Through the former gdr to the spring in the riesengebirge
This is the report of heiner and gerch seeberger, whose latest tour took them from the mouth of the elbe in the north sea to its source in the riesengebirge mountains in the czech republic.
We started in cuxhaven. Next to us the rough "potte" (ships), on the other side the dike, which is grazed by cattle and sheep. On the second day we changed sides and drove via blankenese to altona. An overnight stay on the reeperbahn was booked. We made a city tour with our bikes around the auben- and binnenalster with one stop. On the stairs at the jungfernstieg we had a lively conversation. An old turkish guest worker, who has been living in hamburg for a long time, told us a little about his life here with us. And of course we also talked about the big and small politics. In the evening we went to the famous fischer-haus and ate a "finkenwerder art" plaice. The next morning, before continuing our journey, we made a detour to the world-famous miniature railroad museum – an unforgettable experience.
After three hours of sightseeing we continued on good cycle paths along or on the dike. After lauenburg, hitzacker, dannenberg and lenzen we changed sides again. In front of us a former watchtower from GDR times, now we knew we were in brandenburg. Shortly before magdeburg we crossed europe's largest waterway crossing. This is an imposing structure: the mittelland and elbe-havel canals cross the elbe river.
On a farm, in a caravan, we found a somewhat different accommodation: 16.50 euro with breakfast per person. Our next stop was the lutherstadt wittenberg. The new morning brought us again a strong wind. He gave us a feeling as if we were sitting on an e-bike. The mighty hartenfels castle, located directly on the elbe river, could be seen from afar. Slowly, the elbe valley was framed by vineyards to the right and left.
From meiben via dresden, via wehlen, konigstein, bad schandau and through the elbsandstein-mountains we drove through a unique and worth seeing region. Here you could take a vacation! We made a detour to the fortress, which is one of the largest fortresses in europe. From a height of 240 meters we had a magnificent view. The valley became wider again.
At our next coffee break we had to pay already with crowns. We had arrived in the czech republic. From here the elbe makes a rough bend in southeastern direction. In usti we found a good place to stay in a hostel for 13 euro per person. An inn with an old shady courtyard invited us to dinner and we enjoyed the hearty bohemian cuisine. Because the bike paths here were often very bumpy, we occasionally swerved onto the side roads.
Our next destination was melnik, where the moldau river flows into the elbe river. We continued via nymburg, kolin to pardubice. From here the elbe turned to the north to start in the riesengebirge after about 70 kilometers in spindel-muhlen as a young river. To get to the source of the elbe, we had to take the chairlift up to 1150 meters. From there it was about ten kilometers to fub at an altitude of 1400 meters. Here we had finally reached our goal.
After two weeks and three days we reached our destination after cycling 1300 kilometers.
