On the road to Mělník

Last Sunday I did a ride I had been willing to do for a while. My goal was to head north and to follow the Vltava river as much as possible. As always, I planned my ride ahead on Mapy.cz, from Prague centre to Mělník. On Mapy the ride was approximately 96 km but I ended up doing just over 100 km. However, I must be honest and disclose that I added a little loop in Mělník as I was not too tired and I wanted to complete my first ever 3-digit ride on a mountain bike!

So, I started in Prague centre and then it is pretty easy, the cycling route follows the river up to the zoo and then further up north towards Kralupy nad Vltavou (red marked trail). In Kralupy nad Vltavou I took the bridge to get to the other side of the river to keep following the red marked trail. Just after Kralupy nad Vltavou the trail is very close to the river and it was very nice. Then, after a few kilometres, the path gets away from the river to get into the forest. The first part after this left turn is not doable on the bike. The climb is too steep and the trail too bad to cycle it. I had to carry my bike on my shoulder but I do not mind doing so and it is only for maybe 200 metres. Quite steep though! Then, again, it is easy to just follow the red marked trail towards Říp Mountain or Říp Hill. I guess it is more a hill than a mountain!

My new favorite energy balls! I will post the recipe soon.

The ride towards Říp Mountain was very nice. There were some portions on the road but not many and most of the ride was actually across fields. The weather was sunny but not too hot. Birds were singing and it was very enjoyable. When I got to the Říp Mountain I wanted to get to the top to be able to enjoy the view. So I took left to follow the blue marked trail to the top. DO NOT!... The climb to the top on the blue marked trail is definitively not doable on the bike. Very steep. Big rocks. There is no way to climb on the bike to the top. I had to carry my bike on my shoulder. I did it but it was tough and I had to stop a few times. So, I guess the best option to climb to the top on a bike is actually to ride around the Říp Mountain first and to get to the top by the other side (the north side). Not an easy climb, as again it is quite steep, but doable as it is on a road ish. The view from the top was definitively worth the pain to get there though. Beautiful, especially on such a sunny day.

From the Říp Mountain I followed the blue marked trail to the river in Vědomice. In Vědomice I got to the bridge and just before the bridge I took the road that goes to the river on the left. Once at the river I took right and followed the cycling route 2 up to Mělník. Most of the cycling route 2 is alongside the river and it is very nice. It was however rather busy on such a sunny day.

The finish line was by the castle in Mělník to get a burger from Němý Medvěd - Microbrewery & Beer Bar. This in itself was definitively worth the ride!!! Excellent burger, highly recommended! There were many cyclists in the centre of Mělník, so I reckon it is a popular destination.

In Mělník, I took the train back to Prague. I really enjoy these Czech trains. It is very cheap compared to France and it is very easy to get the train with a bike.  

Altogether I enjoyed this ride. Despite its length it was not very difficult despite the few steep climbs.

Link to my Strava

That’s all for now.

Take care and enjoy your rides.

Vincent

A trail running marathon 7 1/2 years later...

Bonjour, 

A 7 1/2 years gap between two blog posts... Cannot say I have been very active here lately... I left this blog when I was an expat in Thailand and I thought about it again yesterday, now that I am living in Prague, Czech Republic. In-between there has been Myanmar and Cambodia and many runs in many different places. 

Yesterday, while running on some beautiful Czech trails, I was feeling very lucky and grateful to be able to enjoy being there and thought that it would be cool to post about this run. So, here I am... 

I enjoyed this run so much that the initially planned 25 km became 35 km and then - as I thought I would later feel disappointed not to complete a marathon, 42 km and the requested additional few metres...  

I took the trail from Praha hlavní nádraží to Davle. It takes less than 45 minutes to get there for about 30 km and it cost me 54 CZK. Trains - like other public transports in Czech Republic - are rather cheap and very reliable. They are also - at least for metros and trains - bikes friendly, so getting the train is a great and easy way to get away from Prague to run or cycle back. Same thing, I have enjoyed several time to cycle to some random train station away from Prague and to get the train back. Just be aware that it costs a bit more to get the bike on the train but it is really not much.

So when exiting the train station in Davle, it is super easy. There is a post with the signs showing the various paths that are available. I took the red one to the right. The first part is on a road following the river and then there is a right turn across the railways and a a few of hectometres before taking right - still following the red trail - to start the first climb.

Signs when exiting the train station

I had mapped my map prior to my run on Mapy.cz and it was super easy to follow it. There were not many turns to take. Here is the Link to my Strava.

