sort of famous place in our history. They took one former POW for a tour, and afterwards, he said “So you’ve not found the radio, then?” The answer being in the negative, he showed the guides which bit of fake wall to knock down, and there was said radio, just as it had been left in 1945!

As we drove towards the castle today, we decided we needed roles for our escape attempt. Of course we both wanted to be Chief Escape Officer, but Rog pointed out that I had a dodgy leg, and I had to be confined to the Sick Bay. Flynn, with his keenness to evict rabbits and mess up my herb bed, was made Captain of Tunnelling.

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In 2024, the visitor experience is quite slick compared to 23 years ago, but not in a bad way. You are given a tablet, with which you scan various plate-like codes about the place, and then you are shown a virtual 3D mirror onto the past. Pan your tablet around the room, and you can click on anything that interests you. (There are also normal human tours, but the English ones were all booked today.)

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Dummy prisoner for faking the counts

There are three strands/eras in the 2024 visit - the Renaissance, the war years, and the castle’s use as a clinic and asylum in DDR times. Due to the Captain of Tunnelling being imprisoned in Denby without an escape route, and the sun finally coming out, we restricted ourselves to just the war stuff.

Here you can see, above and to the left of me, that I’ve been counting the flights of stairs I’ve had to climb. ( Too many, is all you need to know.)

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One of the most fascinating parts of our visit was the short 2012 film on the reconstruction of the glider. (Well worth waiting the current showing out, and pressing the button to see it again in English, as it’s actually in English!) Spoiler alert - they did it, and the unmanned plane flew across the river and landed in a meadow 180m below. I must admit to a lump in my throat on seeing it.

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We left Colditz via the famous courtyard.

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We started off heading for Meissen and some road-side overnight parking there, but it being Saturday, and the parking and the restaurants being likely to be jam-packed, made us take a last minute coddiwomple to a free car park just outside Altkötzschenbroda.

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After a dog walk for Rog, and Flynn, obviously, but not me, sadly, we chilled for a bit and both had showers in Denby.

We had a drink in a Biergarten on our way into town, and for the first time it felt like a summer holiday - outside, under the trees and umbrellas, near the vines. So much so that we had a second drink.

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Then we hobbled to Schwartze Seele for another beer…

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… and to fulfil a German dream of Rog’s, just in time before we leave the country. He’s been dying to get a German sausage inside him, and finally he managed it, with a Bratwürst. I, being an old trout, had a young one, and delicious it was too.

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Ankle score: fair to middling, veering southerly when tired. Too many steps in old castles.

Coddiwomple score: Unteroffizier der Misswirtschaft sagt “Jawohl!”
 
After having a similar incident with my ankle, a dogs and chickens incident in portugal this spring!

An undiagnosed injury i might add.

I walked it out the next day, slowly until it stopped hurting( on my own as I was cursing my situation) this did not fix it, as it was weak, but did allow for full movement, but slower.

Now no problem.

Hope this helps.
 
Well done Jane for carrying on. I would have wanted to go home and lie in bed watching movies all day, eating and putting on a stone in a couple of weeks:giggle:(y)
Think I’ll do that anyway - dropped from 21,000 steps the day before the injury to 3,000 odd now. And I seem to be no less hungry :(

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Coddiwompling day 7: Into Czechia

Despite the camping in Altkötzschenbroda being in the town’s car park, it was very peaceful. It is also right next to the river so Flynn got his morning swim and Jane took her Earl Grey on the bank.

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Also available as a mindfulness podcast

In Germany it’s illegal to be outside on Sunday so we made good time to…. Well where to go because everything in Germany is closed on Sunday. We briefly toyed with backtracking to Meissen to pick up a souvenir piece of pottery (Denby preceded by Spode being our two vans, there’s a theme here you see) but, the cheapest coffee mug Meissen make is €78. Let’s not even look at the most expensive. Well, let’s take a quick look, it’s quite a thing. Maybe get one to celebrate Jane’s leg getting better.

