Sunday, June 7th, 2026

Prague to Mladeč – Sobáčov
Distance ridden – 271 Kilometres

The previous evening, much to our trauma, we discovered that our camera, which had functioned perfectly during the MDA ride, earlier in the day, had totally given up the ghost !

It is quite old and, to be truthful, Lucie was already examining and evaluating its replacement, but the snaps of the MDA event could not be retrieved.
More significantly, it meant that our next trip – which began today – would need to be captured on our iPhones.

We got up early – not much packing was needed as most of our stuff was still in the bag after our return from Šumava and were strapping our new “wheelie” luggage onto the Softail by 9:30.

The SatNav, now set to “fastest” route, directed us around the Jižní Spojka (Southern Ring Road) – and, despite the fact it was a Sunday morning, straight onto the end of a huge traffic jam. Several kilometres had been coned off so that two guys in a van could tighten a couple of nuts in the Armco.

We sweated our way through it and eventually gained the sanctuary of the D11 motorway towards Hradec Králové.

What followed was a drone up the most boring piece of road in the country, if not in Europe. The countryside is as flat and generally featureless as a Dutch Polder for at least the first fifty kilometres although, past that point it does slowly move up a scale that commences with “dull”.

We turned off of the D11 at junction 84, onto the new D35 motorway which, on our last visit was merely road 35. As a consequence, we made quite good time to Holice, where we left the motorway. We filled up with petrol and coffee and Lucie was able to purchase some sunglasses having unaccountably managed to leave hers at home …

The Czech Stonehenge

Our first destination of the day was yet more Menhirs !
This was what is termed the “Czech Stonehenge” (not to be confused with the “Srbice Stonehenge” – see “Czech Menhirs 3”) and is a group of stones that which we hoped to find near to the tiny village of Říčky v Orlických horách in Northern Moravia

After leaving Holice, we once again found ourselves in a distinctly rural environment. By that I mean country roads in the middle of nowhere. The weather often looked quite threatening, but it did not rain.

There was not much traffic, the surroundings were gloriously beautiful and only the speed was a bit slow. The ceaselessly bending roads, particularly as we neared our destination, made it a very high-concentration piece of riding, but it was not unpleasant ….

Eventually, as we came to Říčky v Orlických horách, we found the site on the approach to the village. I have to admit to initially chugging past the parking place which was not marked. Turning the Softail round in such a narrow lane was not an easy task !

Once safely parked, we walked up the track on the other side of the road for about 250 metres.

In the meadow ahead, there was a mown path and we came to a circle of stones and several serious monoliths.

Sadly, from a photography angle, there were already two pairs of “new- agers” sprawled around the site. They were, no doubt, soaking up cosmic energy of some kind …..

We took as many “Hippy excluding” shots as we could.

This shows just how big the largest monolith is.

The history of the site is this.
Various stone circles are recorded as being on, or close to, the site and have been for centuries. Sadly, because they apparently bothered the local farmers and shepherds, they were gradually dismantled. Sometime in the early 21st Century (this one) the local farmer decided to replace the stones. Which are new and which are original is not known. It does have an air of peace and tranquility and seems very “right” ……..…

If you are heading towards Říčky v Orlických horách, the parking area (really a gateway) is at the end of a short straight, immediately before a left hand bend.

The GPS of the Stone Circle is 50.2079308N, 16.4417456E

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Moving on, we headed towards our next target which, for once was not a Menhir. Quite nearby, at least geographically, was the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Neratov v Orlických horách

On the way, on Road 319, we passed by Pevnost Hanička (Little Hana Fortress). This was part of what may well have proved Czechoslovakia’s impenetrable defence network – had not the French (and, to my shame, the British), casually handed part of the country to Hitler in 1938, thereby putting him inside the lines.

There is a network of blockhouses and they are still formidable, even now, but they were never tested in combat. Sadly, we had a bit of time pressure and could only give the site the briefest “once-over”

The GPS of the parking lot is 50.1871967N, 16.5092953E

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It was, by then, after lunchtime, but Lucie leaves little to chance and had “pre-located” a place for us to eat. She had picked the Restaurace Hruška (Bartošovice v Orlických horách 9, Bartošovice v Orlických horách). It looked a little down at heel, but the landlord was affable and very friendly.

The food was good (more trout for Lucie) and well priced. We sat outside in the sunshine to eat and were able to watch a surprising amount of bikers passing by in both directions…..

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Full, but not to the point of sleepiness, we set off for the seven kilometre ride along road 311 to Neratov.

We found the church fairly easily (Bartošovice v Orlických horách), it is high on a hill. We parked at the base of the hill and walked up.

The church was once a site of pilgrimage, but was severely damaged at the end of World War II. It fell into complete disrepair and became such a ruin that it was once thought to be beyond saving. However a lot of work was done and the church has been the subject of a quite spectacular transformation. The building has a very imposing facade in Rococo style, but that is not what makes it so special. Inside, the collapsed roof had been replaced with some planks – and an absolutely spectacular glass apex. The whole interior was bright and airy and this made even the rough and unfinished walls look totally “right”.
I am not religious, but this was a lovely place.

A baby boy was being christened whilst we were there – how lucky he is !

The church is once again a place of pilgrimage and a State protected heritage site.

The GPS of the church is 50.2150178N, 16.5504500E

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That was all of our “targets” for the day met, so we set off for our lodgings in the town of Mladeč – Sobáčov.

This was only about eighty kilometres distant, but the majority of that was along roads that made the lanes we had already encountered look like motorways. We were in the Orlické Hory (Eagle Mountains) and the way, Road 11, was a continuous succession of steep climbs and descents interspersed with endless bends, many of which were true hairpins. No wonder there were so many bikers around. It would probably have been more fun on a Ducati but, providing that I took a modicum of care, even loaded as we were, it was doable and not really as horrendous as I may just have made it sound.

The worst part of all, ironically, was a long, flat and straightish section that had been totally scraped for resurfacing into those grooves and ridges that bikers dread. Not fun but, as Lucie always says “We survived the Forgotten World Highway, in New Zealand”.

SatNavs can be wonderful things and we found our lodgings, the Restaurace and Pension Sobáčov (Sobáčov 111, Mladeč – Sobáčov) easily.

It was part of a complex that included tennis courts, beach volleyball courts and a lake for what (if the pictures of gigantic fish on posters can be believed) was some fairly serious sport fishing. Sadly, despite arriving almost precisely upon schedule, there was no hostess to greet us. It appeared she had needed to take her husband to hospital …

Eventually, after a lot of toing and froing, a local arrived to let us in – and our room was very spacious and actually very nice.

Despite its “billing”, the restaurant in our Pension was closed (and not recently). We decided on a short hike back into the next town, Mladeč, where there was a pub/restaurant.

But, we were in Northern Moravia, on a Sunday evening. The pub/restaurant Hostinec U Zlaté Křepelky (Mladeč 33, Mladeč) was open, but its kitchen was not. We walked back to the kiosk, beside our pension where we were at least able to purchase some onion flavoured bread-sticks, which we ate outside with a beer from the local Litovel brewery, in the dying rays of the sun.

We retired to our room and plugged everything in (which probably caused a power outage in the local area) – and discovered, to our obvious joy, that breakfast was not included with our room and, as we seemed to be the only guests, that meant NO BREAKFAST !

I thought that would make it a very l-o-n-g night, but, as soon as my head touched the pillow, it was not …..