Prague to Nebocady 2 days24 Jul 2012
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views along vltava river
smooth cycle path
view back toward Prague
| Monday 23/9/12 Prague to Roudinice along Vltava river 86ks We were pleased to hear that 3 fine days are forecast! It was great to get on the bikes again and away from cars and people. The first 5ks of trail were beautifully wide and smooth…but just as Nickie said..”this is nice” …the surface turned to uneven cobbles, that could shake the fillings out of your teeth. The trail is not well marked so we made up our route on small village streets, trying to follow the direction of the river. We asked a woman where we could get coffee and she indicated a 2 storey industrial looking building that looked nothing like a café, but was a staff canteen for the next door Nuclear Research facility. Here we bought some lunch stuff and a couple of doughnuts for a sugar hit later on. We found the river trail which became like an animal track, very narrow, overgrown with prickly weeds, low hanging branches, tree roots, muddy puddles…more a mountain biking trail. In some places the trail was less than 500mm wide with a drop of a couple of metres to the river, Nickie suggested to ride with feet unclipped from the pedals, so we wouldn’t drown with the bike if we fell in. Pete had a fall from his bike, wheel slipped on tree roots and he landed on his back. The trail went across some flat farmlands, and through small villages, past fields of wheat, vegetables, flowers, vineyards and hops. Perfect riding, sunny , about 28C and little wind, Nickie got that ugly tanline across upperarm from her cycle shirt..will have to get out the bikini top! It was tempting to visit these little villages but we are on a tight time schedule now to be in Sweden by August 3rd. We may not make the 500k to Magdeburg, cos we want to stop for a look at Dresden at the 220k mark. After lunch we took a ferry boat with 2 German cyclists to the left bank toward Melnik, and we saw 2 cyclists ahead of us. At one point the 6 of us cycled within 500m of each other..a bit crowded!! There are a lot of cyclists coming towards us too. The pub at Brozanky, looked dilapidated and deserted, but yes it was open , and we tried the Starporamen lemon flavour beer,…..too much lemon. We crave a NZ Radler by Boundary Road or Monteiths. Nickies legs felt dead, but the path was flat and smooth, and she got into almost a “zen-like state”, keeping Tuesday 24/7/12 Roudinice to Nebocady 76ks Had to deal with a wet tent so got away at 8.30 and into the town for a “kickstart coffee”. The very scenic trail along the river was a mix of narrow and rutted dirt/gravel to smooth wide pavement. Somehow we took a short cut to Terezin across farmlands, which was fortunate as we arrived in time to take a tour of the 18th Century fort that became a concentration camp for Czechs ,Jews and Russian POWS WW2. The tour was very informative but also disturbing, we walked around the very place that so many prisoners were brutally treated, died or were executed….so much human suffering …it didn’t feel right to take photos, except for a few of the bronze sculptures that have been erected as memorials. We decided against seeing the Jewish Ghetto museum, couldn’t face anymore sadness. Our next stop was in Litomerice where pete got a very short haircut, Just as well he is wearing a bike helmet cos he’d be in danger of getting a sunburned scalp. The skies were clear of clouds, but we'd never seen such a number of jet vapours clouds, busy airways!! In parts we had to ride along the road, but the traffic was light and the cycle way along the river improved. There is a lot of work happening to construct more cycle way. Pete was checking out the roadside fruit trees, the apples and pears aren't mature, its too early for blackberries but the plums are great. We averaged about 18kph and made up 40ks in less than 3 hrs arriving at Nebocady, 5,30pm. Tent was up quickly and we enjoyed a quick swim in a cold pool before the hot shower and cold beer. We had some Czech Crown to use before we cross to Germany tomorrow, so we bought dinner….(and Nickie didn’t want another dinner of camp pasta) |
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