Day 80: Prague to Roudnice

July 1, 2022

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To make ur escape from Prague, we stayed away from, or walked, every street that the authorities had so helpfully designated for bikes, by painting the outline of a bike in the traffic lane. A side benefit of this strategy was that we stumbled on a building we had been looking for unsuccessfully yesterday. It's a theatre, with a beautiful exterior, and the "Powder Tower" standing beside it.

We continued through the streets of Prague, which was lovely as ever. But now our focus was on reaching the river and following it North.

Not a car or tram in sight - what's your beef?

We have reached the Vltava suitably North - we're looking good!

Reflecting on the beauty of the Old Town, we wonder what is wrong with people, who now contrive to build like this. Yeeecch.

Our luck runs out quite early (and as you'll read, keeps running) as we encounter this ripped up street, forcing us to walk a long distance.

Finally back along the river, we encountered the first of two kayaking practice venues. We watched for a while, fascinated by how the kayakers take advantage of concrete breakwaters to easily move their boats back upstream. Then they zoom down, making sure their heads pass through the gates.

We also saw an inordinate number of these flowers, both growing wild and in gardens. What is it?

The "fun" that wrecked our day began innocently as the path generally looked like the first photo below. It then degenerated to second photo and third photo. Ok, we expect stuff like this, we're cool.

Things started to go south when we came to a point where the official path wanted us to head off into the hills. Dodie characteristically balked at this, seeing way to stick by the river. Only thing, the by the river way quickly became an unrideable footpath. Ok, then, we walked. We walked, that is, until we came to a tree fallen across the path.

At first it looked like one could just pass under the tree, but no, it was too low. So we took all the packs off, and dragged the bikes kicking and screaming underneath. (The bikes also were not happy about it!)

While we were wresting the bikes and packs through, a young couple appeared, following our same path. They very sweetly waited for us to clear off, even helping carry the bags. What nice kids!

Beyond the fallen tree, the way continued as a footpath, with the added excitement of running along about a 15 foot straight down embankment, for in case you should slip!

The big tree was not the only obstruction, as you see from this shot.

There was a little distraction from plodding along the path, in the form of a river cruise boat that passed by on its way to Prague. Clearly it came out of the Elbe, which our river would join, around Melnik.

The ship was driven by unique dual paddlewheels.

The footpath finally rejoined the official way, coming down from the hills, and the official way now proposed to follow the river. So we thought, we are getting with the program and the trail will be rideable now. Not! We walked further 5 km to a bridge, where the route crossed to the other side, at Kralupy. At this point the heavens decided to open, and a real deluge of rain came down. Despite our rain gear, we hid in an underpass with a bunch of other people for a good while.

At Kralupy the route signs cheerfully directed us onto more dirt track, with the destination of Melnik. I had a hard time believing that this dirt was really still the official track. But yes, it took us between the river and some cliffs, so there really was no escape. The dirt, of course, was not dirt but mud, thanks to the deluge. We pushed on, literally. Fortunately the mud last this time only 2 km, before we got onto pavement again. Our wheels, fenders, brakes however were coated in grime, and the bikes made horrible sound of the rubbing compound-like mud destroying our rims. We shortly came to the Vltava Marina, and I had the brainwave that marinas would have hoses for swabbing the decks or loading on board tanks with drinking water. That was right, and a very nice young man found us a hose to connect to a riverside faucet, so our bikes were soon put right. The young man also suggested that the pluses and minuses of the route were due to the benefits of EU funding, and the fact that such funding runs out.

Now by a miracle of EU funding, or other reason, the trail turned from dreck to perfect. In part it could have been due to the presence of a chateau, which seemed to have been associated with raising horses for the aristocracy at some point.

With the help of the improved surface, we soon came to the Elbe River, here called the Labe. The Vltava had joined with it behind the scenes. So now the Grampies had returned to the Elbe - like 80 days later!

A cyclist was standing at the Elbe sign boards, and this turned out to be Alex, from Toronto! Alex had flown to Berlin and taken a train to Dresden where he rented a bike and continued by train to Prague. Now his ride was Prague to Dresden, same as us! Alex was amazed by our 80 day (so far) odyssey, and also by other trips we mentioned, such as across Canada. He asked a few of the Usual Questions, including what was our average speed. When I reported that as 11.5 kph, he clarified that he was asking about time riding, not total time goofing around. But yes, 11.5 is our riding speed. I hardly had the heart to tell him that that figure is from after we got electric assist!

We talked over the route from Prague that we both had done today. Alex thought it was terrific, while we credited it with one of our poorest days yet. Had we both cycled the same path? Actually that's not entirely clear. Maybe Alex will comment when he has had a chance to look at our track.

Alex rode with us for a short time, but (like us) he needed to make it to Roudnice sometime today, and he headed off at what for him was a normal speed, that seemed like 28 kph.

It was fun meeting you Alex. Depending on when we all leave Roudnice, we'll meet again as you pass us on the trail!

Once we were on the Elbe, the trail was really great. It even had some colourful Egyptian geese to look at. Only thing, the route twiddled off at some points, and then we were back into muddy nonsense.

Dodie had wanted to book at Melnik, but could not find anything. Roudnice, 15 km further on, did not seem so bad. But that was before we spent so many hours in the day walking! We have not really formed an impression of Roudnice - some parts are very nice, others quite grungy. Our sort of BnB arrangement here is quite large and ha everything, including a communal kitchen. We'll be in good shape to carry on down the Elbe tomorrow.

What gave Meaning to Life today? Thinking about our days in Prague.

Today's ride: 90 km (56 miles)
Total: 4,480 km (2,782 miles)

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Ellen LeeOh dear, I had wrote about the single track path from hell & even put a map in to show where it was! It looks nice worse than it did when I went through back in 2019, no fallen trees or water. Next time I go through I will take the roads. Glad you made it, it was a long section, I guessed about 3 to 4 miles of roughing it. I saw YouTube before I went but didn’t think it was that bad, but again they didn’t have fully loaded >100 lb bike either. The rest of way up Elbe is fabulous, enjoy!
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Ellen LeeWe're glad to see we didn't just invent this one. But how about all those stairs near Usti - see today's entry - Day 81.
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1 year ago