Crossing from Austria to the Czech Republic, the difference in wealth was immediately evident.. All the way through Belgium, Holland, Germany and Austria, the road were smooth perfection with bright markings and clear road signs. Crossing the border the road became unmarked, narrow and bumpy, road signs were non-existent and in their place roadsides were jammed with garden gnome shops? All very bizarre. Had we made a big mistake? Lucky for us, Lipno appeared. The lake is not far from the border and it's huge and beautiful. The town on the lake has none of the kitsch shops which lined the roads from the border and instead was lined with pizza restaurants, playgrounds and bars. The campsite was cheap and after an hour of pondering where to pitch the tent we ended up where we'd first parked which when we awoke the next day we realised was about the worst spot on the whole site. A hike away from the wash block long enough to warrant taking the bikes, and with grass that was so long and spiky you had to wear shoes outside of the tent. Oh well, no way we moving house once we were up. At least it was peaceful! Lipno, like the Tyrol is a ski station in winter which seems to mean, there's tonnes to do in the summer too. The lift up the hill was open and once at the top hiking and biking opportunities were endless. We opted for pure unadulterated fun at Forest Kingdom. A huge playpark with wooden castles and walkways and slides and zip lines and a low ropes course and goats and bouncy pillows and igloos and ice-cream! The ropes were our highlight with Jess and Otto proving at least as capable as I was over the obstacles which were around 6 feet off the floor. I'm not sure what was scarier for me, tackling the course myself or watching the kids do it. They weren't scared at all, of course. For them the only scary part of the park was the over exuberant goats. Lipno also had an alpine coaster, although smaller than the one at Imst, still fun. More fun still was the bobsleigh. A bit more oldskool: no seat belts, no rails to be fixed too, nothing to stop you flying out on the corners! Woo-hoo! Otto and I clocked 42kmph, Mikey left Jess in charge of the breaking and clocked 51kmph. Yikes! We saw a little rain the next day so retired to the town of Cesky Kumlov… apparently one of the prettiest old towns. It was suitably pretty and had a tower to climb so held the interest of the kids for a wet afternoon. A final last day, lazing by the beach playing on trampolines and on bouncy pillows and climbing frames built as ships and it was time to return to Austria.
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Useful Links to other sites:Authors (in a very loose sense of the word)Kelly and Mikey (but mostly Kelly). We sold up in the UK to travel with our two littluns for a year or so. If you want to know more click the about us! |