Ride day 1: 64 miles, 4163’ elevation
Lodging: Dalmo Pension
We rose early and packed our bikes in the hope of leaving Prague before traffic became heavy. Ultimately we took bike paths and small streets, and traffic was never an issue. We took a side street down to the Vitava River, carrying our bikes down a steep staircase to reach a bike path. Two rows of tiles laid through the cobblestones provided a smoother surface for cyclists in each direction, and there were quite a few cyclists, seemingly rushing for their commute. The path was occasionally bumpy or across gravel. We joined our route, the Prague-Vienna Greenway, following bike paths away from traffic, taking underpasses for some busy roads, an escalator in a metro station, until finally we were out of the city.
Prague seems clean for a large city, but the small towns and countryside were absolutely immaculate. We rolled through gentle hills all day. Rain clouds threatened, and the wind suggested a downpour was coming, but we never had more than light drips.
Near the town of Pruhonice, our route led through a park where cycling is absolutely not allowed. A man walking his beagle saw that we were trying to figure out our way and offered us directions on how to bypass the park. Additionally he made claim that every other person in Czech Republic owns a dog, we have not been able to verify this yet. His directions led us to one of the main streets in Pruhonice and to a charming breakfast spot for coffee, scrambled eggs, and fresh bread.
After skirting the forbidden park, we took a grassy singletrack to rejoin our route. The majority of the bike route is a narrow two lane road without any center line, but traffic was mostly light and the drivers considerate. At one point we had to backtrack and detour around a closed road, but it was fine.
We stopped for lunch along the way at a local restaurant and the young woman who waited on us kindly translated the menu as they didn’t have an English version.
We rolled into Sedlec-Prčice around 4pm. The proprietor of our guest house met us; they knew from our online reservation that we would be coming. The proprietor’s daughter (14ish?) translated for us and showed us our room. The pension (guest house) is modest, clean and comfortable. We walked through town for a look around before heading to dinner at the only open restaurant, a local pub. We spent a bit of time using Google Translate with the waitress to help us with our order — steak with cranberry and cream in a gravy with steamed dumplings. Tomorrow will be a short ride to Tabor.
