Prague to Sedlcany

June 4 2023

I got in too late to day to do pictures.  It was a long day at 85 kms with 900 meters of climb

There was a lot of problems getting out of Prague as the route was very complicated and as a result we spent a lot of time lost and trying to find the route.  At this one section we had to cross through this train station.  I had spent at least a couple of hours trying to figure the way across the tracks and the station on Google Earth and Google maps. I must have tried 50 or more routes on Garmin and nothing worked.  So when we got to the station Garmin didn't know what to do..  As it turned out all you had to do was ride straight through the main section of the station and out the other side.  

By coffee time 10:30 we had been on the road for 2.5 hours and made only 25 kms.  

After we got out in the country things went along much better and we sailed right along.  

The Greenway here isn't much of a greenway as it is 90% down roads.

I will try and edit this post later and add some pictures

Terry 

Prague Rest Day 

June 2 2023

Ken and I were up at 6:00 am which is the usual time for this trip.  As breakfast wasn't until 7:30 we went for a walk.  At this time in the morning the streets were relatively quiet. It was a real contrast to the bustle of the day.  After breakfast Ken and I got right to work cleaning and servicing our bikes.  It is a 6 day ride down to Vienna from Prague.  The back tire has taken quite a bit more wear than the front so Ken rotated his front to the back.  I decided that my tire was definitely more worn than the front but did not warrant changing.  I would like to see more wear on the back before I change it. 

After bike servicing we were off to find the Hop-on Hop-off bus.  It was only a could of blocks away.  The fellow selling the tickets up sold us a on the package to include a river boat cruise.  This turned out to be a lot of fun and was a good choice.  On the bus you down loaded an app on your phone which was sinc'ed to where the bus was on the route..  It was a much better deal than the plug your head phones into a thing on the bus like they had in Dresden.   The bus went through the Jewish quarter which is suppose to be the Paris of the east.  All the shops were very high end shops of Dior and the like.  

When we came to the place where the boat tour started we jumped off and got on the boat.  It was a really nice modern boat.  In fact it was an all electric boat.  I was amazed at how quiet it was.  The views from the river were great.  By now the crowds are really out and you could see hoards of people crowding all the walk ways along the river and on the bridges.  

After the boat trip we took the bus to the Prague castle.  We did not take the included tour.  In side the castle it was wall to wall people.  In order to get into any of the buildings you need a special ticket. However there were huge line ups to buy tickets. So we just wandered around looking at the amazing buildings.  

As we were at the top of the Prague Castle Steps Ken and I decided to walk down to the old town.  Down was a lot easier as there are somethin like 220 steps and they are big steps.  At the bottom we found our Hop-on Hop-Off bus so we climbed back aboard and took it back to the start.  

I am totally amazed at how oranate everything is.  Everything has a casting depicting some heroic scene.

Tonight is the tour's cultural event.  It is Czech Modern Dance.  I am sure we are really going to fit in in our wrinkled bike attire and bike shoes.  

Tomorrow we start the six day leg to Vienna.  It is going to be a much harder leg as the days are all longer and there is a lot of climbing.

Terry     

  

 

Roudnice to Prague Czech Republic

June 1 2023

This morning the view from my hotel room in Roudnice across the main square was absolutely stunning.  I couldn't help but throwing open the window and taking a picture.  

We got a very early start this morning at 7:55 am, which is good and bad. The good part of leaving early is that you get in early however the bad part of leaving early is that by the time you get to the one third point in the ride nothing is open.  So you wind up riding to the two thirds point in the ride and then you are really hungry and thirsty. 

As we rolled down the last few kms of the Elbe the views were great with the sun reflecting river and shinning on the opposite bank.  At the 35 kms mark in the ride we left the Elbe River and started up Vltava river.  The Vltava river is the longest and largest river in the Czech Republic.  We rode along the banks of the Vltava all the way into Prague and will foolow it for a couple of days on our way to Vienna.  

