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| Day 8 Elevation & Speed Profile |
Distance = 61.90 Miles
Time = 05:26:16 hrs
Ave Speed = 11.0 mph
Elevation = 2750 Miles
Calories = 3028
Max Speed = 29.6 mph
Maximum Height = 1545 ft
Minimum Height = 616 ft
Tour Stats :
Distance = 755.54 Miles
Total Time = 62:59:03 hrs
Ave Speed = 12.0 mph
Total Elevation = 27928 ft
Total Calories = 40452
After a good nights sleep I had an odd breakfast - there wasn't a great deal to chose from and what there was i didn't recognise or fancy that much - there were some dodgy looking meats & cheeses so I settled for a bit toast and marmalade today - not exactly energy loading but toady was my shortest planned at under 70 miles to Prague - I just wish Pilzen had been closer to the boredr to split the two days cycling better ! Anyway it would give me more time in Prague.
So off I set on what wasn't the profile I had wanted as the day had 4 climbs of over 400feet - the route itself headed North East for a change with very little in between Pilzen & Prague until the outskirts of the City. My route turned off the road to cut a corner just before the town of Rokycany - it was a shortcut of a few miles what could go wrong !! Well the decent enough track started to deteriorate again and befire I knew it I was in mud dragging the bike through difficult terrain for a half a mile before it turned inta a dryer track but no easier as it was made up of wallbricks thrown onto the track but apparently not flattened for some reason - and then the track narrowed which was OK if it wasn't for the fact it was surrounded bu head high nettles.
Eventually I picked up the road again and soon I was in Rokycany. I pretty much followed the route of the motorway between Pilzen & Prague and was surprised to see frequent cyclists whizzing about at pace on top notch bikes - this must be good training country or this country must be mad on road cycling I thought.
I remember toiling up hill after hill on relentlessly straight roads and the lack of towns and villages just made the distances seem all the larger. Eventually I reached the outskirts of Prague where they were building new roads and after picking up an excellent quiet new boulevard it just promptly ended approaching the City Ring Road & I diverted around concrete bollards and dubled back on myslef to pass beneath the motorway - the last 10 miles into the city seemed to go on forever but it was all downhill and eventually I was crossing the mighty River Vlatava from where I cycled through a very busy City Centre main street for about a mile up to my hotel in the Hyberska district.
Route :
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Photographs :
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| 0.5 Miles : Pilzen .. and a trolley bus - I'd heard stories about trolley buses on Tyneside in the 1950's but this is the first time I'd ever seen one in the flesh ... and it was outside Marks & Spencers !! |
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| 1 Mile : Still in Pilzen and this is one of the City trams. |
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| 2 Miles : This is Pilzen Train Station |
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| 40 Miles : This is the view approaching Beroun on a downhill stretch but you can the hills behind which I still needed to pick my way through. |
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| 50 Miles : I stopped for an energy bar and a drink and when I took my helmet off I found this little fella had been hitching a ride in there ever since I went along that shortcut after 10 miles. How Cheeky of him !! |
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| 62 Miles : Prague and a brave fella on a very small boat out fishing on the mighty Vlatava river just below a powerful weir . |
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| 62 Miles : Another view of the fisherman |
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| 62 Miles : Looking across from the bridge where I crossed the Vlatava River you could see the Old Town and some lovely colourful buildings with lots of boats on the river. |
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| Prague : One of the trams passing some colourful buildings on the riverside. |
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| Prague : The sun started to go down as I walked along the Riverside and started to light up the buildings giving them a golden glow against what was a dark grey sky, |
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| Prague : A tram going along the riverside street with a view in the background of an award winning but very wonky looking building. |
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| Prague : A bit about the Wonky Building The Nationale-Nederlanden building in Prague , colloquially known as “Dancing House", takes the classical European urban form and distorts it by placing the windows in an unexpected pattern off the established grid set by the adjacent buildings ("unquantised windows", if you will), thereby disrupting the conventional rhythm of articulation on the façade. Moving further along and around the corner, the building squeezes itself into an organic hour-glass shape, the glazed façade allowing us to see the supporting beams and columns twisted and distorted in defiance of the engineer’s grid, before it returns to a less affected pattern to "mix-out" into the neighbouring classical building. |
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| Prague : The Astronomical Clock in the Old Town which is one of the oldest working clocks in the world dating back to the 15th Century. |
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| Prague : As I stood in the Old Town square surrounded by market stalls selling roast potatoes and lots of tempting hot meat dishes as well as some pretzel like sweets they were spinning sugar on, I looked across the sqaure and the setting sun was illuminating the church creating one of the most awe inspiring scenes I've seen - yet most people just seemed to be oblivious focussing on the market stalls & the clock - I took lots of pictures !! |
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