My days had been filled with following the sun and my whims. Going where I wanted to go, stopping when I wanted to stop, eating when and what I wanted to. But this was about to change and I was excited about it. After fifty days of traveling by myself (read about it starting here), starting in Berlin I had a travel partner!

Beth Hawkins joined me for the last segment of my bike tour, Berlin to Prague. She was excited to see what traveling by bike was all about and I was excited to share my adventure and to have a breath of fresh air come over the proceedings. I arrived in Berlin a day early to get a lay of the land and then used public transportation to pick her and her boxed bike from the airport. She had a day to acclimate to the time-zone and then we were off to see what we could see!

Berlin Germany to Lubbenau Germany 56 miles

To help us out of the big city of Berlin we took the local “S” train to the southern suburb of Granau. It saved us 1.5 hours of city riding but it wasn’t easy. The trains were full and we had to scramble in order to get on one with our loaded bikes. But we got it done and rode out to the end of the line. We started riding just after 10 am. The first part of the day was through neighborhoods that were near canals and lakes. We just had peek-a-boo water views, but mostly it was views of really tall houses that blocked the water from their neighbors.  After we had cleared the suburbs, we started riding through the forest on small roads and bike paths. We started having some real fun.

Mid-afternoon we came to a charming little town with a full network of canals called Schlepzig. Navigating the canals were some large boats that had tables filled with people who could eat and drink while they got slowly pushed by a captain with a long pole. There were also kayakers and canoeists enjoying the extensive network. We stopped at a little cafe by the water and enjoyed a snack as we soaked in the ambiance of this special spot.

We continued adjacent to the water network to the town of Lubbenau. It wasn’t easy to find a place to stay in Lubbenau, so we ended up at a conference center right out of 1994. It was in beautiful shape, but everything seemed to be original from the 1990’s. We almost missed it altogether because it looked more like an office complex than a hotel. Since we had a hard time finding the front door, I’m guessing they don’t get much walk-in traffic.

We rode our bikes a few miles back to the old town section of town and enjoyed a good dinner. I had become accustomed to having my credit card accepted everywhere I wanted to use it. When I presented it at the restaurant I was told that they only accepted credit cards from German banks. I calmly looked inside my wallet and found that I had the exact amount of cash needed to settle our bill. Uncomfortable situation narrowly averted! It was a great first day of touring for Beth.

Lubbenau Germany to Elsterwerda Germany  50 miles

After a good breakfast at the hotel we headed out for another day of exploring. Mostly rural riding during the morning and soon we were on a path with a some serious looking signs. We translated the signs and they warned of “risk of death”. We were following a route that was provided by Robert Reiman, a friend of a friend who connected us through Facebook. Robert and his wife Anna have developed a series of routes called the Royal Roads of Saxony. The routes are based upon the postal routes in the area that were used in the 1700’s. These routes worked perfectly for this part of the journey and they took us from small town to small town through a series of surprisingly small roads and paths. This route included the “risk of death” area and since this was on Roberts route we took a quick look behind us making sure nobody was looking and then headed forth, crossing our fingers.

What we found was beautiful lake with a deteriorating paved path around it.  At one point the path was interrupted with a dirt hill filled with dense trees and this is where we needed to bushwhack a few yards and then find a different dirt track. It was a bit of an adventure.  Soon we were back on a road and in no time we were taking photos in front of a castle which had been converted into a hotel and brewery.

We had lunch in Finsterwalde right on their charming main square and then went to a second cafe in the area for some ice cream. As I travelled from country to country I tried to learn a few words that would be helpful. I made sure to learn what the locals called ice cream. In the Scandavavian countries it was called glass, in Germany it was called eis and later in the Czech Republic it was called zmerzlina. Zmerzlina was my favorite to say, and it took a while to get the hang of it. But when I imagined a girl named Lina getting smeared in the face with ice cream I had it memorized! Poor Lina.