We crossed the river several times today some times on pathways which were part of canal locks.  Some locks were very old, probably in the 1800's to more modern ones probably from the Soviet era.  We also took several bridges which also ranged from very old and rusty to very new and modern.

At the 50 kms mark we came to a magnificent estate which was all set out for a wedding.  We weren't invited but we stopped at a nearby cafe and watched the wedding guests arrive while we had our lunch. It looked like a pretty big affair. 

It wasn't long afterwards when we caught our first glimpse of the the Prague castle and cathedral.  The walk way along the river was unbelievably crowded and there was no way to ride along the path so we were on the street.  The street was very scary to ride on as it was right in the middle of very heavy traffic.  There was the worse kind of cobble stones and then parallel trolley tracks which were trying to grab your wheel and throw you down. It was about three kms down the road  before we had to make a left turn up to our hotel.  The hotel was about 4-5 blocks up an also very busy street but we were on the side walk.  Garmin took us right to the hotel.  We are now 868 kms into the tour by Ken;s reckoning, which is just over half way.  

The hotel is one of the strangest hotels on the tour.  The main lobby is on the street level and is about 15 feet wide but most of the room is taken up by the front desk.  A wooden spiral stair case takes you up to the rooms (no elevator).  Ken and I are on the third floor looking into a court yard. Lugging bikes up was a chore.  

Tomorrow is a rest day and tomorrow evening we have a special cultural event which Marlene has organized.  I think it is some sort of modern dance production.  I am sure we will fit right in wearing our just out of stuff sack clothes. 

Terry   

 

Decin to Roudnice Cezch Republic

June 1 20

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We started off at 8:04, which was the earliest start time so far.  Maybe everyone was keen to get going as it was going to be a warm day. Personally I could have sat and enjoyed an extra coffee at breakfast. It wasn't like it was going to be a hard day as we only had 69 kms to ride with almost nothing for climb.

The first 20 kms of the ride was down the bike path which was right on the edge of the river.  Interestingly there were WW2 bunkers every couple kms or so along the river.  They all faced the river and were on the east side of the river.  Were they expecting an attack from the west bank of the river? Or were they just guarding the river?  Some were painted wild colours and some were unpainted. After that there were no more bunkers. I was quite surprised to see these bunkers as there is very little history on this part of the war which I have seen.

That we have left Germany is quite obvious as the roads are not nearly as in good condition and the vehicles are generally much older.  You never saw a sun faded car in Germany but here they are quite common. In Germany you never saw any industry along the river here there is quite a bit and not all of it meets the high green standard of Germany.

At the 30 kms mark we pulled into a path side coffee stop where there was a little shack which sold coffee and refreshments.  As we were sitting there a mother duck and her nine ducklings swam past.  You could tell she was a great mother as she was constantly counting her little flock.  They were so sweet.  

As we rode through a small village past a church I saw that the door was open.  I asked Bob if he wanted to go in.  I thought an old sailor probably needs saving.  Bob disagreed and so we rode on.  \

At the 54 kms mark we pulled into a village for lunch.  There was a very nice little cafe so we pulled in.  I noted the the street we on was "Got Icky Hard"  But they had spelled Hard wrong.  After lunch  we rolled around the corner and discovered that there was a huge village square right there and we could have had lunch there. Although the little cafe was nice. 

As we got into Roudnice the steep river valley as disappeared and we are back in a broad river valley with large irrigated fields on either side of the path.\

Tonight we are in the Hotel Magnolia which is right on the main square of Roudnice.  The views from the hotel are exceptional.  There are several large buildings which much have a long and interesting history.

Tomorrow we ride in to Prague and our third rest day.  It is unbelievable how fast this tour is progressing. Ken was saying to day that we have covered almost half the distance to Budapest and something like 750 kms.  Of course when the weather is a beautiful as it has been time and kms just fly by.

Terry 

  

   

 

 

Dresden Germany to Decin Czech Republic

May 31 2023

This morning we were in no hurray to get on the road as we only had 63 kms to ride and it was all down the pathway.  So after a nice leisurely breakfast we got on our bikes and rolled out of Dresden at 8:30 am.  The sun was up bright and the day was already getting quite warm.  The path way was quite busy with bike commuters heading into the city.  As we left Dresden we had a great view of the three castles which were built along the river escarpment.  

