Cycle Tour Across Bohemia

13 days cycling holiday in May/June 2018 together with Kolya. Transport by train to Passau and from Dresden. Accommodation in tents at camp sites and in hotels/apartment. The tour consists of two transport days, nine cycle days and two rest days (in Český Krumlov and Prague).

The cycle route follows the rivers Danube, Vltava and Elbe, the middle of which is by far the longest, while the other rivers are only introduction and ending. The first part from Passau to Český Krumlov (3 days) is characterized by the hills of the Bohemian Forest (in Czech Šumava) and the Lipno Lake, an artificial water reservoir of the Vltava river. Český Krumlov is a very beautiful medieval and baroque town in a sharp bend of the Vltava (from which the town's name is derived as it means "The Bohemian Curved river") The town has a marvellous and large castle with a famous theater and a beautiful  park. In addition, the Eggenberg brewery is at home here. The second part of our tour from Český Krumlov to Prague (also 3 days) is characterized by this river Vltava that cuts into the ground, cozy little towns and several castles on its banks. We will (at the least) visit the castle of Zvíkov. Describing Prague here seems totally hopeless, as its attractions can not be seen on the one day we spend here. On the third part of the trip from Prague to Dresden (the last 3 days), we leave the Vltava and its mouth into the Elbe, first in order to "climb" the Czech national mountain of' Říp (Georgian Mountain), then to cross the České Středohoří nature reserve (The Bohemian Middle Mountains) between Litoměřice and Velké Březno. Both of these towns stand on the Elbe, which we follow on the last part of the trip to Dresden. Before that we'll visit the memorial for the Nazi concentration camp of Theresienstadt and the museum in the nearby garrison town, and go for a excursion into České Švýcarsko (Bohemian Switzerland) partly by bike and partly by foot to see Europe's longest natural bridge of Pravčická brána (the Prebisch gate), set in a marvelous landscape of weathered sandstone cliffs and deep gorges. It is located close to the border with Germany, where it is called Elbsandsteingebirge (the Elbe sandstone mountanins). The Elbe has carved deep into it, and we follow the river to the end of the trip in the magnificent residential city of the Saxon princes Dresden.

Train transport from Odense to Passau: Departure from Odense at 8.16 am, arrival at Passau af 11.40 pm, with four changes at Kolding, Flensburg, Hamburg and Munich.

Train transport from Dresden to Odense: Departure from Dresden at 12.55 am, arrival in Odense at 11.19 pm with three changes in Hamburg, Flensburg and Fredericia.

Our bike holiday was forcibly altered quite a deal due to a delayed train arrival on the outbound journey. Already in Kolding we missed our connecting train, resulting in a too late arrival in Hamburg to catch the ICE-train to Munich as planned. In stead we rebooked our tickets to Dresden, biked to Děčín, took another train to České Budějovice via Prague and biked to Český Krumlov. We were now back to our planned route, which we followed in the main parts. However, we took a bus and a train back to České Budějovice and followed the river Elbe from Litoměřice to Velké Březno in stead of biking into České středohoří as well as minor deviations from the planned route around Prague and Hřensko.