Altogether it was a nice run, not too difficult. There are a few climbs but there are not very good or too tough. This run is a good mix of trails, forest paths and small roads. I enjoyed it but I was a bit disappointed not to be closer from the river to be able to enjoy the views more. There was in fact only one time where I was able to take some pics. After a few kilometres from the start, there is some kind of tower for electricity. It cannot be missed as there are big wires coming from the valley and around this tower there is a small path that leads to a place where the view over the Vlata (Vlata river) is great.

Although I was not able to see the Vlata much, the nature was absolutely beautiful and I was lucky to see some animals, including a snake! It reminded me of my runs in Thailand, but I guess this snake was not as dangerous as back then!...

Have you ever run there? What did you think of this route?

That’s all for now.

Take care and enjoy your runs. 

Vincent

Running in Koh Samui

Bonjour,

First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your families!

I spent last week in Koh Samui with my family. It is one of the numerous islands in Thailand and a very lovely place. 

Link to Google maps

We got a taxi from Pattaya to Don Mueang airport in Bangkok and flew to Nakhon Si Thammarat airport. We flew with Air Asia and I have to say that I was rather impressed with them. The planes were clean and new and the members of the crew very nice. We then got a coach to Donsak Pier and finally a ferry to Lipa Noi Pier in Koh Samui. We stayed at the Ibis hotel in Bophut. The hotel is fairly new and we had a nice stay there. It is literally built on the beach so we did not use the swimming-pool too much! The location is great as it only takes a few minutes to walk to the Fisherman's village where there are lots of restaurants and shops. At night most of the restaurants have either a terrace or tables on the beach and we ate there almost every day. I will do another post on where we went and what we did on Koh Samui.

I had taken my running kit with me and I went running three times. I did not run on the beach as the sand was not hard enough. I do not know about you but when I get to run in a new place it is very often that I find the perfect spot just before I leave. Well, it happened again!

My runs 1 and 2 were one the same route, the first one just being a bit shorter. It is not always easy to run in Thailand. I am not referring only to the heat but also to the terrible traffic, the wild dogs and so on. For these two runs I just followed the road along the coast. I basically ran on the side of a main road. The scenery was nice as I could see the sea but I am never too comfortable when I have to run on the side of a main road with so many cars, scooters and so on.

Below are a few photos taken during run 2. Sorry about the quality once again. I took them with my phone and there are not great. I do need to look for a small camera that I could take with me when I go running. Please feel free to give me some tips if you have any!

 

During run 2 I went to the Big Buddha Temple - Wat Phra Yai, as you can see on the two photos above. I did not visit the temple though.

When people talk about what they have seen in Thailand it is often about - in no particular order - the blue sky, the clear water and the amazing beaches. It is true that if you visit Thailand this is what you are likely to see. As a runner and also someone who is very conscious about environment issues - the two probably go together - I have to say that it also sadly very dirty. If you run in Thailand this it is something you must have in mind. Every time I go for a run, even in the jungle, I get to see a place where people just throw stuff away. I am not saying this in a bad way. I fully appreciate that most people here have more urgent priorities. It is just sad to see such a beautiful country spoiled with rubbish. I hope this will improve in the future and I know that there is already a lot being done in this respect.

For run 3 I changed and I went in the other direction and I eventually found a perfect spot to run in Koh Samui. I also started by following the main road but after about 2 miles I took a road going towards the middle of the island. It was just great. It was initially a new road and then what could be described as a cement track/road. There was almost no traffic and it was very quiet. I had not taken my phone so I do not have any photos. After a while, on both sides I just could see trees and wild nature. It got a bit tough at some point with a rather steep hill. I kept going as far as possible but I had to stop at some point as I did not have anything to drink. We were leaving the following day so I did not get the chance to run this route again but if one day I am back in Koh Samui I would definitively like to run there again. I would like to know whether it is in fact possible to run from one side of the island to the other. From what I can see on the map below that would appear to be possible. It seems that there are also tracks in the forest. It might actually be a National Parc of Thailand so I do not know whether there is an entrance-fee to be paid and if there are any limitations about where to run.

That’s all for now.

Take care and enjoy your runs.

Vincent

Photos Koh Samui - Thailand - New Picasa Webalbum

Link to full Picasa Webalbum

Pattaya - The Sanctury of Truth

Bonjour,

Below are the latest photos I have taken in Pattaya, especially while visiting The Sanctury of Truth. The Sanctury of Truth is a temple. Its construction started rather recently compared to other temples that can be found in Thailand. It is however a beautiful construction and it is worth taking time to visit it. It is made of wood and all the work done is really impressive. There are a lot of sculptures. I also found very interesting the information provided to the visitors.

To learn more about The Sanctury of Truth: The Sanctury of Truth website

That’s all for now.

Take care and enjoy your runs.

Vincent