Pretzsch to Riessa

May 28 2023

After a great breakfast in the Park Hotel in Pretzsch we were off down the path way.  It was a great morning to be on the bike as it was beautifully sunny and just the right temperature at 8:00 in the morning.

That said it seemed like it took forever to get out of town and off the cobble stones and on to the path which is very nice smooth asphalt.  In fact almost every town is all cobble stones.  Some are the small granite stones which are about 4 inches square and aren't too bad to ride on with my big fat 40 mm tires.  However a lot of the towns are the large irregular river rock stones which are round on top and random sizes.  These are terribly rough to ride on. About 8-10 km/hr is about as fast as you can go.  So this really destroys any average speed you may have.  

Once on the path it was clear sailing through down the pathway. We are traveling through mostly wide open farm land with crops of canola, oats, barley and wheat.  Sheep seem to grazed a lot along the river dikes and in confined areas along the river.  

At about the the 35 kms mark we came to Torgau. This is where the American forces met up with the Red Army forces on April 25 1945.  There is a large monument there which commemorates this historic moment. We then climbed the hill and wandered into the Torgau castle looking for a coffee but finding none we rode on.

Back on the trail  with close to 50 kms still to go and temperatures on the rise every bit of shade was now welcome.  More farm land.  

At one point we came to an ostrich farm and there were several birds right by the fence.  We stopped and took their photos.  I sure wouldn't like to get attacked by one of these creatures.   Later on we came to a place where there were some horses tethered right beside the trail.  I stopped and took a few photos and picked a few hand full's of grass for the horses which was gratefully recieved as there was nothing in their little paddock.  

We were all glad to get into town as we were hot and tired after an 83 kms day.  Tomorrow is only 55 kms and then we have our second rest day.  

A great day to be touring.

Terry