Anyway, nothing to do in Germany except not be able to afford a mug so on to Czechia. Bohemian Switzerland to be precise. This is the other side of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains that also make up Saxon Switzerland in Germany. We drove through the steep sided Elbe River and then up next to a tributary to the centre of the national park. We had planned a full day walking out via Europe’s longest natural stone bridge and back by river. Sadly broken ankles put pay to that so I took Flynn for a quick climb up to some of the more impressive sandstone outcrops. Except I didn’t. For the second time this century, the forest in Bohemian Switzerland has been wiped out. In 2017-18 the spruce trees planted by the Victorians suffered from drought and were then scoffed by bark beetle. The government replanted with a less homogeneous population but, last year, there was a fire that killed a lot of trees and weakened the soil. This means a lot of the paths are closed.

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Death by squashing awaits

Flynn and I tried out best to make a good walk but we had to double back a lot. It’s a shame because the park is beautiful. Full of huge rock edifices and deep damp gorges. It’s also full of foxgloves - possibly making the most of clearings left by the fires.

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Sandstone as far as the eye can see
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Surely fox mittens?

Eventually reunited with Jane back at the car park we decided to have lunch at the U Fořta Mezní Louka hotel (///accommodate.earliest.contend). We were expecting sausages and beer but it was actually quite posh: duck pate and wild garlic syrup for Jane and pork neck and pasta risotto with wild mushrooms and chestnuts for me. Alcohol limits for driving in Czechia are an easily understood and easily followed: “none” so I washed it all down with water whilst Jane had an Aperol Spritz - a sure sign that the temperature is rising.

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Temperature, rising

From the car park, it was a short hop to our home for the night: Autokamping Česka Brána (///competently.nurses.toys). It’s a lovely site with a lake and a restaurant where they brew their own beer. In hindsight we picked our pitch too early and couldn’t have got something much wilder feeling but it’s still nice.

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Photo of your van, camping etc.

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Camp beer. May be 8% by volume.

The site is great, modulo very Eastern European showers that take cash money and then direct you to scurry to a numbered cubicle. Not great for the team’s invalid.

Dinner was BBQ pork steaks from Germany, some left over sprouting broccoli imported from Blighty and a delicious chickpea stew by Jane. Also, that campsite beer.

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Both the U Fořta Mezní Louka restaurant and Autokamping Česka Brána don’t take cards so we’re burning through our eurocash. At least they don’t expect Czechia blip blaps. Except in that shower.

Codiwomple rating: getting hotter
 
Coddiwompling to Kutna Hora

I decided not to spend my remaining Czech Crown (aka shower token) as yesterday’s difficulties with the random racing cubicle lights nearly caused a sliding accident. Rog made a similar decision, only his was based on laziness and a greater affinity to filth.

The day started well on the coddiwompling front, as I’d found out we were near the Czech crystal glass making area. Sadly not near enough - our stop at Crystalex was good for the wallet rather than the dinner table.

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There was some nice enough stuff at reasonable prices, but nothing worth the hassle of transporting it hundreds of miles in a bumpy motorhome, only to throw a load of shards of glass into the bin a thousand miles later.

Next stop, a parking spot near the small castle of Skaini Hrad. Sounds like something they boast washing powder can remove from football shorts…

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Rog took Flynn off for a walk up one of the numerous trails in the area. Again it was a lovely area, with sandstone stacks and even a cave for Flynn to discover someone’s left-over lunch in.

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Yum, carrot, garlic and Tictac sarnies, my favourite!


I stayed behind and sulked, uh, I mean, made lunch. Not that it was too onerous, even with a fractured ankle I can open a cheese wrapper and slice a cucumber. Not with the fractured ankle, obviously, I use my hands like a normal person.

Our next stop was more planning than coddiwompling - Sedlec Ossuary.

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This is a chapel under the Roman Catholic All Saints cemetery church. It’s estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, many of whose bones have been “artistically” arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel.

