Well, I should feel at home here. The weather is positively Irish: cool and drizzly. And that’s when it’s not raining cats and dogs. But like in Ireland, it doesn’t really matter. It somehow suits the territory, and it certainly explains why the soft, rolling hills are so lush and green.

There is so much to do and see here in any case, the weather is not really an issue. We are spoiled for choice. Our very friendly campsite owners supplied a mountain of brochures on our first evening and the Oldies’ eyes were caught by a ‘must-see’: the shrine of St. Maurus at the Bečov Castle, Bečov nad Teplou. ‘Those two will fall for anything’, I thought, but I have to admit, it truly is a must-see. The shrine, dating from the middle ages and housing relics from St. Maurus and other saints, was only discovered in 1985. Incredibly, there is actual footage of its excavation (it was hidden under a chapel floor in the castle before the owners were expelled for corroborating with the Germans in WWII). Its discovery is a detective story worthy of any best-selling novel and the shrine itself, decorated with gold figures, gold filigree, enamel and jewels, has been beautifully restored and is a wonder to behold. His Lordship declared it even more impressive than the British crown jewels.

Another outing took us to Cheb, close to the German border, a beautiful town which is notable for the Špalíček on the main square, two rows of merchants’ houses dating as far back as the 13^th century. The lane between is a only few centimetres wider than Her Ladyship is tall (and believe me, she isn’t) – just 160cm. The residents apparently used to dump all their waste into this lane so it was a breeding ground for all kinds of horrible diseases. On hearing this, Her Ladyship, blaming her claustrophobia, declined to take the short-cut through the lane and took the long way round the square. Wimp!

The third of the trio of spas, Františkovy Lázně or Franzensbad is just a stone’s throw from Cheb, so we had time for a pleasant stroll around there too. Klein aber fein, as His Lordship said – small but beautiful!

Yet another gem in the area, not far from Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), is Loket. This town was a great favourite with Goethe and if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me! Loket means ‘Elbow’ (the old German name was ‘Elbogen’), so-called because the river Ohře wraps itself around the town like a bent elbow. Our first stop was – you’ve guessed it – the castle, which is, naturally enough, perched on the highest point of the town, offering wonderful views all round. There are a number of interesting exhibitions in the castle – collections of art, firearms, porcelain (all local of course), but the torture chamber, showing a horrific range of medieval torture instruments, was pretty gruesome. Not for the faint-hearted! The most scary thing about it was the number of torture methods that were described as being ‘still widely in use today’.

When not sightseeing, we’ve been doing a fair bit of walking. Her Ladyship keeps saying that it’s not really cycling weather, but I reckon she just wants to get out of having to negotiate all those hills. Talking about getting out of things: His Lordship has been getting off lightly with the cooking. The one time he planned to cook, we arrived back to a power cut at the campsite so we had to walk into town in search of a restaurant. A great excuse to treat ourselves to the wonderful local fare – yet again.

Not that I’m complaining. Don’t tell the Oldies, but I really am starting to feel quite at home here.