The afternoon was filled with some nice remote paths through the forest. This is where we first started seeing people out wandering the woods with their baskets collecting mushrooms. In the following days we saw dozens and dozens of people out in their favorite spots filling their baskets. We enjoyed noticing this part of the culture that got people out into the woods. Most were older, and I’m sure this time of year the dinner tables are filled with all sort of yummy fungi.

In Elsterwerda we stayed in a spotless Asian themed hotel and had dôner kebap’s for dinner. These are middle eastern sandwiches filled with shaved meat, shredded lettuce and cabbage and some special sauce all tucked into a pita type bread. And they are HUGE! It filled our tummies, but in all honesty, I liked it better than Beth. It became a running joke as we called out the kebap restaurants throughout the rest of our trip. I really missed having a dôner kebap from “Genius Kebap” in Salzburg!

Elsterwerda Germany to Dresden Germany 47 miles

It was crisp in the morning, but it turned out to be a beautiful day!  After riding about 10 miles we saw a bakery in a small town and of course needed to stop. We took our treats up the street thinking that there might be a bench near the church that we could see. We were delighted to find a castle along with beautiful gardens which were open to the community to walk through. We found a beautiful spot near a quiet pond. It was a lovely stop.

Just after the castle we rode through a series two track paths through farm fields. It was amazing to see bike route signs in the middle of these fields pointing down even smaller tracks towards small villages. We were soon at the Elbe River where the landscape and the ride changed dramatically. The smooth water of the river was now at our side and we were on a well travelled paved path. Soon we were riding into the busy area of Missen where an imposing castle lords over the river. It’s now not surrounded by a moat but by a steady stream of traffic and a line of parked caravans.

We arrived in Dresden early enough to walk around the beautifully reconstructed old town. The city had been flattened at the end of World War II. We later found out that much of the rubble remained on the ground well into the 1970’s when a rebuilding effort was begun. We enjoyed the fall market in the main square and had an easy time imagining the Christmas market which will soon take place.

Dresden Germany to Decin Czech Republic  43 miles

After a good breakfast of gourmet pancakes in Dresden, we headed out with the Saturday crowds for a bike ride along the river. We rode past a rowing competition and there were many large boats taking passengers up and down the river. We took a ferry across to Pillnitz where we walked through more beautiful gardens. The river entrance was especially cool.

We then road upstream a few miles to the pristine little town of Pirna where we had lunch with the couple who had developed the bike routes we had been riding. We had a really lovely lunch in the charming square and asked dozens of questions of Anna about the fall of the Berlin Wall, flooding, reunification and growing up in Eastern Germany. And we asked Robert, who had just been in Germany 12 years, about the differences culture and assimilation. This conversation was definitely a highlight of our time in Germany. We didn’t part ways until after 3 and we had quite a bit of ground to cover before dark. We rode quickly up the valley as the valley steepened and turned into steep rock walls.

We were soon in the Czech Republic and we could tell the difference as we neared Decin. More abandoned industry, not as much development and fewer, if any biergartens, which we had been passing all day long.

Decin to Roudnice nab Laben Czechia   50 miles

Another gorgeous day for a ride along the Elbe River and we enjoyed both the landscapes and the cityscapes. The valley in this area was more narrow and the steep hillsides rose out from the river and the cities seemed less familiar, less western. They cities were a combination of what I picture as communist block concrete construction mixed in with beautiful city centers. The Czech people seemed very open and friendly and we got many smiles and “hello’s” along the way.

We rode past a few dams and were riding very close to the river most of the day. We took a nice detour and explored the city of Litomerice with its narrow cobblestoned streets and huge central plaza. It was hard to get any good pictures because of all the cars parked in and around the square. We ended up in Roudnice nad Laben and stayed on wide central plaza at the Hotel Magnolia. While we were sitting at an outdoor cafe (tea for Beth and Zmerzlina for me!) we noticed a few passenger vans unloading in front of our hotel. It turns out that we were sharing lodging with the national rowing team of China. Just that afternoon they had finished up the rowing world championships which were being held just a few miles away.

