Sedlec-Prcice to Prague - July 1

July 1

After cereal and our awful instant coffee in our room (overpriced Pension Dalmo doesn't include breakfast in the price) we loaded up our bikes where they had been locked up inside.
On our way out a young Aussie woman approached us. She had noticed us in the restaurant the previous evening. She was cycling the Greenways route from Cercany, south of Prague, to Vienna with her Czech husband and their small child.
We had quite a long chat with them, and told them that our plan for the day was to ride to Tynec then catch a train into Prague.
They advised us that, since we would have to change trains if we followed our plan, we might as well ride the additional 15km along the Sazava River to Cercany where we could catch a direct train. We accepted their advice and adjusted our plan.

No end to beautiful rolling countryside in the Czech farmlands. And the sun is shining, for now.

Poppies make a change in the scene. We did not stop to pick any.

It was a very pleasant ride on quiet roads through more Czech rolling countryside and small towns. We stopped at Neveklov for some very cheap but quite good coffee and cake, then enjoyed a mainly downhill run to Tynec.
The route towards Cercany initially coincided with the Greenways route, along a road following the river. The river cycle route we had planned to follow looked pretty rough, so we continued on roads, including quite a solid climb, arriving at Cercany railway station without any problems.

Waiting at the station in the pouring rain and thunder. Not really knowing what the next step was.

We bought our tickets and fifteen minutes later were on a train heading for Prague. We had not gone far when the conductor came along to check our tickets. When he saw our destination as Prague he said a lot of Czech words, clearly indicating there was a problem of some kind.
A young woman in the carriage who spoke a bit of English came over to help. She explained that because of an accident along the track we would have to leave the train at some point and travel part of the way by bus.
I think the conductor's obvious concern was due to his doubt about us getting in the bus with our loaded touring bikes.
The train had only gone about ten kilometres when it stopped at a station and everyone got out. Just as we were leaving the train the heavens opened. The torrential rain continued while the train passengers waited under cover for the busses to arrive.
After a while we locked up the bikes and went into a nearby restaurant to try to get something to eat, but the restaurant was packed, and had no power so couldn't even make us a coffee. It suddenly started to empty - obviously a bus had arrived.
We rushed back out into the still steady rain to discover that only one bus had arrived, and it quickly filled and left, leaving plenty of people still waiting.
A man in railway uniform made an announcement in Czech. When he had finished we tried to find out what was going on. Another passenger who spoke a bit of English helped us. They told us that the next bus might be some time away, that yes, we could take our bikes on the bus, but they would be last on after all the passengers.
The rain looked like stopping soon, so we considered riding to the next train. We found out that the station we would have to get to was about ten kilometres away.
Another bus arrived and people started to pile in. We thought we had no chance of fitting in with our bikes, so started to move towards the restaurant to have lunch. We were called back by the helpful passenger and the railway man. The bus was full of people, but they somehow made room for us and we were on our way again.

Pat celebrates his arrival in Prague. At times it looked doubtful.

We arrived at the main Prague station and made our way to the adjacent Metro station. Following instructions we had we took the Metro for two stops to I.P.Pavlova then found our way to Hostel U Melounu, about 800m away.
Hostel U Melounu is quite nice and well located, the only shortcoming being the lack of a useable guest kitchen.
With all the messing around with trains and busses we hadn't really had lunch, and it was late enough for an early dinner. We asked the girl at reception for directions to a restaurant and she recommended a traditional Czech restaurant a few blocks away.
The restaurant was quite an experience. The waiters, all male, seemed to nearly all have faces that would crack if they smiled and attitudes to match. One of them took our drinks order and my beer arrived as a full one litre glass.
Fortunately there was one young waiter who spoke a bit of English. He suggested we order a shared variety of traditional dishes. We explained to him Rod's gluten free requirement and he assured us that would be no problem.
The meal wasn't cheap but we had plenty of good food, including a huge quantity of meat. One of the meat dishes was a whole pig's knee.