This corner of Central Bohemia is farmland, ponds and gentle hills, the kind of country that Prague residents drive through without noticing and riders learn to love. The point lies between Votice, Sedlčany and the village of Kosova Hora, roughly halfway between the capital and the Šumava forests to the south. The sandstone towers of Kokořínsko are far to the north, so think of this as the quiet middle of the country, the part that gets less attention.
The landscape is a patchwork. Large fields of wheat, barley and rape run to the horizon, and every few kilometres there is a pond, once dug for carp and still stocked for the Christmas table. Czech families eat carp on Christmas Eve, a tradition that keeps these medieval fishponds alive. Villages come with a little church, a pub, and often a baroque statue or two on the green.
The riding is relaxed. Roads rise and fall in long, easy swells, passing through woods and over small streams, with enough corners to keep things interesting and not enough traffic to cause trouble. Surfaces vary by village budget, from smooth to patched and potholed, and farm vehicles can leave mud on the tarmac in harvest time. You can see a long way on a clear day, and the air smells of cut hay and wet earth.
Votice is a town of four and a half thousand and has fuel and a couple of places to eat, while Sedlčany, a little over seven thousand, is the bigger stop, about ten kilometres off. The lakes of the Vltava cascade, including the long Orlík reservoir, are not far to the west, and the castle of Konopiště, the former home of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, lies to the north-east near Benešov. Both make good detours. Come in late spring or early autumn, when the light is soft and the fields are at their best.