Roudnice nab Laben to Prague Czechia   44 miles

The breakfast buffet at the hotel was especially competitive. The Chinese rowing team was very quiet but they were very hungry! It was raining and dark when we awoke and the forecast called for rain, but we didn’t get much at all. For the first few miles we cycled past a beautiful section of the river where we were the only ones riding next to the smooth water reflecting the trees which were just starting to change colors. We rode directly past the rowing venue and imagined the bustle of the competition of just a day before as we watched the cleanup.

After a few hours we arrived in Malnik and rode up the big hill to the old town and the imposing castle. What looked like a charming town from the river was a bustling city spreading to the north. We had a hot dog and an ice cream in the main square and then headed out of town toward Prague. The route to Prague wasn’t quite as smooth as we had become accustomed. Still in the shadow of Malnik the bike path turned to dirt and then quickly became a mud puddle. For the next five miles we rode a bumpy track next to the water with views of abandoned industrial buildings. Broken windows, trees growing from the roofs… it was eerily beautiful. We then left the river and headed south this is where we left Czech bike route #2 which continued up the Elbe to its source.

The remainder of the day was spent winding our way through the suburbs of Prague. We climbed up a steep hill to a big park on the outskirts of town and then coasted into the city itself.  We crossed the Vitava river and soon we were in the old historic district ready to walk around with the rest of the tourists.

Prague to Zibroh Czechia  29 miles

When we arrived in Prague we hadn’t yet decided if we were going to stay an extra day or not. After a few hours of jostling with hordes of tourists we both agreed that it was fun to look around, but we had both seen what we wanted to see. It was strange to hear so many Americans speaking english after seeing so few for almost a month.

Riding out of busy cities isn’t usually very scenic, so we decided to jump on a local train and get a head start out to the country. We got off at a little whistle stop called Zadni Treban and started riding around noon. The ride for the day was just 29 miles but it felt like a lot more. It was cold, there was some rain, some good hills and mostly into a stiff headwind.For lunch we stopped into a tiny little market run by a Vietnamese family in the small village of Hate. We made our sandwiches and ate our lunch right out front as we hid from the fast moving rain squalls.

The riding in and out of Havorice was hilly and not biker friendly. We climbed out of town, avoided the worst of the rain (but enjoyed the vibrant rainbow), and then climbed the steep hill to the castle in Zibroh where we had a reservation at the hotel. The castle had been restored and turned in 2005 into a hotel, restaurant and wedding venue. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant where the waitress, in her tight corset (I think that’s redundant), gave us about 25 eye rolls during dinner. I guess not many people order hot tea and ginger ale in the land of pilsner beer.

Zibroh Czechia to Pilsen Czechia to Regensburg Germany  34 miles

We had a good breakfast at the castle and geared up for a day of riding through the rain. We tried to stop at a few grocery stores during the morning but for some unknown reason they were all closed. This was a day full of surprises. This section was signed as Czech bike route #3 and Eurovelo 4 but there were a few occasions where we were avoiding puddles on muddy paths through farm fields or through the woods. Beth, without fenders, became a muddy mess.

Our plan was to ride to Pilsen and then take a train to Regensburg which is on the Danube River. According to the internet there was a train leaving at 2:05 and another at 4:05. By mid-morning we knew that making the 2:05 was going to be tight, so we skipped lunch, kept pushing and ate what snacks we had. Both of us were soaked and cold and at one stop we took refuge in a bike shelter and wrung out our gloves.

We rode into the main station at Pilsen at 2:10. I went to the ticket office to buy tickets to Regensburg and was told, after a lot of head shaking, that there was no longer a train, and that we would need to take a bus part of the way. The difficulty was our bikes. We would need to ask our bus driver if there was room for us and our bikes and that couldn’t be done until 15 to 20 minutes before the scheduled departure. We grabbed some lunch and then wandered around the station (which was under construction) looking for where the busses departed.

