Czech Republic On a Bike Across The Border

It is here. A day I had been looking forward to for months. To my surprise, the feeling of excitement recedes and nervousness takes over. I don’t know for a single day where I will sleep, the weather is uncertain and the journey is long. But it’s clear that I can’t back down. I sit on the saddle, put my shoes on the pedals and set off.

I chose the route as close as possible to the border. In addition to Czech kilometers, there are also German, Polish, Slovak and Austrian kilometers. There are countless PLAs and 5 national parks on the route. I have approximately 1,700 km, 25,000 altitude meters ahead of me and I have 16 days to do it.

You can find a detailed map here. 

I know the road to Nová Pec well, and since I don’t like driving where I’ve already been, plus there’s a slight westerly wind blowing against me, the kilometers go by slowly.

After passing through Nova Peca, Šumava finally breathes on me and the ride starts to be what I imagined :-). My plan is to sleep where I reach, but since I am in the first zone of the national park and the Bučina Emergency Shelter can be seen on the map, the goal of the first day is clear. (Note: if I had known that Bučina was the former highest settlement in Bohemia, I would have probably reconsidered my decision.) The altitude meters covered are increasing and after 20 hours I am there.

I think it’s cold, I look at my phone and see 5°C, the forecast for the morning says temperatures around zero. This surprises me a bit, I don’t have long pants, warm socks or a hat with me. I put on what I have, eat something and go to sleep.

I wake up to the next day decently frozen. I have breakfast, pack up and leave for Kvilda. Next is Modrava, where the temperature is still around 4°C and it starts to rain. I stop under the shelter in front of the tourist information center and after a while I start talking to cyclists who are finishing their vacation in Modrava and are going home by car. Let’s chat. We drink it down with their excellent homemade plum and it’s time to move on.

The path around Roklanské brook is beautiful all year round. I mostly go here in the winter on cross-country skis, but it’s also great on a bike. I take a photo and continue towards Prášila. Even if the planned route leads outside the semi-trailer, it won’t let me and I’ll make the journey a bit longer. And I’m doing well. There is a cafe connected to a small market in the village and they are also open on Sundays (which is today). I buy water and fruit at the market and next door at the cafe I charge my mobile phone and power bank and have desserts and coffee.

My journey continues through Špičák on Železná ruda, where I am surprised by the snow on one side of the hill. From Špičák, it whizzes by all the way to Nýrsko, where I stop for food. As the wind is picking up outside, I check the radar and see a decent thunderstorm moving in. I don’t wait for anything and drive on towards Všeruby.

If you sleep near the forest in the spring months and you hear barking from several sides at night, it is probably not a night hunt, but fox barking, which foxes use to reserve their territory. So, unlike me, you don’t have to worry about being accidentally shot by a local hunter at night :-).

On the morning of the third day, the journey to the Čerchov lookout awaits me. The road is unpaved, the elevation profile is unrelenting and the first crisis hits me.

It’s a tough day, but determination keeps me going. A bright moment is a stop in Rozvadov at the restaurant Myslivna. Pleasant service, excellent food with homemade pastries and, at the end, great coffee. If you’re passing by, be sure to stop here. If I take the whole trip around the republic, this was the most pleasant culinary surprise.

My journey continues to the former Pavlův Studenec and I reach a beautiful landscape full of extensive meadows. Maybe it’s exhaustion, but emotionally I perceive it as one of the most beautiful kilometers in the bicycle saddle. Suddenly I have energy and I am following my daily schedule. However, the body starts to resist and I feel an unpleasant pressure in my left knee.

On the morning of the fourth day, I hope the knee will be fine. Unfortunately. It’s such a weird pain in the front. When I don’t move, everything is fine, but as soon as I bend my knee, I feel this uncomfortable pressure. I google what can cause a similar problem and find that it is probably the pedaling method. It is necessary to annoy it with power, lower gears, increase the cadence. I’m going out and trying to see how it goes.

It works. The pain is not getting worse. I continue through Cheb to Aš. The road to Aš is surprisingly nice. The diversion is a meeting with a viper, which is calm, we both look out for our own. Aš didn’t inspire me twice, I stop at Šimon’s Minimarket with an attendant of Asian origin, buy water and a few small things. I don’t linger any longer and drive on through Germany in the direction of Plesná. Behind Plesná I will look out for a shelter with a mineral spring of Plesenská kyselka and spend the night.

It’s the fifth day and the crisis is at its peak. After a night spent in the meadow due to allergies, I can barely open my glued eyes in the morning. The pain in the knee is worse. The body is generally giving up and it is clear to me that it cannot continue like this. I cough up the daily plan and look at the map to see if there is a campsite nearby.

My goal is camping place “Kemp na Tajchu” in the village of Šindelová. And immediately upon arrival it is clear to me that it will be great. No tarmac car park where you have a strip of grass for your tent, this is a natural campsite right next to a pond with clear water, meadow and forest. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a nicer campsite. He probably wasn’t. I settle in and go to the snack bar run by Mr. Milan, who has traveled. He is a nice person in every inch, who will prepare you steak, tortilla, sausage, pizza… just about anything :-). I will taste almost everything on his menu and wash it down with beer. The mood is starting to improve, but I doubt that I will leave the whole republic.