The pathway was so pretty in the dappled green with sun shinning though the trees and reflecting off the river.  We passed a river boat paddle boat which does tours up and down the river.  It had a lot of people on board who were also enjoying the sun. 

We stopped in a little village which was by the pathway and walked up the main street to have a coffee.  I found a fresh food market and purchased some fresh apricots.  They were so sweet and the perfect morning snack.  

At the 40 kms mark we came to a resort along the path way which was selling food and drinks.  It was a great spot to eat lunch.  I had a slurpy which was the perfect complement to my lunch on a hot sunny day.

The river had gone from a wide river in a wide flat plain to a narrow river in a deeply incised valley with steep sides.  The top few hundred feet of the valley sides look to be a cliff forming sandstone.  This has lead to some very interesting places to build castles and other structures.  It also means that the pathway, the road and the railroad all compete for the same real estate.  So quite often the path is right on the river with a retaining wall next to the path, the rail road on top of the wall and then the road right beside the tracks. 

Marlene had received a recommendation to go to this organic brewery in this little town across the river so we made a detour across the river to find this little brewery.  It was called Schmilkaer Braurhaus.  It was up this tiny little and very steep alley.  It must have been a popular place as the tiny alley was lined with little guest houses and cafes.  Sure enough there was a water mill powered brewey with a beer garden under the trees at the end of the alley.  After having made the detour, and climbed the hill we were having a beer.  It was a wonderful treat on a hot sunny day (25C).

We rolled down the hill and there was a ferry waiting to take us across the river.  Perfect timing.   

It was only about 15 kms into Decin form there. The Garmin route took us directly to the hotel which is an interesting place right on the pathway.  I wound up with something like 68 kms today.  

This puts us in the Czech Republic where we will spend the next 9 days.  

Terry   

 

 

Rest Day Dresden

May 30 2023

Dresden was a great pick for a rest day or maybe an off the bike touring day.   Dresden has long history dating way back to middle ages as a trading center on the Elbe River. It was a center for the arts. It also became a manufacturing center for cigarettes in the 1800's.  In 1945 it was fire bombed into a smoking heap and then had to endure 50 years of soviet occupation.  However it is totally amazing how many of the buildings have been restored and how beautiful the city is. There are huge walking parks gardens throughout the city as well as hundred of huge plazas. 

After breakfast here in the hotel Ken and I took the Hop-on Hop-off tour bus around the city.  With the head phones you could listen to the commentary in English.  The bus tour took us past all of the historic sites and through a lot of very nice neighborhoods which had huge mansions, many of which have been converted to museums.  I was amazed at how green the city is with all the parks and lush trees.  The tour was about 2 hours long and so we wound up back at our hotel right at lunch time.  I needed to get some more tooth paste and sun screen so we hit a local super market.

One of the things we had seen on the first pass of the Hop on Hop off tour was the VW Glass factory.  It is the so called glass factory because all of the walls of the factory are glass.  Inside they assemble the VW ID electric cars.  So after lunch Ken and I headed back to get the guided tour of the VW assembly plant.  One one side is a huge circular structure which can hold 280 cars. The other side is the assembly floors.  There are three floors.  One assembles the chassis, one the bodies and one floor puts the two together.  The floors are all hardwood with a center section which moves along.  The bodies sit on pedestals and the workers put the parts on the cars.  Robots deliver parts to each station and help with the assembly.  When the body is ready a robot delivers the completed chassis and an other robot bolts the two together. It was a fascinating tour. Unfortunately NO photos in the factory.   

After we completed the tour we walked back and I saw the perfect chair that Agnes and I have been looking for our place in Phoenix in a shop window.  

A great site seeing day in Dresden.

Tomorrow we are back on our bikes with a 68 km ride down to Decin.  We have three ride days to Prague for our next rest day.

Terry