CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav it runs 795 km to Neratovice; allow about 12 h 09 of riding. The stops in between: Lovosice, near Rakovník, near Dobříš and Modřany. The climb of the day is near Kostelec nad Černými Lesy. Much of it runs through woodland.
The twin town of Brandýs nad Labem and Stará Boleslav faces itself across the Elbe, and each half carries a different kind of history. Stará Boleslav is where Wenceslas, the duke later venerated as Saint Wenceslas, was murdered by his brother Boleslav in the tenth century. Its basilica became one of the oldest pilgrimage sites in the Czech lands, and on 28 September, the national holiday, pilgrims still arrive in large numbers.
Read the complete Fuel stop near Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Karlštejn and Berounka River is where the day begins. Next is Prague / Bohemia return.
On 1 October 1756, on the fields around Lovosice, Frederick the Great's Prussian army fought an Austrian force in the first battle of the Seven Years' War, a conflict that would spread across Europe and around the world. The battle was indecisive, but the Austrians withdrew, and the war went on for seven long years. Today the battlefield is farmland and vineyards, with a few memorials, and the town of Lovosice is a modest industrial place on the Elbe.
Read the complete Near Lovosice, on the way back write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Prague / Bohemia return comes up about 83 km into the recorded legs. Next is Food stop near Rakovník.
Rakovník guards its old centre with a pair of Gothic gate towers, and the taller of them, the Prague Gate, looks as if it has been borrowed from the capital's skyline. The town is the centre of a rural district west of Prague, known for its hops and beer, and the surrounding countryside is a gentle mix of fields, orchards and wooded hills. It has a calm, slightly sleepy atmosphere that suits a lunch stop well.
Read the complete Food stop near Rakovník write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
A break here. Next is Photo stop near Dobříš.
Dobříš is a small town in Central Bohemia, about forty kilometres south-west of Prague, set on the edge of the Brdy, a long range of forested hills. The town is best known for its Rococo chateau, built in the eighteenth century for the Colloredo-Mansfeld family, with formal French gardens and an English-style park. After the Second World War, the chateau served for decades as a retreat for Czechoslovak writers, and it is now open to visitors again.
Read the complete Photo stop near Dobříš write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Photo stop near Dobříš, early in the day. Next is Karlštejn and Berounka River checkpoint 8.
South of Prague, the Vltava leaves the city through a deep, wooded valley, and the suburbs give way to villages, orchards and cliffs. It is a place of transition: the city's traffic behind you, the Bohemian countryside ahead.
Read the complete Near Modřany write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Karlštejn and Berounka River checkpoint 8. That is the ride. Next is High point near Sázava.
Sázava is a small town on the river of the same name, east of Prague, best known for its monastery, one of the oldest in Bohemia. The Benedictine abbey was founded in the eleventh century by Saint Procopius, a hermit, and for a time it was a centre of Slavonic liturgy before Latin replaced it. Today, the monastery is a museum, with a Gothic church, Romanesque remains and medieval frescoes.
Read the complete High point near Sázava write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
High point near Sázava comes up about 371 km into the recorded legs. Next is Scenic stretch near Český Brod.
Český Brod means Czech Ford, and the name tells you why the town exists: a crossing on the old trade road running east from Prague towards Kolín and the Elbe lowlands. Merchants, armies and pilgrims all came this way, and the town grew fat enough on the traffic to build walls. A stretch of fortification and a stout gate tower survive, and the long square, with its church and arcaded houses, is a calm place to sit for ten minutes at the end of a ride.
Read the complete Scenic stretch near Český Brod write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 400 km into the recorded legs you reach Scenic stretch near Český Brod. Next is Back to Karlštejn and.
The dot sits east of Prague, in the broad valley of the Elbe at Brandýs nad Labem and Stará Boleslav, two towns that run into each other across the river. It is a long way from Karlštejn, on the other side of the capital, and the ride is on its way home, crossing the flat farmland of the Polabí, the Elbe lowland, where the land is wide, the roads are straight and the sky is huge.
Read the complete Karlštejn and write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Back to Karlštejn and. That is the ride. Next is Bohemian Switzerland Gorges.
Next is Scenic stretch near Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fuel stop near Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Scenic stretch near Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav comes up about 485 km into the recorded legs. Next is High point near Kostelec nad Černými Lesy.
High point near Kostelec nad Černými Lesy is the summit of this stretch. Next is Photo stop near Netvořice.
Photo stop near Netvořice, late in the day. Next is Bohemian Switzerland Gorges checkpoint 8.
Bohemian Switzerland Gorges checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is Food stop in Zdice.
Food stop in Zdice is where this day stops to eat. Next is Prague / Bohemia return.
about 738 km into the recorded legs you reach Prague / Bohemia return. Next is Back to Bohemian.
North of Prague the land flattens out and opens, and this point lies in the middle of that wide plain, right beside Neratovice on the river Elbe, which Czechs call the Labe. The Vltava joins the Elbe a few kilometres to the north at Mělník, so by the time you reach this spot you are riding through the heart of the Elbe lowlands, a broad, fertile basin where the soil is sandy and the fields are given over to vegetables and grain. It is a long way from the sandstone gorges of Bohemian Switzerland that the name suggests.
Read the complete Bohemian write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back to Bohemian closes the day.
Fuel stop near Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav → Near Lovosice, on the way back is 83 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Food stop near Rakovník → Photo stop near Dobříš is 104 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Photo stop near Dobříš → Near Modřany is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Sázava → Scenic stretch near Český Brod is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Český Brod → Back to Karlštejn and is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Back to Karlštejn and → Fuel stop in Neratovice is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuel stop in Neratovice → Scenic stretch near Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav → High point near Kostelec nad Černými Lesy is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Kostelec nad Černými Lesy → Photo stop near Netvořice is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Photo stop near Netvořice → Dolní Břežany is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Food stop in Zdice → Near Klobuky, on the way back is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.