Litvínov lies at the foot of the Ore Mountains, the Krušné hory, in north-western Bohemia, and it is a town of contrasts. Below it stretches the Most basin, scarred by decades of open-cast brown coal mining and dominated by the chimneys of a large chemical works. Above it, the mountains rise steeply in a wall of forest, and a few kilometres up you are in a different world of beech and spruce woods, high meadows and small villages near the German border.
The history here is complicated. The coal basin was heavily industrialised in the twentieth century, and many villages were destroyed to make way for mines, including the old town of Most, which was demolished in the 1960s and 70s. Its Gothic church was famously moved several hundred metres on rails to save it. The Ore Mountains themselves suffered badly from acid rain in the late twentieth century, but the forests have been recovering, and the region's mining heritage is now recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared with Germany.
The riding is the main reason to come. The roads climbing from Litvínov into the mountains are steep and winding, with hairpins and sharp bends, and they lead up to the ridge, where you can ride along the plateau with views over the basin below. Surfaces vary, and in winter the mountains can be snowy and icy. Watch for logging trucks and cyclists.
Litvínov has fuel and food. For a photo, the views from the mountain roads over the basin are dramatic, especially in the evening light, when the industrial landscape takes on a strange beauty.