The last day of the year 2021 was extremely warm and even sunny. And because we biked on the first day of the year, we certainly had to be on our bikes on the last day as well. We decided to stay on the paved roads as many forest roads might be pretty muddy. The logical choice was the loop along Labe starting from Nymburk. We rode here many times and we tried to discover at least a little bit of new terrain. Well, and it certainly led us to a short but very muddy part. However, if you are more clever then us, you can avoid that piece by riding at the very edge of that path, which has a little grass on it.
The good point to start is a small parking lot next to a bridge over Labe. The old bridge is too narrow for pedestrians and for several years after the failure of the old pedestrian bridge, the crossing was possible only by using a ferry. However, the new pedestrian and biker bridge was built and it clearly quickly became a highlight of Nymburk. If you are lucky, you can catch a glimpse of a sunset over a lit bridge, so have your camera ready.
We start the ride across this bridge to show you the example of the reason why Nymburk is called town gallery. The fence of the brewery is the first part of the mural displays, but do not miss the building on the left after you will cross the railroad bridge. That is an impressive work of art! And when you continue along Labe to Poděbrady, you will notice that That town does not want to be left behind in the mural painting competition.
Ride along Labe is pretty smooth and in this time of year it is not very busy. After reaching the merge of Cidlina and Labe, you will follow Cidlina and go through Libice nad Cidlinou. Here you should not omit visiting the memorial to the dynasty of Slavnikovci and contemplate how the history of Bohemia might have been completely different, if this clan would not have been completely wiped out by rival dynasty of Přemyslovci in the year 995.
After Libice you will be riding on a regular road for a short time. At the point 9 you can turn into the area of golf course. Well and here you can face a little mud, if you do not avoid riding in the middle of the path. As we were the first riding it after the rain the previous day and it looked so inviting… but it was quite deep mud. Anyway, the path drawn on the map from the point 10 as continuing straight ahead does not really exist. But, if you turn to the right following the asphalt path, you will arrive at point 11. Here actually used to be hipodrom and shooting range, which is now completely abandoned.
At point 14 you will see a nice blue bike service station, where you can charge your battery or cell phone, or pump up your tires. After crossing Labe over very modern bridge you will continue back to Nymburk via much less busy bike path that what you might have experienced on the other bank of the river. And if you did not stop at point 3 at the beginning of the trip, you can go there now to sit at the table with several cat statues, called Hrabalovo posezení (Hrabal’s sittings). Hrabal was one of the favorite Czech writers. You may know that one of the Oscars for the foreign movie was awarded in 1968 to the movie Ostře sledované vlaky (Closely observed trains), based on his book.
https://en.mapy.cz/s/fatapeseme, 33 km, no elevation gain. To see this ride in context, check our interactive maps.