In retrospect, I evaluate it so that this rest day was necessary. Coincidentally, it turned out to be an exceptional place that gave me an incredible amount of energy. You just don’t plan this :-).

Rested from the previous day, I wake up to a new morning. The height profile on Klínovec is scary, but the path leads through Boží Dar, where I really like it.

The weather is good and I reach Horní Blatná and head towards Boží Dar. The vast light green spring meadows give me energy and the journey goes by nicely. I give coffee in Boží Dar, replenish supplies and head to Klínovec. Klínovec is conquered without much difficulty, I take a photo and continue on towards Vejprty.

From Vejprt I will eventually reach the Flaje water reservoir. The road is varied with minimal traffic. I complete the daily portion of kilometers and altitude meters and go to prepare for the night satisfied.

I had a fair amount of mileage planned for today, but the motivation would be there. As thunderstorms are reported for the night and the following morning, I booked a hotel with breakfast in Varnsdorf :-).

Meadows around Moldava, that’s something for me. Cycling there is great. To Hřensk, I choose the route via Schöna and the ferry. The transition from the Czech Republic to Germany is almost unmarked and follows a tourist route, so it became inevitable, I crossed it and I have the first major detour. I’m still trying to figure it out somehow, but after wandering for a while I’m coming back. It just so happened that my cell phone’s battery is dead and I’m without a map. I use my sense of direction, it was not without occasional hesitation, but eventually I reach Schöna in Germany and take the ferry to Hřensk. It’s 5 p.m., check-in at the hotel in Varnsdorf closes at 8 p.m., which is still a long way to go, but I still stop at the U Forta snack bar, where I put food and charge my phone so that I have a map available.

Český Švývarsko is very nice to ride on a bike. High-quality asphalt cycle paths right next to the sandstone formations. Every cyclist just has to like this. There is no time to waste, I stop for one photo and then I just enjoy myself from the saddle.

8:00 p.m. is approaching, to be sure, I call the hotel reception so they can count on me. The receptionist is very nice and tells me that she has no problem waiting a few minutes. I’m going as fast as I can and I’ll arrive at the hotel at 20:01.

I take the keys, go to the room and it’s time to do the laundry. I wash the clothes in the sink, hang them all over the bathroom and go drink it.

It’s not raining in the morning, but it’s wet, cold and I don’t want to leave the hotel at all. I don’t leave until after 10am, which is not good.

Via Hrádek nad Nisou and Chrastava, I reach Mníšek and begin to climb the Jizera Mountains. It’s a decent hill, but I’ve already cycled here and I know that the Bedřichov water reservoir awaits me as a reward after the climb – another beautiful place.

The Jizera Mountains pleasantly surprised me. They are just big hills, you go up for a while, then down again. The environment changes nicely. My destination was Vysoké nad Jizerou with a view of the Krkonoše Kotel. I arrive at the place around 10 p.m..

Waking up to the ninth day is one of the nicest. The sky is cloudless and as soon as I get out of the tent, I look at the Krkonoše Mountains. With this extraordinary view, I have breakfast, exchange a few nice words with a local citizen and drive towards Jelemnice and Vrchlabí.

There are decent hills waiting for me in the Krkonoše Mountains, and when I drive past the third observation tower, I think that it could be breaking already :-). I will cross the Krkonoše Mountains to Žacléra and continue towards Lubawka (PL). From Lubawka past Adršpach to Police nad Metují.

What throws a pitchfork into my plan is the fact that in the first half of June, most of the campsites in the Czech Republic are closed. I’m still trying a hotel in Polica nad Metují, but you really don’t want a 2* hotel in the north of Bohemia. So I’m quite glad they don’t have time off and I’m spending the night not far from Police.

In the morning, I quickly pack up, because it’s raining, and head back to the square in Polici. Interestingly, right next to the 2* hotel, which still gives me chills, there is a cozy bakery with seating.

I’m there for about two hours, I drink two coffees and fill my stomach with salty and sweet. I remember that place fondly. It’s still raining when I leave, but my good mood doesn’t leave me. In a while I’m in Poland and I’m driving through the Table Mountain National Park.

The road continues along the Polish side around Orlické mountains and I end my journey in Králíky. In the off-season, it is a dead town, where the local pub cooks until 3 p.m. I arrive at the square, where there is a bar with a garden, and I order Rázná 10° from Radegast. I chat with the locals, order a pizza (they don’t have anything else) and have another beer. It’s a nice stop, but time flies like crazy, so I pay and go to the lookout shelter.

Hanušovice awaits me in the morning – this is not how I imagined the Jeseníky Mountains, I don’t linger and continue towards Jeseník. According to the radar, I’m waiting for a storm and it’s coming. In the rain, I will drive through Jeseník and continue to Zlaté Hory, where I have booked a guesthouse.

