River Elbe

[compo]

I used to live in Dessau and used the station at Magdeburg to catch the train home via Hook of Holland. I have done a lot of cycling in the area around Dessau, which includes paths along the Elbe. One night I was waiting for the Hook of Holland train on Magdeburg Station. 10 minutes before it was due a load of armed police took up position aalong the platform. As the train came into the station a load of people were hanging out of every window shouting and cheering. As they were dressed in red my immediate thought was "Oh no, not English football supporters such as Manchester or Arsenal" It turned out they were ice hockey fans returning to Cologne after a match. They were a great crowd. Even the border guards gave up checking papers as a bad job. By the time we got to Hanover where they split the train and we parted company I was as pi**ed as a newt.

Nothing to really do with the topic but seeing the Elbe and Magdeburg triggered memories. Sorry!

 

[yoyo]

I have also experienced that 4km stretch of the Vltava path north of Prague. The alternative route is very badly signed and hilly. From my cycling experience in Czech I would advise staying in Germany. I have only seen the Elbe at Dresden where it looks very pretty with excellent paths.

 

[rich p]

I always wish that there was a River Ars somewhere

 

[Bodhbh]

I have also experienced that 4km stretch of the Vltava path north of Prague. The alternative route is very badly signed and hilly. From my cycling experience in Czech I would advise staying in Germany. I have only seen the Elbe at Dresden where it looks very pretty with excellent paths.

That photo doesn't really do it justice either, later on it's criss-crossed by roots and slopes towards the river. By then I was too set on getting it over with to worry about stopping for photos. Despite the state of it there's a fair amount of traffic coming each way - the Czechs seem completely oblivious to it. It is the exception tho.

The state of the Elbe path in Germany can be alittle rough in sections - so it's not perfect either. Mainly it's badly fitting pavement that rattles you to death rather than mud and muck. I took some photos to record it but, like the Vltava photo, don't really do it justice. The Germans tend to use fairly clunky bikes anyway. On the back of my Elbe guide there's a picture of both writers on their bikes - full sus monsters with enough luggage to cross Iceland. One one hand you could say it's typical Germans going complete OTT, but there's bits where it probably wouldn't hurt. And it's a totally flat relaxed route so who cares about the weight.

And I found a good reason of visiting Czech Republic within about 30mins of crossing the border. It came in 3 glasses and the tab was less than a couple of quid. Three pints of absolutly gorgeous beer on a hot day for less than the price of a crappy one in England, I'm gonna like it here...