Cycling from Prague (CZ) to Meppel (NL)
5th-19th of October 2006
From the suburbs of Prague, we cycled 1074 km to Meppel. We cycled on recumbents, an M5 28/26 and a Natrix2. The first half we cycled along the Elberadweg. Already from Lovosice in Czech Republic we started to cycle along the Elbe, which is called Labe in Czech. After leaving the Elbe in Magdeburg we chose our own route along friends in the north of Germany and The Netherlands.
The first evening we found a nice spot in a meadow next to a sunflower field. We wondered if it wasn't time to harvest the sunflowers. We didn't need to doubt long, half of hour later a big combine past us...
The next day we visited the former World War II Nazi concentration camp Terezín (Theresienstadt). It consists of two fortresses, the Main Fortress and the Small Fortress. This is the cemetery in front of the Small Fortress.
Administration court of the Small Fortress. The new prisoners were registred here.
The first courtyard, the prisoners were imprisoned here in mass cells.
After three prisoners managed to escape the Nazis damaged the stone moulding to avoid recurrence. Also they murdered a few prisoners as a warning for the other prisoners.
The Small Fortress contains many kilometers of tunnel. This one was 500 m long. During the Nazi occupation, the tunnels were closed, to avoid that prisoners would use it to escape.
The Small Fortress.
The Small Fortress.
The Main Fortress is still inhabited by people. Also the Ghetto Museum can be found there.
Camping along the Elbe, east of Ustí nad Labem.
A nice cyclepath started in Germany, on the east side of the Elbe.
Cyclepath on the south side of the Elbe, near the Basteibrücke, which is a stone brigde between the rocks on the north side.
The third night we camped in Pirna, a small town south-east of Dresden.
Fog above the Elbe in the morning.
Dresdens historic buildings.
Meissen, 20 km north-west of Dresden.
The fourth night we camped along the Elbe in Strehla.
In the morning we watched a fascinating spectacle of light and fog.
Cycling along a dike near Wartenburg.
The Bauhaus in Dessau is an art, design and architecture school in Germany that was founded in Weimar in 1919 and existed till 1933. It was of great importance for the development of design and archictecture.
Camping near the aeroport of Magdeburg during the 7th night.
Bad road surfaces can be found often still in the former DDR, this is the village Lödderitz.
Ferry across the Saale, between Gross Rosenburg and Werkleitz.
The Magdeburger Dom in ... Magdeburg.
The cloister of the Magdeburger Dom.
The 'Grüne Zitadelle' is a building from architect Hundertwasser in Magdeburg.
The next day was very foggy during the whole day, although in the end of the day we could see a few hundert meter far. This is in the morning near Haldensleben.
We visited our friend Axel Ewen in a small village near Salzwedel. In his workshop, we tried his foam cutting and welding machine. The cutting of the foam goes very easy. The small sheet of metal that's used for cutting is connected to a cheap welding pistol, which is hanging under the sheet of wood.By pressing two pieces of foam together along the hot metal sheet, the foam is welded together again.
Axel used the foam to make a streamline fairing for a recumbent.
Evina and Axel in Axels workshop.
Axel has built many recumbents in his workshop. In the foreground one of his current projects can be seen, a side-by-side-back-to-back tandem (4 cyclists, 2 wheels...).
Evina is testing one of Axels recumbents. This one has a frontfork an rearfork from a Birdy foldingbike.
In one of the barns close to Axels house this fairing was stored together with the original mould. It's called 'the pinguin' and it was the graduation project of Frank Lienhard, carried out together with Mercedes. The bicycle used linear drive.
Axels house and workshop.
Axels plywood back-to-back tandem. It is a sandwich of 2 mm thick plywood and 40 mm thick cork. It's fully suspended using laminated wood and damped with rubber.
Axel showing the tandem.
Axel recommended us to ask a cycling couple in Soltau if we could spend the night in their house. They are one of the 2500 adresses which can be found in the ADFC-Dachgeber book. As a member of the ADFC-Dachgeber initiative you can offer lodging for free to cyclists and use the roof of other members when you travel yourself.
In many German villages we saw decoration for the 'Erntefesten' (Harvest celebrations).
The 11th night we spent as a guest of this couple. Again we used the ADFC-Dachgeber book.
Coincidentally we passed the recumbent shop '2-Rad-Laden' in Bassum.
Approximately 100 km from the border it became noticable that we were getting closer to The Netherlands. For example because of this type of windmill.
The 12th night we slept in a small forest near Godensholt.
Rauderfehn.
Border between Germany and The Netherlands near Bellingwolde.
The last day of cycling was from Groningen to Meppel. This is along the Drentsche Hoofdvaart between Hoogersmilde and Geeuwenbrug.