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