At the end of March it was finally time for the first sleepover. Somehow we didn't get to it earlier and later it would be too late again, because it could be unnecessarily warm and we need to test all the equipment for a late summer expedition to the Lapland rivers.

We were looking for the Otava from Čeňkárna, but the water was somehow almost below the lower limit, so we sailed to the lower Vltava river from Krumlov to make sure it wasn't stressful.

And the stress wasn't. It was beautiful, although cloudy and slightly rainy in places.

On the train, the conductor announced that we were the first paddlers this year, which was certainly not true, but it lifted our spirits, not that it didn't. In Krumlov, we bought some onions, garlic, potatoes and bacon at the station for a proper base for the evening bourtguláš on a fire somewhere, where we would refuel. And some beer and water, of course.

At the water we then packed our tents, sleeping bags, food and so on into the tubes of our packrafts, left only half-meatballs and one Pilsner in the bow bag on the bow, and we were already burning our way towards Koruna. This time in the composition of Ultima Tramp and Ultima Cargo.

Moldau flowed neither too little nor too much, sort of standard. Of course, there was not a single live fish, no waterfowl, no dead fish, just a few animals. First a wild domestic pig and then a calm wild boar with seven piglets. “Give us one baby for the evening!” On land, we'd probably be less heroic.

The betrayal was that the pub in Koruna was closed, contrary to the information from the infallible Mapy.cz. But it was a good thing, at least we were hungry enough to travel along the most beautiful stretch of the Vltava towards Dívčí kámen.

For a while, we considered staying overnight in one of the beautiful tramp settlements, which are slowly being demolished by the construction of the power plant under the Girl's Stone, but we felt sorry to disturb the sacred peace, so we anchored at the Celt. The landlord brought us a keg of beer and treated us like his first customers of the year, which we even were. There was no need to build a tent, as we made use of the mattresses in the chicken coop, and there was no need to find wood either, as everything at the Celt's was new and nicer this year, and there were plenty of old boards to burn.

Then it just kept raining until the midnight hours, when we discovered that it was raining a lot. So we went to bed.

The boys used to get up sacrificially sometime before six o'clock, because they had to cross over and catch the train. I contributed very generously, had a cup of coffee with the landlord in the morning, and rode alone on the river to Borsov. There I bought a few more paddling paraphernalia from Milan Litvan in Ká sport, and although I originally wanted to go all the way to Budějice, I got lazy and instead of riding the packraft I rode the rest of the way with the boat in the backpack by bus.

It was a beautiful day, wasn't it? No need to make it flow brutally. It's always nice on the water...