23-25 : to Praha
November 27, 2010
Saturday November 27th - Red Crystal Skywalker
This morning, there is +2°C in the tent, -2°C outside. There is snow in the fields, and it is sunny. First time I need the sunglasses! At Roudnice nad Labem, I leave the Labe river and refill my water stock, all my bottles being empty.
pics #190 - #222
Thursday November 25th - Blue Planetary Monkey
The sun is shining when Steffen opens the door to the bags and bicycle. The light on the castles of the right bank makes for great pictures and I am tempted to get to the center to photograph everything again in this shiny weather. But it will take me too long, so I follow the path along the river.
The sun is shining when Steffen opens the door to the bags and bicycle. The light on the castles of the right bank makes for great pictures and I am tempted to get to the center to photograph everything again in this shiny weather. But it will take me too long, so I follow the path along the river.
Dresden: left to right: Schloß Albrechstberg, Lingnerschloß, Schloß Eckberg
Dresden: the Blaues Wunder bridge
Moritzburg Schloß
The left bank is rather wide at start, it gives space to the railway, the main road and the bicycle path. On the other side, villas and castles orientated to the south.
Later the valley gets narrow, villages are simple lines of houses, dominated by a high castle, terrace garden appearing.
Cliffs on the right bank of the Elbe
Due to the height of the hills on both sides, the sun has disappeared while cycling for a meander of the river. It reappears when the orientation of the valley aligns with it, warming the snowy place where I decide to lunch and repair a cable of the dynamo rechargeable battery. This is done under close look of an old man, who has stepped to the limit of his property, hat low on his head to hide that he’s looking at me. There is nothing else happening around, ridiculously funny!
The bank where I ride is narrowing too, the path takes altitude above the railway, until Königstein with its castle overlooking the Elbe.
Königstein : castle on the rock
Soon after this city, I lose the bicycle track and end up walking, pushing the bicycle, and lifting it over tree trunks. Then appears the bridge over the river in Bad Schandau. At its feet, I have to unload the bicycle, bring this up and load all of it again. It makes me warm and sweaty.
It is almost 16.00. The border is close, as I understand from a man who kindly helps me finding the direction, for a long monologue in German about the ‘grenze’ whcih is just after Schmilka. Still the priority is to find a discrete place to camp. Quite hard with the little space between the river and the road. Abandoned houses that I spot near the road are offering me a nice shelter, besides a flat ground to practice yoga. It’s there that I fall asleep, hearing few cars on the road, regular trains resonating in the valley and the calm sound of the river.
Friday November 26th - Yellow Spectral Human
I woke up every three hours this night. The advantage is that am swiftly on the bicycle. I enter Czech Republic after 20 minutes. The Elbe river is now the Labe, the language looks totally unfamiliar. The landscape remains the narrow river valley. Today, because of the covered weather, it is in black and white with the forest of naked trees and the snow on the tops.
It is almost 16.00. The border is close, as I understand from a man who kindly helps me finding the direction, for a long monologue in German about the ‘grenze’ whcih is just after Schmilka. Still the priority is to find a discrete place to camp. Quite hard with the little space between the river and the road. Abandoned houses that I spot near the road are offering me a nice shelter, besides a flat ground to practice yoga. It’s there that I fall asleep, hearing few cars on the road, regular trains resonating in the valley and the calm sound of the river.
Friday November 26th - Yellow Spectral Human
I woke up every three hours this night. The advantage is that am swiftly on the bicycle. I enter Czech Republic after 20 minutes. The Elbe river is now the Labe, the language looks totally unfamiliar. The landscape remains the narrow river valley. Today, because of the covered weather, it is in black and white with the forest of naked trees and the snow on the tops.
A view of the left side of the Labe shortly after the Czech border
In Děčín, I need bread. I manage to point at what I want in a bakery, exchanging České Koruny for bread and cookies. They’re delicious and cheap, which gives a better taste, when it’s expensive it tastes bitter. The city looks beautiful with most buildings painted in vivid colors, and elaborated white patterns around the windows.
Děčin: colored building facades characteristic of Czech cities
Even the simplest buildings have these nice colors. I advice the Dutch to do the same to enliven the monotony of their suburbs built on a single. In exchange, they could teach Czech how to properly settle a cycling path. In fact, they are working on the way to connect Dresden with Praha, along the Labe and Vltava rivers. I see improvements to be done.
Wanted: dutch specialist to develop czech bicycle paths
Lunch on a sluice that bars the river after Ústí nad Labem. There are almost 50km cycled. The road leave the bank to avoid rocky peak, for a serious climb before Litoměřice, then the valley widens, leaving place to fields and carrier. Getting a few hectometers away from the river, I find a camping spot in a wood between two fields while a farmer work from one to the other.
Saturday November 27th - Red Crystal Skywalker
This morning, there is +2°C in the tent, -2°C outside. There is snow in the fields, and it is sunny. First time I need the sunglasses! At Roudnice nad Labem, I leave the Labe river and refill my water stock, all my bottles being empty.
Entering Roudnice nad Labem
Roudnice nad Labem : castle
The roads I cycle on are somewhat snowy, with possibly frost: ride carefully. At a stop, a couple start talking to me and the wife can talk some French. I ask her how to say 'Hello' and 'Thank you', testifying of my catastrophic education. In Kralupy nad Vltavou, the river is now the Vltava, that I will follow to Praha, it is tributary of the Labe..
Kralupy nad Vltavou: Church and factory competing for the highest building
A quick phone call to make sure that I am hosted tonight while I am cooking on a square. This makes me a curiosity for kids who are playing with the snow, two adults keeping an eye on them.
My afternoon goal is to go to the ruins near Roztoky before heading to Praha. But I have difficulty finding my way out of the city and end up on the other side of the river. It reveals being a good choice, here the sun is warming and the nature is pure, while the other bank is rather industrial. Soon, the track on the border of the Vltava gets dangerously narrow and close by the water, it tenses me to cycle a few centimeters from a dark, deep and calm river. I go on walking next to the bicycle, allowing me to fully enjoy the landscape.
My afternoon goal is to go to the ruins near Roztoky before heading to Praha. But I have difficulty finding my way out of the city and end up on the other side of the river. It reveals being a good choice, here the sun is warming and the nature is pure, while the other bank is rather industrial. Soon, the track on the border of the Vltava gets dangerously narrow and close by the water, it tenses me to cycle a few centimeters from a dark, deep and calm river. I go on walking next to the bicycle, allowing me to fully enjoy the landscape.
Right bank of the Vltava, narrow path close to the waters
Night has fallen when I leave the river bank to follow the indications to Praha. Public transport maps guide me to reach my host, but I get lost a few times. Cycling in Praha means paved roads, tramways, steep descent. Theses three elements combined are stressing me and I involuntary tense my legs while abusing of the brakes. The cold is biting my fingers as soon as they get off the gloves for a picture, because while getting lost, I pass beautiful monuments, that's been lucky ! Finally I reach my host Marek, it took me extra hours roaming in the city. The temperature which stayed negative all day, the stressing moments by the Vltava, or down the paved slopes got me completely wasted, but I am finally in Praha sleeping in a house and having at least a week to explore.
Praha : Kostel sv. Cyrila e Metodéje
Praha : Národní muzeum