Talking about mushrooms (I was, wasn’t I?), something that seems to pop up like mushrooms all around the landscape here is castles. They’re everywhere. I particularly liked this one, Kašperk, which at almost 900m, is the highest castle in Bohemia. See, we’ve not only been trampling through forests and crashing bicycles, we’ve also been touring around and taking in a bit of the history and culture of the area.

In the village of Hartmanice, we came across a synagogue which was painstakingly restored a few years ago. The displays of artefacts, photographs, documents and videos tell the story of the synagogue itself, the Holocaust, the expulsion of the German population and the destruction of hundreds of villages near the German border.

I will never understand humans.

We briefly crossed the border between the Czech Republic and Germany at Bayerisch Eisenstein. After the Second World War, the border and therefore, for more than 40 years the iron curtain, happened to pass through the railway station waiting room. I got a great thrill from having a wing in each country at the same time!

Other cultural highlights included the Šumava Museum in Kašperké Hory, which is exceedingly well presented. I especially liked the natural history section. It’s quite amazing, and sometimes scary, to see what creatures are lurking around in these forests, including snakes, wild boar, eagles, wild cats and even lynx. I don’t think I fancy venturing into these woods alone!

The pretty little town of Sušice, the centre of the Czechoslovakian match industry, and Vimperk, with its castle (surprise, surprise) and its wonderful Art Nouveau main square were both lovely places to visit.

But my owners have been most excited of all about – wait for it – our campsite, at Klášterský Mlýn. (Try pronouncing that after a couple of beers – or even sober!) It turns out that the Lötz glassworks was founded at this very spot in 1851 and the Oldies just happen to be big fans of Lötz glass. His Lordship was thrilled to report that he even met an elderly resident of the village who told him that she remembered the glass factory from her childhood. It closed in 1947.

The Oldies were even more excited when they heard that a private collection of over 700 pieces of Lötz glass is on display at the PASK, Pavilion of Glass Klatovy. They hot-footed it over there at the next possible opportunity.

I thought I’d never get them out of there. But if you look at the photos, you can see why.