Steckby/Barby to Magdeburg 13th July

Although I had organized a race with one of our friendly German chaps at 9am the next day, the "Bibergeile" (beaverjuice) we had been sampling had left me feeling a little poorly, so a 10am start was in order.

Leaving Zum Biber Guesthouse.

We rode through extensive forests along good gravel tracks for an hour & passed another Leo III monument. Then we were "on road" for a while. Unfortunately 3 km of the "road" consisted of nasty rough cobblestones, which joined Pradel & Dornburg. A welcome return to the cycle path took us along a holiday lakes area. We stopped at Plotzky for lunch.

Beautiful riding through forest.

A monument in the middle of the forest.

3km of this - brain shaking cobbles.

After lunch, we opted for a fairly direct rote to Magdeburg & were pleasantly surprised to find paved, quiet cycle paths beside the road almost all the way.

We met up with Rod at the Tousist Info. & booked at the local Youth Hostel, which was excellently located in the centre of the city.

Unfortunately, Rod got off the track somehow and took the long way into town. So, even though he started about 18m km closer than us, he did about 80 km & we only clocked up 56km.

View from the hostel.

The amazing Green Citadel just near our Hostel.

A church in the evening light.

The Dom - a beautiful old gothic (our favourite style) cathedral.