Cycling UK Forum

We also saw some locals ride it, but of course they were unloaded. We also saw locals pushing their bikes rather than riding. The path certainly was rideable; it was mostly smooth dirt with some tree roots. If the same path went through a forest we certainly would have ridden it as well. But because it was, frequently, right at the edge of the drop I described earlier, it was oh so easy to imagine going over. A ten foot drop, followed by a landing on the boulders at the bottom, would almost guarantee a holiday ending injury. We walked almost the entire distance.

Given that Bikeline does show an alternate route, I can't imagine why anyone would voluntarily take the more difficult route.

From your post, Dudley, I infer you took the same route. Did you ride or walk?

Bob

Hi Pixie,

My wife and I cycled from Lutherstadt to Prague in September of 2011. I really enjoyed it, but part of our enjoyment was definitely because we had wonderful weather, and we really enjoyed the adventure of discovering the 'exotic' (to a couple of Canadians) Czech Republic, so I am being careful not to over sell the trip.

Perhaps because we were travelling in shoulder season, we did not find accommodation that expensive. Zimmer frei signs seemed fairly plentiful (until we needed one) while we were in Germany, but they were non-existent when we crossed into the Czech Republic.

I would definitely buy the Bikeline book for the assurances the maps provide. I suspect it is not available in English, unfortunately. The book describes the route from Prague to Cuxhaven, so you will have to use it backwards, which is a bit of a pain.

My most important piece of advice, however: the mostly wonderful bike path has a stretch of about 5 km that is a narrow footpath right at the edge of a 10 foot drop above the river that scared the beejezus out of us. Obviously I recommend you miss it. It will be on the day you ride into Prague. After you leave Kralupy you will go through a village called Dolanky. Right after that you need to leave the bike path and ride towards Vodochody. This route is shown on the Bikeline map, but unfortunately the only sign is a little #2 sign telling you to continue going forward, and since the Bikeline describes the route going the other way, I assume none of the German text tells you how to identify the corner.

The Czech government is working on the bike path. A couple of times we rode on lovely newly paved path when our Bikeline warned us we had to ride on a road, so it is possible this advice is out of date.

Enjoy your trip.

Bob