Watched somebody order a beer, getting it and drinking it at breakfast at 8:00 in the morning, different level of beer-drinking here in the Czech Republic. I, however, started culturally: with a visit to the castle of Decin, the long drive up is really impressive.
Then I set off along the Labe/Elbe bike route, which is very well signposted here. Once one gets used to it the yellow signs are easier to spot than the German white ones. The route is mainly off roads, so I do not have mich experience of mixed traffic yet, to boot, it was Sunday. There was one particular bit, though, where I had to scale some stairs. Practically it meant I had to take all the panniers off , carry them, carry the bike, put the panniers back on three times – not ideal.
The route seems to have quite a few kiosks along it, I did not see many restaurants. The kiosks only started opening about lunchtime, and none of them had ‚real‘ food. I also tried Czech coke (too sweet for me) and Czech lemonade, which is actually quite nice (sorry, I already forgot the name again).
The Labe/Elbe changes its character constantly. It has been very industrial, but also very narrow (I came through the Porta Bohemia, after I went through the Porta Westfalica along the Weser with Elsa not so long ago), and also quite wide with flat countryside along it. Almost everywhere there are fisherpeople, though. They seem to be allowed to camp wherever they want, or nobody checks…
It is noticeable that the Czech Republic has not been able to re-build as much as the Eastern German states, there are quite a few dilapidated industrial buildings around.
I am in a B&B again tonight, there was no convenient camp site (and it was really windy). Only one shower caught me briefly today, so some of my washing has dried a little…