The Jeseníky – Zlaté Hory route – finally the Jeseníky I was expecting. I especially like it in Misty Swamps where it’s really foggy. Although I’m soaked, as if I had just jumped into a pond, but since I’m waiting for a boarding house, it somehow doesn’t bother me and a good mood prevails.

Upon arrival at the boarding house, the usual laundry procedure is followed in the sink. Since not only I got wet, but also part of the equipment, I take everything to the room and unpack it there :-).

Since there were no big hills on the route on the 12th day, I thought that if I wanted to finish the Republic in 16 days, I had to do it. So the plan is to drive from Zlaty Hory to Jablunkov with a stop in Bohumín, where I will meet my friend Honza.

The drive from Krnov to Opava is really nice. I’m in Bohumín at around 4 pm and I’m giving a boost to Pilsen with Honza. I continue via Karvina to Český Těšín, where I buy supplies and drive towards Jablunkov.

It doesn’t look good on the radar, it’s shaping up to be quite a storm. I enter Třinec, on the right I see the industrial complex of Třinecké železáren and immediately behind them the black Beskydy mountains. Real black. I have 20 km to the planned overnight stay. I’ll do another 10 km and then the storm will catch up with me. He’s as skinny as a cow. I’m waiting until 10 p.m. to see if it gets better. Nothing much. I get on my bike and give myself the worst 10 km ride.

Finally, I arrive soaking wet at the planned shelter and wonder what I’m doing here.

The conclusion of the previous day was a bit on the edge, but it turned out that I can drive 180 km in one day. After 10 days, I’m slowly starting to believe again that embracing the republic on time is realistic.

I’m cycling in the Beskydy for the first time, after the disappointment of the Jeseníky, I don’t have high expectations. How pleasantly surprised I am! Maybe it was the previous flat day, maybe it added a little spark of hope that the embrace of the republic will succeed, but the Beskydy are beautiful mountains with unique nature and a minimum of tourists. These mountains grabbed my heart.

Thunderstorms and a flood warning are again reported for the afternoon. I Google the guesthouse and end the day in the village of Karolinka near Velké Karlovice.

On the way out of Karolinka, it is still drizzling a little. I have planned the start of the route through the tourist blue, but the storms of the previous days have taken their toll. It’s hard to drive on gravel with bagels. Still, if I had to choose between this and the first class, I’d prefer this broken blue.

I make a morning stop in Valašské Klobouky and continue in the direction of Bojkovice, Strání, Velká nad Veličkou.

Den zakončuji v kempu u koupaliště Lučina ve Tvarožné Lhotě.

When I was freezing in Šumava at the beginning of the expedition, I was really looking forward to this day. I thought that there would be a heat, straights and the end of the expedition in sight.

Well, in the end it turned out to be the most boring day of all. Mountain lakes and ponds have been replaced by green periwinkles, people on the cycle paths as in Wenceslas Square and heat. This is really not for me. I understand that cycling from cellar to cellar in Moravia can be fun. But going to Moravia primarily for cycling is seriously not a good idea.

The bright side of the day was a stop and a swim in the Mašovice Quarry.

The weather is fine and it looks like the last day of the trip.

In the morning, I will take a bath in the quarry, finish my work and drive home via Vranov nad Dyjí, Waldkirchen an der Thaya, Chlum u Třeboň and Třeboň.

The journey is pleasant, my head is racing where I have been, what I have experienced and with a smile on my face I am approaching České Budějovice.

I have a confession to make. I became a country fan on this bike trip :-). Already on the second day of the expedition, I was looking forward to rounding the thousandth mile and playing the next song. Somewhere in Austria it is becoming a reality. I slow down, put the speakers on full blast and pedal through the countryside with a warm feeling inside.

I already know the road well from Třeboň. I’ll take a photo on the Budejovice square, have a beer and tartare at a local restaurant, wrap up the trip internally, and then there’s only a few hundred meters to go home.

In my opinion, this is the best route to get around the republic across the border in two weeks. In total, I drove 1,746 kilometers, climbed 25,236 meters and it took me 16 days and 15 nights. I spent 10 nights in the wild, 3 times in a guesthouse and 2 times in a campsite.

The more I travel and the more I see, the more I like it here at home. Šumava, Ore Mountains, Jizerské Mountains, Beskydy are really beautiful places of our country and thanks to this expedition we had the opportunity to explore them up close. It is true that there was no space for any detailed tourism, but as a basic overview this expedition served more than well. I already have in my head which places I will return to and explore them more thoroughly.

The idea, which arose among other things as one of the reasons for advocating the purchase of another bike :-), managed to be brought to a successful conclusion. Predictably, there were bad times and good times. Since the height profile of the planned route did not even remotely correspond to reality, it was strongly underestimated, the worse moments were much worse than I expected them to be. But thanks to them, the better moments were all the stronger. I have to say that overall this trip was pretty intense and it got indelibly etched on my skin. It didn’t leave any physical consequences on me, and I don’t think it did psychologically either. But if this trip gave me anything in terms of self-development, it will be the following: “Every hill can be climbed. Every problem has a solution. You can give up tomorrow.”