Fri. 17 Aug. Decin to Krippen.

We went down to breakfast at 8:00am. We were the first there. We started with muesli and were just going on to toast and honey when an elderly guy came up with a menu written in Czech. He was very concerned we didn't want anything more to eat, explaining to us in German what else was available, cheese eggs etc. He did eventually accept we only wanted muesli, toast and rolls and butter with a couple of cups of coffee.

We left the hotel around 9:00. One of the advantages of walking up to the hotel yesterday was that our start today was downhill. We headed NE across the city centre to pick up the cycle route 2 on the west side of the Labe, soon to become the Elbe.

Going through Decin in the morning seemed much brighter and more positive than it had the previous day. Perhaps it was because we were leaving! 

Initially the Labe flowed much like a canal, as it has for most of the trip, but after about an hour it began to flow more like a normal river. It was easy to see the river flowing past stationary bouys for example. This is a comparatively rare sight. With even just a slight wind rippling the surface it has often looked like the river was flowing back to Mlyn!

As we left Decin and headed north the sides of the river valley became much deeper with great sandstone cliffs, especially on the Eastern bank, much narrower than the Hutt valley.

There was a clear cycle track the whole day sometimes shared with a few cars.

We stopped at a cafe for a last drink in the Czech Republic. I had a black beer, less creamy and not as viscous as Guinness. I think I prefer it to the normal beer. Shiel had her usual, orange juice.

There were just a couple of metal posts to indicate we were leaving the Czech Republic but nothing to really indicate we were entering Germany. You reach Germany on the west bank of the Elbe first, on the east bank the border is about a kilometer further on. On that side we could see a large concrete building located above the road, probably the remains of the old Czech border post when it was in the Eastern Block.

As we got nearer Krippen the valley walls lowered and the view opened up. It was easy to see, just by looking at the buildings that one was in a different area to the Czec Republic. Although there were very many beautiful buildings in the C R they were always interspersed with a number of shabby or decaying buildings. On entering Krippen/Bad Schandau along the Elbe all of the buildings seemed very smart.

We are staying in a hotel with a special area for cyclists following the Elbe cycle route.