True to form this holiday, we’ve visited it before. This time it was in December 2005, as we drove from France to Ukraine to start work in Kyiv.

Back then, the chapel was dark, lit mainly with candlelight, and we were the only visitors, let loose on the place with our SLRs and long lenses.

Not so this time, as we dodged the Japanese tour party - and neither were we allowed to take any photos.

The ones below slipped into our phone cameras by accident…

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Our parking spot for the night was not far away - a car park by the Kutna Hora stadium. It wasn’t great, but rating divided by cost was infinite, so we’re not complaining.

Well, actually we are, because after a week of fairly British 2024 weather (it’s summer, oh no it’s not, repeat ad infinitum), today it turned continental. It was 28 degrees at about 5pm, very unpleasant in the van without aircon, so we all (Flynn included) walked into town for a look around, a drink and an early dinner.

It was quite a trot to be honest, for those of us with dodgy pins, and the steep cobbled streets weren’t much fun.

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Wait for me!


We settled on Restaurant Dačický for dinner. (Just look at those accents. I’ve no clue how to pronounce it.) It’s an Old Bohemian restaurant apparently (just like a few of my friends) and has lovely wood panelling to its insides (also like a few of my friends…).

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We chose to sit outside in the beer garden, which was also lovely with pub tables under the linden trees.

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Starters were enough for a main course so had to be left unfinished - beef tartare and 4 “small” toasts for me, and devilled toast for Rog, which turned out to be two massive toasts topped with three chickens, four green peppers and a litre of sauce. I won.

Main course was smoked pork and spinach with potato cones for Rog. He was quite offended, mathematically, when the cones turned out to be cylinders. “They should specify infinite height,” he said.

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Not a cone!

I wanted the pork knee on black beer, but Rog pointed out that it was 1.2kg and I don’t have the appetite I used to.

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In the end, I settled for a mere 200g of beef with lemon, cranberries, bread dumplings, and a whole firkin of sauce,

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All delicious, and only €47 of your good German euros, including 2 drinks each and water for the pooch.

Coddliwompling score - fair to poor

Ankle score - Less swollen and 10,200 steps! Apple should stop nagging me about my rings.
 
Last edited:
We settled on Restaurant Dačický for dinner. (Just look at those accents. I’ve no clue how to pronounce it.
I would be impressed if you could pronounce it, I was even impressed by you knowing how to type the accents!

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We visited Croatia and veg was totally lacking in most meals there too!

Glad your ankle is holding up Jane. Really enjoying your trip vicariously!
 
Coddiwompling day 7: Into Czechia

Despite the camping in Altkötzschenbroda being in the town’s car park, it was very peaceful. It is also right next to the river so Flynn got his morning swim and Jane took her Earl Grey on the bank.

View attachment 910397
Also available as a mindfulness podcast

In Germany it’s illegal to be outside on Sunday so we made good time to…. Well where to go because everything in Germany is closed on Sunday. We briefly toyed with backtracking to Meissen to pick up a souvenir piece of pottery (Denby preceded by Spode being our two vans, there’s a theme here you see) but, the cheapest coffee mug Meissen make is €78. Let’s not even look at the most expensive. Well, let’s take a quick look, it’s quite a thing. Maybe get one to celebrate Jane’s leg getting better.

Anyway, nothing to do in Germany except not be able to afford a mug so on to Czechia. Bohemian Switzerland to be precise. This is the other side of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains that also make up Saxon Switzerland in Germany. We drove through the steep sided Elbe River and then up next to a tributary to the centre of the national park. We had planned a full day walking out via Europe’s longest natural stone bridge and back by river. Sadly broken ankles put pay to that so I took Flynn for a quick climb up to some of the more impressive sandstone outcrops. Except I didn’t. For the second time this century, the forest in Bohemian Switzerland has been wiped out. In 2017-18 the spruce trees planted by the Victorians suffered from drought and were then scoffed by bark beetle. The government replanted with a less homogeneous population but, last year, there was a fire that killed a lot of trees and weakened the soil. This means a lot of the paths are closed.

