18-26 deg C, a lovely sunny day when we left Linz, and a very ugly rainy approach to Prague
Ride G: 3km; total: 755km
Ride W: 3km; total: 739km
Walk G: 5km: 222km
Walk W: 5km; total: 214km
Day 28; four countries in 28 days.
There was no point in rushing off to brekky this morning as we didn’t have to check out until midday, but needed to be gone by 10am. After looking at all the different options available for today, we eventually settled on a train ride directly to Prague. The main reason is that there is a rather large mountain range in between Linz and Prague. Neither of us were keen on riding through the mountains, however beautiful and charming that might sound. After a leisurely brekky, we had one last wander around the city and a final visit to the largest church in Austria. Both were worth the effort.
After monos in the room we gathered our goods and chattels, loaded up the bikes and rode the whole 900m to the train station. As our train was already on the platform, because it had originated in Linz, we had sufficient time to remove everything from the bikes, stow them in their designated spot (the bikes had a ticket each too) and settle in our seats which were three carriages away. Even after all that, we still had a bit of time to spare so Greg went and picked up some food and drinks for the 3 hour 30 minute (turned out to be almost 4hrs due to a technical complication when hooking up another carriage or two after we crossed into Czechia) journey.
The train looked a little bit old fashioned but it was clean, smooth, quiet, and comfortable. It zipped along pretty well too at a top speed of 160km/h. The scenery was predominantly rural with mostly grain crops, maybe an occasional dairy farm, nothing out of the ordinary. It sort of vindicated our decision to train it.
Apart from a short delay about halfway to Prague we were pretty much on time. We were welcomed to Prague by a huge thunderstorm. Luckily for us the platform was undercover and the train terminated in Prague, giving us as much time as we needed to get our panniers, handlebar bags and bikes off the train.
After rejoining our luggage and batteries with the bikes we set off, firstly to find our way out of the rather large railway station and then to our hotel. The hotel was the easy part, getting out of the railway station was a nightmare! We were looking for the signs for a lift as it’s nearly impossible to wheel a heavy loaded bike down a set of stairs. We eventually worked out that they didn’t have a lift but a ramp to get off the platform. Having executed that we then had fun finding the lift/ramp to get to the ground floor. After one false start (we tried to use the service lift) we made it to terra firma. It was about this time that the rain stopped, so we jumped on the bikes and rode to the hotel. Not only were the cobbled streets slippery from the rain, the most direct route to the hotel according to Google maps, was along the tram tracks, with the trams! At one stage we had to make a hasty stop to allow a tram to pass. There were also all manner of vehicles, including police and ambulance zipping around with not many manners. We shall not be riding around this city, rather walking and public transporting. They are all a little CRAZY!
The hotel staff were marvelous, got us to bring the bikes into the hotel reception area, unloaded the gear and took our bikes away to be secured in the baggage room. We won’t be needing them for a few days.
With showers persisting during the late afternoon, neither of us were keen to leave our nice warm, dry motel room. So we just ducked out and picked up a couple of salads from Lidl a few doors away and ate in. Greg went out for a post-dinner wander but we were both happy not to do much after an exhausting day doing not much at all.
The Marien Dom this morning
Love the way the stained glass throws coloured shadows on the floor
A very famous Bishop from the 1800s
Our train
Our bikes (2 on the right) and others
Our compartment on the train, we had all six seats to ourselves until we crossed the border, and then only another two passengers joined us. Seats 75 and 76.
Scenery from the train
One of the nicer stations along the way
Train speed
Grandior Hotel Prague, # 371
Lovely big room
The front of the main part of the hotel, we are in a separate wing, with a special elevator!
View from our room, fortunately, the triple glazing helps keep out most of the noise
Ride (train, that is!) stats
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