Heading towards the mountains

Today we ride about 50 kms along the Elbe/Labe to Melnik.

With our visit to Terezin done yesterday afternoon, we can relax, somewhat.

The morning began with a very nice ride alternating between great sealed track and dreadful unsealed almost single-track suitable more for mountain bikes. At one point we exited the track and took the road and at some point there was no track anyway, just road.

It was nice along the river in the (relatively) early morning, cooler and nice light. Pretty Russian (?) Orthodox churches appeared out of the trees, fishermen were enjoying collegial time along the bank; we passed lots of cyklokemps, fields of tobacco or hops, trees groaning under the weight of red apples and past paddocks of cut/burnt maize or corn or something of that type.

We passed also some very large cycling tours making their way to Prague. Also, this sign struck my fancy:

At Roudnice nad Labem we crossed the bridge and enjoyed a coffee and a delicious cherry rainbow sort of cake for morning tea.

It took a bit of searching now for the bike path after it had been so well signposted so far but eventually we found it near the station.

Nice riding alternatively next to the river and across country (this on unsealed sandy and rocky paths) and then the last section after Štětí sealed all the way to Melnik. I recalled as I rode along that the Josef Straka Bridge was closed at Melnik which made me a bit anxious as we needed to cross the river to get to the station. I checked my notes which I had made from the Elbe website - something about a ferry instead of the bridge but it was a bit confusing and seemed to suggest it was operating only at weekends?? I think something was lost in translation (literally) and I was very relieved to get there and a wave brought immediate action from the ferry man and he scurried across the river.

It was a major effort to get the bikes in - and then out, but the important thing is that we were now on the correct side of the river. We had a steep climb up into the old part of town with a chateau high up above us to guide us to the centre.

It is a pretty town.

We enjoyed a yummy toasted ham and cheese sandwich, cold drink and a brilliant coffee then picked our way (mostly the wrong way along one-way streets - ?? I wonder why ??) to get to the lookout I had set my heart on getting to.

The lookout is the Nad Soutokem from where one can view the confluence of the Vltava and Elbe rivers (the Vltava being the river that flows through Prague).

By now the day was very warm; MF1 said 29 deg C.

After much pfaffing about, we found a supermarket and stocked up on food for lunch for tomorrow. We found the station - the sign we found eventually with a choo-choo train on it helped!

Train no. 1: Our first loading of us plus panniers plus bikes was pretty rubbish but an hour later at Velkÿ Osek, we dismounted pretty well although MF1 lost his bike off the side of the platform - fortunately short height only.

Train no. 2: Much more ‘professional’ this time and aided a little by the station master and his assistant - nice! As the shadows lengthened, we scuttled past open fields, dense forests, tiny villages, bigger industrial-type towns, freight trains loaded with logs.

This train spun along - we will get into Kunčice nad Labem at 19:15 and I think the 3rd train to Vrchlabí does not take bikes - a 2 minute transfer there only anyway. So probably will have to cycle this - 5-6 kms?? In the dark!!

Train no. 3: Oh luck is on our side; the 2nd train arrives late but the 3rd train waits and the station master calls out to ask if we are aiming to catch this train. You bet we are! Bikes and panniers off train no. 2, reloaded, shifted to train no. 3, panniers unloaded and tossed onto the one-carriage train (the trains have been getting progressively shorter as the day has progressed!), bikes and us sqeeeeezed in. Phew. A short journey of less than 10 minutes but such a blessing c.f. riding an unknown track/path/road (who knows) in the dark.

In Vrchlabí we unload, turn on our lights and cycle quickly the 2-3 kms to our hotel in the dark.

We are pleased to get in and quickly shower before walking to the centre of the town where we lucked on a great spot to eat and a maître d’ prepared to let us in at this late (for them) hour. The boys had THE most enormous hamburgers with zillions of chips.

Afterwards, we checked out the exact spot for the bus stop tomorrow. Then home to bed!!

Cycling distance: 50 kms