As the first day of cycling there’s an argument that today should have been easy, just to get everyone into the habit. But no, on a week where the average length of ride is 46km, today would be 50km. And that’s 50km with two steep up-hill bits, not 50km all flat or down hill.

Or at least it would be once the bikes arrived. Although scheduled to appear around 8.30, the mini-bus transporting them failed to come until well after ten meaning that I didn’t get under way until after eleven.

As luck would have it, the riding was easier than I had feared. After a small amount of riding on roads, I got to the Vltava River, turned right and followed its path. Most of the day would be by its side, with a few detours to avoid dangerous (or overly steep) parts of the track.

After London and Prague, it was good to get away from the big cities. Pulling up to a junction there are no cars and beyond the road it’s pretty flat as far as the eye can see, which means that I was very lucky to find the hill I just had to climb.

Similar luck extended to the flat tyre and the rain that started just as it was being replaced. I sheltered in a bus stop until it passed which was, fortunately, not long.

In the afternoon things went better. Shortly after lunch I passed through a town and this building which is very much in the style that I would expect of a Communist era block of flats. Unlike what I saw in Prague, this building was not in great condition. Smashed windows and graffiti were everywhere.

I then return to the river and continue until the turning for Melnik. Here I find the second major hill of the day. I make a valiant attempt to cycle all the way to the top but lack enough traction (and lung capacity) to complete the task and end up walking until the fields at the top.

From here is was a straight-forward roll straight into Melnik, or at least the outskirts of Melnik where the hotel was. Tomorrow I have a look around the town itself and head on towards Litoměřic.

This is the second of a series of posts about my cycling holiday from Prague in the Czech Republic, to Meißen, in Germany. See the index page for more details or subscribe to my RSS feed for updates as they arrive.