We luckily stumbled upon our bus and Beth charmed the driver into taking our muddy bikes. I then sprinted up to buy our tickets. It was a scramble to get everything loaded and we were nearly the last passengers to find our seats. We felt lucky to be heading the right direction! After about an hour, our bus pulled into a rest stop and we soon realized that this wasn’t a comfort stop, we had been pulled over by the police. We had just entered Germany. The main police officer soon boarded our bus and explained (in perfect english) that we had crossed an international border and that this was a routine documentation check.

We were all asked to walk off of the bus and to hold our documentation in our right hands. In the scramble to make the bus I hadn’t had time to get my act fully together. For 50 days I had been keeping my passport in a plastic back tucked into the hidden pocket of my front pannier. That pannier happened to be under the bus in the luggage hold. I looked inside my handlebar bag, which I had with me, and saw my wallet. I took out my drivers license and took my place in line.  As luck would have it, I was diverted to the lead officer. He took my license and looked at it briefly.

He looked at me and said “I see that this is a drivers license and I can recognize from your photo that this is you. However, you have just crossed an international border and I’m sure you understand that there are very specific laws regarding the acceptable documentation.”

I replied “I understand completely, unfortunately I left my passport in my baggage which is currently with the luggage under the bus.”

“That is unfortunate. Please stand over here.”

After a short wait he called over the bus driver and asked him to open up the luggage compartment for me. I was left alone as I went to retrieve my passport. I checked the first front pannier, no passport. I opened the second one, nothing. “Hmm this is strange, but I could have put it in a different place.” Third pannier, nope! My heart was starting to beat harder as I opened my last bag…NO PASSPORT! I hurriedly looked through by bags again and then a third time. All the while imagining the response to my explanation “officer I had my passport just yesterday, I must have left it at the castle…”  Just then, Beth walked around the front of the bus wondering what was taking me so long. She saw the panic in my eyes and handed me my handlebar bag. I reached in and there it was. My passport had been there all along.  I put my bags back in place, gathered myself and walked around to the front of the bus where I presented my passport. The officer kindly said “Mr. Kearney, I’m glad to see this, welcome to Germany.”

As I was sitting back on the bus I noticed that there were three young men who were not going to have as happy an ending as I had enjoyed. They were the last three passengers to enter the bus and were traveling together. They were all dressed alike and none of them had any documentation. They were either refugees or undocumented workers. Either way, I felt sorry for them and I felt really grateful to have my United States passport and all that goes along with that.

Regensburg Germany; Salzburg Austria, Ulm Germany and Frankfurt Germany 30 miles

I didn’t know it at that time but our ride into Pilsen was the last point-to-point ride of my trip. The weather forecast called for rain in the entire region and it’s not so much fun to get up and go for a ride in the rain when you don’t have to. My original goal was to ride from Oslo to Prague and I had done that, and a bit more. Beth graciously agreed to conclude the trip with a visit to Salzburg where we visited my niece who is doing a semester abroad in that beautiful city.

The weather cleared unexpectedly and we were able to take a spectacular ride in Salzburg along the blue waters of the Salzach River.

We then continued by train to Ulm Germany where we took another short ride along the Danube and then enjoyed a concert of four voices and an organ in the Ulm Munster, the huge gothic church is listed on its Wikipedia page as the tallest in the world. The acoustics were incredible and we were thankful to have had the opportunity to head a concert there. As we rode the train to Ulm, we transferred through Munich. It happened to be Octoberfest and therefore the trains were full of revelers in Bavarian costumes ready for a full day. It felt like a fraternity house and a sorority house getting ready for the big football game.

We then continued to Frankfurt were we boxed up our bikes and flew home. For those who may be interested, the luggage storage window in terminal 1 sells bike boxes for $25 each including tape. This saved us a lot of running around Frankfurt looking for boxes and gave us an extra day to enjoy Germany.

What a trip it was! In the end, I had biked just over 1,200 miles in Europe and over 1900 miles in the United States for a total of 3,140. I had cycled in 8 of the United States plus the District of Columbia and biked in six European countries. When I returned home, I was asked if this was a one time trip that I’d always remember or if it was just the first trip of many. Without hesitation I said that I was just getting started!

Photos by Neil Kearney and Beth Hawkins

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