Welcome to Netolice.

The first day was still relatively unspectacular, as it was mainly about scrubbing kilometers to get to the actual “adventure area”. We left home at around 23 degrees and arrived in the Czech Republic at around 29 degrees. 🥵 Rumor has it that it will get even warmer as our journey progresses. We covered 787 km in just under 11 hours. But what can I say, they were peppered with a few pitfalls.

Our plan was to get onto the Czech highway after Dresden. That worked out wonderfully. We almost missed the border, it was so quick! The first few kilometers of freeway up to Rehlovice are toll-free – because in the Czech Republic you have to pay €10 for a day if you drive on toll roads. Now, of course, we wanted to see something of the country. The highway is boring. So we planned the route accordingly and also selected the “Avoid toll roads” option. That puts you on the safe side, doesn’t it? 🤔

Well, maybe! Because firstly, things turn out differently and secondly, than you think. “Take the second exit at the traffic circle” – the navigation system said. It’s just stupid when it’s closed due to roadworks. So what to do? Take a detour. But this promptly led us onto a highway! 😱 There was no alternative in sight at first. So now we were driving on a highway that we actually didn’t want to or weren’t allowed to drive on – after all, we hadn’t bought a digital vignette. We waved to the toll cameras in a friendly manner – there was simply nothing we could do. A faint hope sprouted in us: “It’s a roadworks site, they’re certainly not like that!”.

On we went – deeper and deeper into the Czech Republic. We were now driving on a main road when our license plate suddenly lit up in red on a digital sign! Well, why is that now? Are they trying to remind us that we’re not allowed to drive here? And why is there always a black “M” on a yellow background at regular intervals at the side of the road? It probably has nothing to do with “Marco”! A quick google reveals: We are on a toll road! It’s not a highway but a normal country road. Resignation spreads. “It’s too late now anyway!” – we decided. After all, two navigation systems independently guided us onto this road, even though we had “avoid toll” active. So we couldn’t have avoided it in advance.

When we arrived in Netolice, we had dinner in a restaurant outside and then stretched our legs in the town. The small town of 2512 people gave us a friendly welcome, is located 23 km northwest of Budweis (we’ll try that out) and is pleasantly quiet.

Conclusion: If you drive through the Czech Republic, buy the stupid vignette! That’s the lesson of the day. Apart from that, we had a lot of fun today on winding, hilly to mountainous Czech roads in great weather! It can go on like this.