View attachment 910398
Death by squashing awaits

Flynn and I tried out best to make a good walk but we had to double back a lot. It’s a shame because the park is beautiful. Full of huge rock edifices and deep damp gorges. It’s also full of foxgloves - possibly making the most of clearings left by the fires.

View attachment 910400
Sandstone as far as the eye can see
View attachment 910399
Surely fox mittens?

Eventually reunited with Jane back at the car park we decided to have lunch at the U Fořta Mezní Louka hotel (///accommodate.earliest.contend). We were expecting sausages and beer but it was actually quite posh: duck pate and wild garlic syrup for Jane and pork neck and pasta risotto with wild mushrooms and chestnuts for me. Alcohol limits for driving in Czechia are an easily understood and easily followed: “none” so I washed it all down with water whilst Jane had an Aperol Spritz - a sure sign that the temperature is rising.

View attachment 910403
Temperature, rising

From the car park, it was a short hop to our home for the night: Autokamping Česka Brána (///competently.nurses.toys). It’s a lovely site with a lake and a restaurant where they brew their own beer. In hindsight we picked our pitch too early and couldn’t have got something much wilder feeling but it’s still nice.

View attachment 910404
Photo of your van, camping etc.

View attachment 910405
Camp beer. May be 8% by volume.

The site is great, modulo very Eastern European showers that take cash money and then direct you to scurry to a numbered cubicle. Not great for the team’s invalid.

Dinner was BBQ pork steaks from Germany, some left over sprouting broccoli imported from Blighty and a delicious chickpea stew by Jane. Also, that campsite beer.

View attachment 910392

Both the U Fořta Mezní Louka restaurant and Autokamping Česka Brána don’t take cards so we’re burning through our eurocash. At least they don’t expect Czechia blip blaps. Except in that shower.

Codiwomple rating: getting hotter
Please can I have the chickpea stew recipe:giggle:
 
Please can I have the chickpea stew recipe:giggle:
They vary :)

This one was something like - fry an onion and 1.5 courgettes in olive oil. Thinly slice garlic and gently fry too. Add a load of halved cherry tomatoes that are too much on the edge for lunch. Simmer a little. Add tin chickpeas with its liquid, plus a good old squeeze of tomato puree, lemon juice and some smoked paprika. I’d have added a red pepper but we forgot to buy one :)
 
I diverse slightly but I can’t help notice that the front of your van is slightly a different shade, now I remember you had it done in Morocco, how is it holding up ..? Is the paintwork still good…🤔

I ask as I’m thinking of getting some paint done while I’m out there this winter…

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You can see the bruising coming out Jane. Ouch! I hope it’s not too painful, great you are mobile, but take it easy too.

Loving your hols, very interesting, funny and inspiring. Flynn is a treasure.

His brother from another mother was trooping the king last weekend…

IMG_3494.png
 
I diverse slightly but I can’t help notice that the front of your van is slightly a different shade, now I remember you had it done in Morocco, how is it holding up ..? Is the paintwork still good…🤔

I ask as I’m thinking of getting some paint done while I’m out there this winter…
Yes, all still good. I really don’t notice the difference in colour myself - it just looks like the light is different on the front of the van, so I’m happy with it.
 
You can see the bruising coming out Jane. Ouch! I hope it’s not too painful, great you are mobile, but take it easy too.

Loving your hols, very interesting, funny and inspiring. Flynn is a treasure.

His brother from another mother was trooping the king last weekend…

View attachment 911062
Flynn would be behaving more like that naughty horse.
 
I diverse slightly but I can’t help notice that the front of your van is slightly a different shade, now I remember you had it done in Morocco, how is it holding up ..? Is the paintwork still good…🤔

I ask as I’m thinking of getting some paint done while I’m out there this winter…

The front of my left foot is now a different colour to the rest of it - does that mean the German doctor was really Moroccan?

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