Winter walks on skis

When you feel like a walk in the middle of Winter, you'd have a hard time going unless you put on a pair of walking skis. There are two ways to enjoy this pastime: one, when you take yourself on the many kilometres of prepared cross-country, or 'langlauf' walkways, kept by the municipality and well signed.
You can buy maps that clearly mark these paths, and as moving on skis is faster than walking on foot, you can cover further distances in the Winter than you would in the Summer, and see much of the countryside, stop off in villages for a mulled wine or beer, go alone or in groups, and take it easy, or exercise your athletic prowess :-)

Two - and this is what I prefer - is to go into uncharted territory and make your own marks. There is nothing like the feel of the snow squashing under the narrow ski. Of course you don't cover as much ground as you would on a made-up langlauf highway, but, especially when going quite alone and being quiet you meet animals: hares, rabbits, deer.... I even saw a fox as I was coming back the other afternoon close to dusk.

I love this country with all it has to offer. And being here in Krumlov means you needn't go far to get these pleasures: five minutes outside the town, and you are in a forest. So you have the best of both worlds.

skating at Lipno lake

When Lake Lipno freezes over, as it does every Winter (and it freezes so deep that people even drive cars, even lorries, over - as ferries obviously don't operate at Winter time) it is time for families to go skating, a must for most people here. When much snow has fallen, the Lipno resort obliges by keeping a clear path over the ice - 11km long - so you can skate to your heart's content and it never gets crowded like normal municipal outdoor ice-rinks tend to at this time. They also keep a path for people on walking-skis - 'langlauf' being another activity beloved by Czechs of all ages and shapes. But that maybe is a subject for some other blog.
In the evening, tired and full of endorphins from the sun and the exhillaration of skating, you get an added bonus of the famously spectacular sunsets over the lake. What more can one ask of a piece of Nature?

half term pleasures

The family are here again - so I am again indulging in giving the children the opportunities that our little Southern Bohemian paradise offers. So little Anna and I (and a couple more Krumlov Brits), led by Sarka from Stable Pohoda, went for a fabulous late-afternoon horse ride in the snowy landscape, a great excitement for Anna as we didn't get home till the dark, the horses picking their way through the deep snow underfoot. Moments to stick in the child's memory - the sharp frosty air, the glistening snow in the pinkish sunset, the showers of powdery snow from branches overhead when riding among trees. And the total silence save for the soft crunch of the horses' hooves.
And then the daily tuition at the Lipno ski school, delivering fantastic value: the instructors here are brilliant, speak fluent English and really know how to get the best out of the children - Anna is now confidently skiing any hill on offer, and her 6yr old brother surprised us yesterday by showing perfectly relaxed turns and bombing down the red run with such joy that I couldn't believe my eyes!
Oh - and one more thing - we grown ups took a day discovering another 'local' resort, Karlstift, just over the Austrian border. Small, but just great for a single day out - 2 reds, one black, and one blue. Challenging enough yet almost empty of people. Highly recommended for those visitors to Krumlov who find the Lipno resort a little too easy or busy.

Wow - powder snow on empty pistes

What, now, after Easter? Well, Winter obviously got re- surrected so we couldn't resist the snow, and drove down to Sternstein in Austria (40 mins South of Krumlov). There must have been all of ten skiers altogether on the beautifully prepared slopes today, and the conditions were truly fantastic - nice and fast on the piste, and fluffy through the trees. Wow.
Sternstein is a nicely old-fashioned, little gem of a resort, just right for a quick dash to the slopes - not somewhere you'd want to spend a week at, as all it consists of are two runs of 1.5 kilometers each, one red, one blue. But just right to enjoy a day out,
together with its neat, truly Austrian, restaurant serving strudels and goulash and other typical delights.

What a wonderful day, and what a gift by the weather angels :-)

(BTW for more challenging skiing, one would have to go a bit further (about an hour's drive in all), to Hochficht, which has many more runs of all standards (well, maybe not the black equivalent of the Wall at Avoriaz, but who cares when it's practically round the corner). We'll report from there too when we next go with a camera)

Skiing at Lipno lake (Kramolin) resort

Our family came to visit, with two small children - the purpose was to go skiing for their half-term holidays, as the nearest resort here is only 20 minutes drive from Cesky Krumlov. I was very nervous, as the weather has been much milder lately and most of the snow has gone, so I apologized as soon as they arrived: sorry, the snow at the resort will be no good any more.
But they insisted they wanted to go, and so it was completely touching to see their enthusiasm even at the little that there was! Having had no snow in Britain at all, they pounced on the sorry remnants of it here, and immediately started to roll in it, make little snowmen, do snowball fights and even carry large lumps of it around as if they were some fabulous treasure.

It almost wouldn't have mattered if I haven't had arranged for lessons. But they enjoyed those too, especially the older, 7yr old girl who was here for the second time. Being in Czecho, it is affordable to get private tuition, so each of the children had their own instructor with whom they quickly bonded and learned very fast. The older girl was bombing down the red runs like a pro by the end of the week, and even the younger boy was confident to ski straight down the blue at some speed.

But now they are gone, the house feels a little empty, but meanwhile the Spring has arrived and everything is starting to green up, with Spring flowers shooting out of the ground, and catkin bushes buzzing with millions of bees. I hope to take some pictures and post them up here soon.

That looks like fun

Lovely photos, Salamander - you really capture the Winter sunshine here and the joy of it after all those drab English winters. And as for the horse-drawn skiing, is that on snow or ice? And where do you do it?

Anyway while we are about it here is a snowy photo of mine.

temptation?

Maybe I can whet peoples' appetites by showing this photo of Czech Winter. If anyone wants to see more, please write and I'll put up loads! You see, Winter here can be blue-sky sunny and crisp, a bit like people might know from Alpine skiing holidays. Tempted yet?